Rawlings must answer for treason

I was in London on the day Jerry John Rawlings swore the oath of office as constitutional head of state of this republic, on January 7, 1993. I was at the office at the West Africa Magazine in Cold Harbour Lane, when I got a call from a very prominent banker and lawyer, who, until I left Her Majesty's Great Britain, was one of my Godmothers.

'Ebo,' my Godmother, virtually screamed on the line. 'What is this about Jerry Rawlings being Constitutional President of Ghana. As junta head, there was nothing anybody could do, because he came pointing the gun at you and stole the title. But, what is this about Ghanaians actually queuing to vote for this person as constitutional head of state? We are finished as a nation.'

She went on to explain that the behaviour of the person Ghanaians had installed as President of the Republic did not have the humility and dignity to occupy the highest office of the land. I sided with her, and stated that people in responsible positions had sponsored the idea of nurturing the junta head to put down his military fatigue to take over the highest office of the land. .

For me, January 7, 1993, when Jerry Rawlings swore the Presidential Oath, was one of my saddest days as a Ghanaian. That day competed favourably with the day in June 1979, when Gen. Acheampong and Major-General Emmanuel Utuka were tied to the stakes at the Teshie shooting range and executed, as the days I long to forget in a hurry. They were harrowing in my expectation.

Barely one week after the callous murder of the two front-runners, six other top military officers, including retired General Akwasi Amankwa Afrifa, were tied to the stakes at Teshie and executed.

The five other casualties of man's inhumanity to man, were Air-Vice Marshall George Yaw Boakye, Major Robert Felli, Naval Commander Joy Amedume, General F.W.K. Akuffo and General R.E.A. Kotei. Some were accused of borrowing ¢50,000 from the bank. The notion is that they had used their influence in Government to obtain the loan.

No one could vouch for the reason given for their execution though. Up till today, nobody has made any reasonable case out of the many thrown into prisons for very long periods by the so-called People's Court, whose hearing was nothing short of kangaroo proceedings.

These were senseless murders for which the main architects ought to atone for. If you listen to Major Boakye Djan (rtd), Spokesman of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC), he would tell you that the executions were undertaken to stop all coups, and that the personalities who faced the firing squad, were those who had institutionalised coups in the body politic .

I can state without any reservation that this explanation was a carefully choreographed answer to explain away a decision born out of hatred.

Akwasi Amankwa Afrifa, for instance, had long handed over power and retired to his village, Krobo, near Mampong in the Ashanti Region. He had attempted to go to Parliament as a civilian on the ticket of the United National Convention.

If the executions were carried out on people who had staged coups in Ghana, why were one-time Inspector-General of Police George Harley and Deku, for instance, both involved with Afrifa in the overthrow of the Nkrumah regime, not put on the stakes as well.

For me, as a political analyst, the reason for the executions has still not been given, and that it is incumbent on Boakye Djan, especially, to offer a proper explanation before he prepares to meet his maker.

As a matter of fact, the way and manner human beings were slaughtered under the AFRC, and the eleven and a half years rule of the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC), was so heinous that the perpetrators ought to be in jail. This column would not be enough to list the extra judicial killings, disappearances, and the general abuse of the rights of Ghanaians, committed by the leadership of those two brutal regimes.

If the executions were carried out to end all coups, why did Jerry Rawlings return with another batch of angels of death on December 31, 1981?

Under the PNDC, human lives counted for nothing. There were reports of human beings being executed and their bodies thrown into the sea. Reports were rampant of fishermen's nets catching dead human beings in the sea in this nation, whose motto is still Freedom and Justice.

The three years curfew imposed on this nation, during which night life completely collapsed in Ghana, was a means of cowing down the Ghanaian into submission, and to cover up for night operations, during which so-called enemies of the junta were eliminated.

I have always said, and I restate here without any reservation, that one of my greatest regrets, as a Ghanaian, is that Jerry John Rawlings was allowed to metamorphose from a junta head to become the Constitutional head of state of this republic. He has never ever been presidential material.

What happened in January 1993 was akin to Germany swearing in Adolf Hitler as a constitutional head of state of the European nation. That is why I am irked by the continued attacks on decent people who have struggled through life to reap their just reward.

In any case, would someone tell me one thing positive that Jerry John Rawlings has done since he left Government House?  The United Nations appointed him an ambassador to see to the eradication of Malaria through mosquito control. What has he done with that assignment?

Currently, Rawlings is supposed to work towards peace in Somalia. One of his beefs is to ensure that the government of that country which operates from another nation could settle in Somalia. So far, what is the development on that assignment?

Compare that to the role played by John Agyekum Kufuor, who is always under verbal attacks from the former junta head. Kufuor was a key member in the monitoring of elections recently successfully conducted in Nigeria. Officially, that vote is the most peaceful and credible since that country became independent in 1960. And that is official.

Kufuor is one former leader on the African continent who is always invited to participate in events in the international forum. What has he done to warrant the vitriolic attacks on his person by someone who might not pass any test on decency anywhere?

June Four and its December 31 are parts of our history. That is a fact no one could deny. But are they events worth commemorating? May be yes, in terms of mourning its devastating consequences on the body politic. Those two events were destructive. They also altered the development agenda of this nation.

When Jerry Rawlings talks of integrity, probity and accountability, what exactly does he mean?  None of the three regimes he led – AFRC, PNDC and National democratic Congress (NDC) Mark One – ever counted these as political virtues.

The atrocities associated with the AFRC and PNDC do not render these military regimes worthy of recalling with any pride. In terms of accountability, both the AFRC and PNDC failed the acid test miserably.

Following the huge fines imposed on people identified by the two regimes as enemies of state, special accounts were opened to lodge these monetary gains to the state.

In the case of AFRC Accounts 48, Ghanaians were lucky to know something about its fate. After the AFRC had vacated Government House and Dr. Hilla Limann took over as constitutional head of the Third Republic, the then President complained about state coffers being completely empty.

The deceased former head of state made it abundantly clear that his administration had not been able to trace a single cedi in the so-called AFRC Account 48, where upon newsmen turned their attention on the retired junta head.

When Mr. Rawlings was contacted, he told a bewildered nation that he was not an accountant to account for monies collected on behalf of the nation.

Apparently, Kufuor headed the Institute of Ghana Accountants on leaving office, that is way the ex-President has made it a game of football to subject him to verbal assaults for reasons that Jerry Rawlings has no idea about.

Last Saturday, Jerry Rawlings was seditious in his presentation at the Jubilee Park. I have no problem if the former junta head threatens to take his party back from those who reside at the Castle and are living fat on state expenses on the account of their leadership of the party they themselves say was founded by Jerry Rawlings. But, what does Rawlings mean by taking back the government and the country?

If our security services are populated by men with balls, they should reach for Jerry Rawlings and subject him to questioning. I bet, if I had stood on a platform anywhere and stated that I am going to take over the government and the country, I would be put somewhere in the cooler to await a treason trial. I shall return!

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