When Presidents Fly Out

WORLD LEADERS, including Barack Obama of the USA and Ghana' s John Mahama travel several times, all over the world to do business on behalf of their people.

Leaders in their seventies like Kofi Annan, Olusegun Obasanjo and John Agyekum Kufuor still travel around for global conferences and business. With the convenience of aeroplanes , people can now move around within a relatively short time.

This has encouraged greater interaction between nations and peoples, thus making the world, 'a global village'. Many benefits are derived from such interactions. It is therefore not out of place for heads of state, businessmen and many others to travel out for conferences and other reasons.

As a result of learning from these travel experiences, has come the expression, 'Travel and see'. Many countries including Turkey have capitalized on tourism and are reaping billions of dollars annually from it.

Times have changed in Ghana regarding Presidential travels. There was a time when one Ghanaian head of state never wanted to travel out of the country, perhaps fearing that he could lose his seat through a coup d'état.

This military head of state, General (later Mr.) Ignatius Kutu Acheampong had staged a coup on January 13, 1972 and ousted the Prime Minister of the second Republic, Prof. Kofi Abrefa Busia, while he was out of the country for medical treatment in the UK. There is a proverb in the Akan language of Ghana which says, "The man who is used to slashing people's throats, fears to take a nap" (Atete krona suro awia nda). I can't readily think of an equivalent in the English language. I hope you can remember one and share with me and others some day.

The first President, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah was removed from office in a a military cum police coup on February 24, 1966, while he was on a peace mission to North Vietnam. Perhaps learning from other people's experiences, Mr. I. K. Acheampong could not sacrifice his 'presidential' seat for any trip outside Ghana, however tempting the option could be. But his strategy was not 'coup free'. He was removed from office in a palace coup led by his number two man, Lt. General Frederick Kwasi Akuffo in June 1978, six years after staying in power.

Now Ghanaian heads of state fly out of the country very often without any fear of somebody hijacking their presidential thrones. Times have indeed changed. One can only hope that these travels ultimately bring gargantuan benefits to the good people of Ghana. Unless this happens, one might recommend the 'General Acheampong way', with the President spending more time at home with the people and concentrating on self-reliance and domestication to tackle the challenges facing Ghana.

PS: Could it be true? I have been told that Mr. I.K. Acheampong had a phobia(fear) for travelling by air and that he chose to always travel within Ghana by road while he was head of state. When did he develop this phobia? One wonders how he managed to travel out for further studies during his military career and before he became Ghana's de facto President.

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