Major Derek Oduro Does Not Belong In The Akufo-Addo Cabinet

This is not the first time that the Deputy Defense Minister has come public swinging blindly in favor of the spoilt-rotten apples among our men and women in uniform. And here, of course, the reference is to the personnel of the Ghana Armed Forces. Major Derek Oduro, the Deputy Defense Minister, is himself a retired soldier. But that is not my problem with the man, because I personally have quite a slew of relatives and acquaintances who served in the Ghana Armed Forces at a higher rank and with greater professional experience than our Deputy Defense Minister, who seems to be stuck in the old “military mentality” when our taxpayer-salaried men and women in uniform, with AK-47 rifles at the ready, believed themselves to be first- and upper-class citizens, with the rest of us, literally, being the “Wretched of the Earth.” My profound apologies to Martinican-Algerian psychiatrist Dr. Frantz Fanon.

The Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Mr. John Peter Amewu, has come public to offer us an eyewitness account to the effect that, indeed, the great success of the wanton degradation of the country’s water bodies and forestry resources has been achieved with the full and active support and participation of some hired personnel of the Ghana Armed Forces. These personnel, according to Mr. Amewu, are the main forces behind the shameless boldness of those private illegal miners who continue to defy the executive and popular edict of President Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to cease all such predatory activities forthwith. The Defense Minister, Mr. Dominic Nitiwul, has called for an investigation into the matter whose findings, we are told, have just been submitted to him by the Chief of the Defense Staff, Major-General Obed Akwa.

It is almost certain that the eyewitness testimony provided by the Lands and Natural Resources Minister will be substantially backed by General Akwa’s findings. Now, paradoxically, here we are with the Deputy Defense Minister attempting to ride roughshod over, as well as prejudice, the findings of General Akwa’s report by publicly insisting, against widely known and acknowledged reality, that absolutely no military personnel have been involved in providing protective support for these illegal mining companies (See “Military Concludes Probe into Personnel Involved in Galamsey” Citifmonline.com / Ghanaweb.com 5/26/17).

What Major Oduro’s vehement denial does, first of all, is that it insults the intelligence of not only the Lands and Natural Resources Minister, but also the intelligence of Ghanaian citizenry at large. Major Oduro’s denial also seriously calls into question the mental health or sanity, as well as the professional credibility, of the minister in charge of the, so far, successful ongoing war against the wanton environmental degradation of the country and the very survival of its citizens. And what is even more criminal and malicious, Major Oduro does so without providing any objective evidence and/or scientifically corroborative evidence for his denial, thus cavalierly trivializing the entire war against Galamsey activities.

In the process, Major Oduro also cynically undermines the integrity of the judgment of his boss and substantive Defense Minister, Mr. Nitiwul. Now, two things have to happen here; one, Major Oduro may have to be forced to resign his cabinet portfolio, if General Akwa’s report turns out to back up the eyewitness testimony provided by the Lands and Natural Resources Minister. Then also, Major Oduro may have to be forced to retract and apologize for his vacuous denial of the involvement of military personnel in Galamsey activities. Mr. Amewu also has every right to take legal action against Major Oduro, to teach this Darwinian-minded rascal and those who think sinisterly like him a good lesson in civic responsibility.

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By Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D.
English Department, SUNY-Nassau
Garden City, New York
May 26, 2017
E-mail: [email protected]