A-G scandal: Kwaku Azar throws his hat into the ring, as Martin Amidu is found long in the tooth

Prof Kwaku Asare

Prof. Stephen Kwaku Asare, aka Kwaku Azar, has sued the Attorney-General (AG), seeking to overturn President Akufo-Addo’s “167 working days” accumulated leave directive on Daniel Yaw Domelevo, which began July 1, 2020.

Kwaku Azar, an accounting professor based in the U.S., cited Section 20(1) of the Labour Act, 2003 (Act 651) which reads “Every worker is entitled to not less than fifteen working days leave with full pay in any calendar year of continuous service,” then added section 31 which reads: “any agreement to forgo such leave is void”.

He charged, “Even though disguised as a directive to take accumulated annual leave of 167 days, the directive is actually a suspension of the Auditor-General who is being asked to pay for the suspension by a forced debit to his accrued vacation account.”

Prof Asare also averred that the acting Auditor-General, Johnson Asiedu Akuamoah has not taken the Oath of the Auditor-General, and prayed the court to stop him from acting as Auditor-General.

Kwaku Asare argued using Article 146 of the 1992 Constitution, that the work of the Auditor-General cannot be disturbed by Presidential directives, “whether couched as accumulated leave, involuntary leave, suspension, interdiction, temporary removal, disciplinary control, or however styled, and he may remain in office until he attains the compulsory retirement age of 60”.

He wants an expedited hearing of the motion for injunction and the substantive cause, but is it feasible given the approaching legal vacation season, which runs until November, and the Coronavirus pandemic which has necessitated limited court sittings.

It is common in Ghana for judgements in such matters to be delivered long after the harm has been done.

Ask the NPP; Isaac Amoo, who was deprived of his rightfully won Ayawaso West Wuogon parliamentary seat for practically the entire effective period of 1997 to 2001; and the late Peter Ala Adjetey (may he rest in peace) lead counsel for Amoo, and they will tell you bitter tales.

By a letter signed by Nana Bediatuo Asante, Secretary to the President, Daniel Yaw Domelevo, the Auditor-General was asked to proceed on an accumulated leave of 123 days covering the years 2017, 2018 and 2019. He responded with a protest letter, when upon Nana Bediatuo Asante replied that the president had added 44 more days covering 2020, and hence Domelevo should stay away for “167 working days”

The Auditor-General’s work has clearly been “embarrassing” the NPP administration; he has surcharged Yaw Osafo-Maafo, Senior Minister with the USD1 million paid to Kroll and Associates for purported building maintenance works with no proof of actual work done. That matter is being contested in court.

Last week, the Director-General of Ghana Education Service (GES), for example, wrote a letter asking all staff who had been affected by the Auditor-General’s payroll verification to submit some forms upon which some supervisors within the GES are to “manually” re-enter the names of the affected staff back onto the Government’s payroll, and this is happening while Domelevo is away.

GES has the highest number of employers on Government payroll, covering about 230K persons and is the biggest source of the so-called ghost names on government payroll, a major source of corruption, which Daniel Yaw Domelevo is credited with addressing.

Apart from Kwaku Azar, a coalition of NGOs have also taken action in support of Domelevo by signing a petition asking President Akufo-Addo to reinstate him.

With less than five months to the December election and the Ghanaian middle class, widely in support of the work of the Auditor-General, the President risks losing any credibility left in their attempt to fight corruption.

President Akufo-Addo promised to introduce the Office of Special Prosecutor “within six months of being elected”, during the 2016 campaign. By July 2017, he had gotten a law passed to that effect under a Certificate of Urgency in Parliament.

The nation has come three full years, and public trust in the highfalutin words of the President Akufo-Addo in fighting various scandals including the sale of excavators by anti-Galamsey committee members is gone.

The work of the Auditor-General largely only indicates after the event what has gone wrong; it does not usually cover current issues.

With the other so-called integrity institutions that check corruption such as the Serious Fraud Office fast asleep, and the Police CID and the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice, scandalously asking for a complainant before investigating anything, Ghana is steeply mired in corruption and the people are generally despondent.

All corruption perception surveys undertaken over the past three and a half years of the Akufo-Addo presidency show worsening perception of corruption and loss of hope in the president’s ability to fight corruption.

Clearly, as the Bible says, the thief cometh but in the night…... to steal, kill and destroy.

That is exactly what has happened in the fight against corruption in Ghana. Whoever has ears, let them hear, and rise to the “cause of freedom and of right”.

Tsooboi.

The author is a journalist, communications and media analyst and a writer. The views expressed are solely his and does not represent the organisation he works for.

Email: paanyan7@gmail.com

Blog: ekowrites.blogspot.com

Twitter: @eArthurAidoo

Prof Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang: The electability factor

Prof Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang

John Dramani Mahama’s announcement Monday, of Prof. Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang, as his running mate, a first by a presidential candidate with a 50 per cent chance of winning has as expected, raised debates about the electability of the pair.

Her appointment comes as a big surprise to some members of the NDC because bigwigs such as Dr. Kwabena Duffuor, Prof. Kwesi Botchwey, Kingsley Awuah-Darko, Alex Mould and Ekwow Spio-Gabrah, were all not considered most ideal to partner John Darmani Mahama.

John Mahama and the NDC before announcing the running mate formed a committee to access the candidates, but Prof Opoku-Agyemang’s name was not rumoured to be included in the initial part of the committee’s report.

The committee amongst the 15 candidates that it was considering was looking for someone who was a strategist, electable, had name recognition, and had grassroots organizational building capabilities, amongst other political considerations.

Since the flag bearer of the party is a northerner, an Akan and hence a southerner was traditionally always thought complementary. The reverse holds for both parties.

The odd one out is former President Jerry John Rawlings of the NDC who won with two different south-south complements; first with Kow Nkensen Arkaah; and then with John Evans Atta-Mills. Rawlings’s support base in the erstwhile three regions of northern Ghana was impregnable due to his rural development projects and strategic appointments.

Prof Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang’s surprise announcement, according to sources was informed by the following checklist:

1. Electoral Clout - This essentially was looking at what Prof Opoku-Agyemang was bringing to the campaign of the NDC. Whether or not she is recognised within the rank and file of the party and has the ability to campaign; as a former VC, she is expected to be eloquent, a quality that persuades and wins votes.

2. Governance Capability - Prof. Opoku-Agyemang will be expected to handle numerous matters, and especially when the president is not in the country. Her supporters say as first female Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast (UCC), where she spent almost all her professional teaching life, Naana supervised the introduction of a medical school, while her critics point to her lackluster and poor performance as Minister for Education. It is not known that for four years as education minister, any of the 88 or so ministers enrolled their children in the failing public basic schools.

3. NDC Credentials - Prof Opoku-Agyemang reportedly became a card-bearing member of the party just recently, though she worked behind the scenes.

4. Party Cohesion - The NDC was very strategic because they didn’t want someone who would be seen as overly ambitious when the presidential slot is very vacant. Most of the earlier candidates that were pencilled had presidential ambitions.

5. Candidate Complementarity - The running mate must complement the flag bearer. It appears the Day Secondary School projects were undertaken between the pair with great harmony. And when then-President Mahama said in faraway Botswana, “I have a dead goat syndrome”, the pair were in perfect agreement that teacher trainee allowances should be withdrawn and instead teacher trainee enrollment expanded. Their decision was justified by supporters who pointed to all the other tertiary education students who received no grants.
But really can this nation continue to give cash to teacher trainees who will never honour their bonds to serve in the rural areas? John and Jane have bitten the bullets. They seem to agree with Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko who wrote July 6 on Twitter, “Their choice of running mate suggests loudly that the NDC has been forced to accept EDUCATION as a major election ISSUE”.

6. Financial Contribution - Someone who can contribute to the affairs of the party. Most of the candidates would have been great here, but as you know by now, “The teacher’s reward is in heaven”. How else can the poorly paid Ghanaian teacher be expected to rise to this level unless someone looks beyond the financial contribution factor. Here John Mahama has defused the “monecracy” factor in our politics, and has placed teachers issues front and centre.

Of course, beyond the criteria, John Mahama must have had aforethought that someone in the NPP will waive a corruption tag, and then in the age of #MeToo, and a vociferous women's advocacy in Ghana will most likely wave a banner that reads “All Lives Matter”.

In their first official criticism of Naana Opoku Agyemang, the NPP could not list one corrupt deed of hers.

It was the same headache the NPP caused the NDC in 2008 when the young Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia was announced by Nana Akufo-Addo as his running mate; for eight solid years - beginning from the day the announcement was made, there was no corruption tag.

What is unique about Naana, is that she was a minister for four years, and since the speculations began, the NPP has not been able to dig up any dirt. The corruption tag the NDC had against Bawumia was more about his role as Personal Assistant to the Governor, and later Deputy Governor, of the Bank of Ghana during the cedi redenomination of 2007.

However, after eight years in office from 2009 to 2017, the Attorney-General’s department, manned by stalwarts including Martin Amidu and Betty Mould-Idrrisu, could not charge Bawumia with any offence. NPP meanwhile has been in power for more than three years and has yet to find corrupt deeds to tag against Naana.

This surely must count for something which neutral minded observers will consider as the election season begins right about now with Naana’s announcement.

The author is a journalist, communications and media analyst and a writer. The views expressed are solely his and does not represent the organisation he works for.

Email: paanyan7@gmail.com

Blog: ekowrites.blogspot.com

Twitter: @eArthurAidoo

Prof. Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang: Is Ghana ready for a woman vice president?

Prof. Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang

Very soon John Dramani Mahama, the NDC flagbearer, is expected to announce his running mate for the December 2020 polls. 

Prof. Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang has been widely rumoured as a favourite - the only woman reportedly pencilled for the position. 

Joe Biden is reportedly considering Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren as his running mate, and events in the US hugely influence what happens here in Ghana; the incumbent NPP held their parliamentary primaries and presidential nominee acclamation around the time President Donald Trump also held a party rally. 

To many, when Nana Akufo-Addo selected Dr Mahamudu Bawumia as the running mate, the subculture of attacking the personality of the candidates changed. 

Dr. Bawumia and the late Paa Kwesi Amissah-Arthur, John Mahama’s former running mate, must be applauded for enhancing issues-based politics in Ghana. 

Dr. Bawumia changed Ghanaian politics when he continuously spoke about the economy and how that affects our everyday lives. 

The political atmosphere indeed changed to a comparatively healthier public discourse when Akufo-Addo and Bawumia focused on education and the economy.

With Amissah-Arthur to match Bawumia, the economic management team became the focus of debates. 

Over the years, Ghanaian politicians have been playing the trial and error ethnic balance game, sometimes called Regional balance, but with Naana’s likely nomination, there will be a tectonic shift from Regional balance to gender balance - who said All Lives Do Not Matter? 

Prof. Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang is rumoured to be the favourite of the NDC strategists since she fits into the NDC tradition of having never departed from a Central Region vice presidential candidate since 1992. 

Some have said her nomination will also be a great honour to the late Prof. John Evans Atta Mills, who passed away as a sitting President. 

The Central Region together with Greater Accra, are considered swing regions who change every now and then and thus change the electoral fortunes of the two major parties.

The big question, however, is: WILL GHANA EVER BE READY FOR A WOMAN VICE PRESIDENT? 

This question is important because there are religious and traditional patriarchal hegemonic views that women should not lead. 

Women constitute the simple majority of Ghana’s population across most age brackets and hence the electoral register, but when it comes to key government positions, women are the minority. 

Indeed, the research evidence published by the University of Innsbruck says that women are willing to compete for all positions under the right conditions.

“Interventions to promote women have continuously been criticized as ineffective and inhibiting performance. Economists of the University of Innsbruck have now rejected this criticism; they conducted a series of experiments which examined the efficiency and effects of various interventions to increase women's willingness to enter a competition,” the story from Science Daily titled “Scientists show positive effects of affirmative action policies promoting women” which was published February 2, 2012, partly read.

The threat of mudslinging in every electoral politics the world over, is a real and present danger, including even in college student politics, and Naana’s family may have cautioned her to stay out of higher-level political participation. 

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that “everyone has the right to take part in the government of his or her country” (UN, 1945). 

In 1995, the Beijing conference on women organised by the United Nations indicated that improvement in women’s representation at all levels of decision-making is a fundamental achievement for both transparent and accountable government and sustainable development in all areas of life.

But 28 years on, women in higher political office face intractable obstacles. A research conducted by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) in 2005 stated that political female representation globally stands at 16%.  - in the prevailing social and economic regimes as well as existing political structures.

Ghana is no different; women constitute a minority in both local- and national-level politics. 

“Currently there are 36 women MPs out of 275 or 13 per cent,” wrote Isaac Ato Mensah, a mass communications scholar on writersghana.com in an article titled “POTROG and women: the current scuffle” dated 10th June, 2019. “One way of curing underrepresentation is to let data analysis direct us towards certain targets. In that regard, the Ghana Population and Housing Census is a useful guide”. 

Ato Mensah who was responding to the firestorm President Akufo-Addo (POTROG) came under when he mentioned in France in a live event with President Emmanuel Macron that women constitute 30 per cent of his cabinet and cautioned against “identity politics”. 

He argued that by stretching the women’s argument, then-President Akufo-Addo should fill up his cabinet with “a 66 per cent quota of the illiterate population at least half of whom are women”, as an example, while adhering to the Directive Principles of State Policy.    

Prof. Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang has earned for herself a great reputation as the first female Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast (UCC). At her induction ceremony, Sir Sam Jonah, then Chancellor of UCC, described her as a "courageous and determined female who never accepted the status quo, but had worked hard and passed through the mill to attain her present position". 

She also became a minister for education under President John Dramani Mahama. 

But can she survive the schedule of a vice president seeing that education is not the only issue she will deal with? For example, the vice president is by law the chairperson of the Ghana Armed Forces Council, the Police Service Council, among others, and by convention is chairperson of the Economic Management Team.    

Some political analysts believe she will be making better and informed decisions when it comes to students’ or teachers’ welfare because as an educationist she has seen it all.

Prof. Opoku-Agyemang will not be the first educationist to be vice president; at least we know Prof. Atta-Mills of blessed memory, was once a lecturer at the University of Ghana; Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia the current vice president has had teaching spells at Emile Woolf College and LSE/Oxford University in the UK, and the University of British Columbia in Canada; and Kofi Abrefa Busia, prime minister during the second republic, was a respected professor at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands and St Antony's College, Oxford University. 

What has/have been their respective contributions to the welfare of students and teachers, and education generally during the tenure of these professors? 

Some political watchers think that Prof Opoku-Agyemang will win the votes of those classified as moderates or politically neutral, an electoral category that significantly determines the outcome of the presidential ballot. 

Others believe neutral women and teachers/lecturers will be speaking in her favour even if only as an “experimental woman vice-presidential candidate”. 

Prof Nana Opoku-Agyemang should understand teachers’ allowances and teachers' issues better as against the economist Dr. Bawumia.

Again on this PhD and “skirt and blouse” issue that tertiary education lecturers are being asked by the National Accreditation Board (NAB) to comply with whereby one needs a minimum of a PhD in the same subject discipline only to qualify as a lecturer, Naana is expected to bring a better understanding to the debate during the campaign. 

Should Ghanaians expect Prof Opoku-Agyemang to tell lecturers of polytechnics and teacher training colleges which are now degree-awarding institutions to get PhDs or quit?  

Even if she wanted to, some analysts believe because Prof. Kwesi Yankah, a minister of state for tertiary education and the NAB are pushing for it, Naana will be more inclined to have a rethink as a political strategy. 

But Prof. Naana Opoku-Agyemang let free Senior High School (SHS) advocates down. 

"I thought the debate was settled," she said in a rather acerbic tone to MPs during her ministerial vetting when she was asked whether she would consider introducing free SHS, suggesting that once they the NDC had won the election, free SHS was out of the question; that the electorate had rejected free SHS.

Whatever be the peripheral cues that attract the electorate to a candidate, sanitation, illiteracy, ignorance, health, poverty, unemployable skills and poor leadership are among the intractable problems bedevilling Ghana, a nation of 30 million people with an annual population growth rate of 2.2, and a population pyramid very broad at the base, with about half of the population below age 18.      

The author is a journalist, communications and media analyst and a writer. The views expressed are solely his and does not represent the organisation he works for.

Email: paanyan7@gmail.com

Blog: ekowrites.blogspot.com

Twitter: @eArthurAidoo

Callous Carlos Kingsley Ahenkorah and the coronavirus town ride

Carlos Kingsley Ahenkorah

So, a deputy minister who is trying to play with the life of Ghanaians was bold to speak on national radio and spewed nonsense?

It appears that politicians in this country take delight in winning “the next election” and not to think of “the next generation”.

Callous Carlos Kingsley Ahenkorah does not think the lives of his constituents matter therefore he chose to put their lives at risk.

“I decided to see how some of the centres were just operating. So, I stepped out into town a bit. It didn’t mean I couldn’t go out. My test results had shown I was positive a week ago and after one week, my doctors said I could step out,” Ahenkorah told Asempa FM in an interview.

“They [doctors] said I could go out, except that I needed to wear my mask and observe social distancing.” 

You definitely knew that you have COVID-19, yet, because of the December polls and the callous decision by your government led by Nana Akufo-Addo, you had to tour some registration centres with your virus to see how the process was going?

Callous Carlos, how careful can you be?

Your government does not care about the hourly increase in cases in Ghana and also, they do not care about our lives yet, they are thinking of the next elections.

How irresponsible and callous can you be Carlos?

President Nana Akufo-Addo said that the government knows how to bring back the economy but does not know how to bring back human lives when they contract the virus and die.

Is that what we are seeing? 

Is the government thinking or has the government thought of the increasing rate of COVID cases in the Greater Accra Region and what are they doing to combat it?

Forget about the government saying that he is maintaining allowances of health experts; the life of Ghanaians matters more than the next election.

Government appointees think their officials will do whatever they like and go Scot free but Nature will reward them abundantly, and members of the Akufo-Addo’s administration will be paid in their own coin.

Many of the appointees have contracted COVID-19, yet there are no lessons being learnt by these COVID-iots.

Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie aka Sir John, the CEO of the Forestry Commission died only on Wednesday, July 1, 2020, from COVID-19.

Albert K.K. Sam, until his untimely death, Mayor of Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Area (STMA) died on Friday, June 12, 2020, whilst receiving treatment for the same COVID-19.

Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, the Minister for Health has also tested positive for COVID-19.

Dr Lydia Dsane-Selby, the CEO of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA)  is also positive. 

Daniel Kwaku Botwe, the Minister for Regional Reorganisation and Development and Dr. Mathew Opoku Prempeh, the Minister for Education have both been on admission for some malady we do not yet know. 

In the midst of all these, and when a pastor has been jailed for breaking lockdown rules, how and why will anyone pray for you with all their heart? 

It is not too late to repent.

We are praying but our prayers are not ascending, because the encumbrances are too many. 

Repent oooo repent.

Repent, yes, that’s all we can say, because, in this lawless system of arrogance of unbridled power, no one can arrest you, dear appointees.

Repent, for, God cannot hear our prayers on behalf of people who are bent on infecting innocent civilians. 

Email: paanyan7@gmail.com

Twitter: @eArthurAidoo

41 years after June 4 uprising: Any lessons learnt?

JJ Rawlings

The June 4, 1979 Uprising aka June 4th Revolution arose spontaneously in response to corruption, bad governance, economic hardship and frustration experienced within the general population in addition to high levels of indiscipline within the Ghana Armed Forces.

JJ Rawlings as a young Flight Lieutenant in the Ghana Air Force, together with some soldiers had attempted a coup d'état on May 15, 1979, to overthrow the then military regime led by General F. W.K. Akuffo, and had been arrested. They were on trial when June 4 happened during which they were freed.

Major (Osahene) Kojo Boakye Djan, one of the main architects of the uprising, has in recent times stated, however, that there was an additional political agenda to the Uprising to emancipate the whole of Africa.

He has explained that after several secret meetings with JJ Rawlings, a secret movement known as the Free Africa Movement (FAM) was established to drive the uprising.

Osahene Boakye Djan noted that although Kwame Nkrumah fought for the liberation of the whole African continent, Africa was still under the rule and control of the colonial masters and though Ghana was independent, the country was not free enough to determine the prices of cash crops such as cocoa and other commodities, hence the movement.

On Trial Day

Sgt. Alolga Akata-Pore (PNDC member in the early 80s) in his article titled “Marking June 4? A memorial, a celebration or what?” stated that when JJ Rawlings was on trial, he the latter said that the motive of the coup was to overthrow a system which had made ordinary people poorer and which had rather encouraged the take-over of the economy by Lebanese and Syrians.

Rawlings was emphatic that he wanted to elevate the people from the state of lethargy in which the ordinary people had sunk and help institute a situation of equal opportunity for the ordinary people.

Akata-Pore noted that the message resonated so much with ordinary people throughout the country, as well as lower rank soldiers in the armed forces. Those lower rank soldiers thought that such a person, who at the time, had gained so much goodwill from ordinary people, including themselves, should not be allowed to be sacrificed and killed by the military government.

“That was how come, other-rank soldiers from the 5th Battalion Infantry, led by then Lieutenant Baah Achamfuor, Lieutenant Agyeman Bio, Cpl. Tasiri, Cpl. Atiemo, Cpl. Sarkodie-Addo, Cpl. Owusu, Pte. Adu, Cpl. Amartey Tetteh and others fought their way to overthrow the Akuffo military administration and subsequently released Flt. Lt. Rawlings from military custody. For these soldiers, they were inspired by what they had heard Flt. Lt. Rawlings say during his trial.

For these people, they never imagined that this event would eventually lead to a situation whereby Flt. Lieutenant Rawlings could manipulate the state of affairs to fabulously enrich himself and his family, casting aside the ordinary people, as well as the soldiers who saved him from certain death in June 1979.”

The trial of Rawlings and the junior officers took place at Burma Hall in Accra. On the day of the trial, thousands of civilians trooped into the hall to witness the event. The president of the military tribunal was Col. Aninful and the prosecutor for the state was Flt. Lt. Atiemo.

Rawlings was asked if he wanted a separate trial. His response was “I want to be with my men,” a comment which sparked wild applause in the hall.

Rawlings was found guilty by the tribunal and was imprisoned in a “guardroom”. It was during this time that all his ten fingernails were said to have been allegedly damaged, but Captain Nkrabeah Effah-Darteh has debunked those long standing rumours about Rawlings’s fingers.

A key point during the trial was when Jerry Rawlings began accusing the government of massive corruption. He demanded that his colleagues charged with aiding him in the treasonable act be set free, insisting that he was solely responsible for the attempted coup.

June 4, 1979

On June 4, 1979, the announcement of the government overthrow was made at Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), Accra, by JJ Rawlings who had been released by the separate group of insurrectionist soldiers Akata-Porre mentioned, who had overthrown the Supreme Military Council (SMC II) government that was trying Rawlings et al.

By several accounts, Rawlings was made to speak because his oratory skills had won him public admiration, and to also allay fears of his death as had been earlier rumoured, since frankly, nobody knew who the June 4 insurrectionists were, nor their motive.

The alleged role played by Major-General Odartey Wellington, then Army Commander, namely, that he entered an armoured car and single-handedly shot for three continuous hours at GBC has been debunked by a lady member of his family.

The family member explained in a TV interview only recently that there are credible eye witness accounts that the army commander arrived at the GBC reception with his aides de camp, and besides military commanders do not carry guns around, yet he was killed in cold blood by the insurrectionists.

That explanation sounds very plausible and gives credence to the befitting burial given Odartey-Wellington by the insurrectionists who established the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC). When Rawlings was head of state in the 1990s, he once explained that General Odartey-Wellington was not corrupt, was a gentleman, and that was why they the forces that prevailed carried his coffin on their shoulder as a sign of respect for their army commander.

From GBC, all military installations were searched and senior military officers who were on the side of the SMC II administration were killed. It was on the same day that Col. Aninful, the president of the military tribunal that tried Rawlings et al for the May 15 coup was killed. His wife and children who were also in the same room with him were shot. Many sympathizers of the SMC I administration of Col. Isaac Kutu Acheampong and the SMC II administration of General Frederick William K. Akuffo fled the country to seek asylum elsewhere.

The successful coup plotters/insurrectionists who established the AFRC were:

1. Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings – Chairman

2. Captain Boakye Djan – Official Spokesperson

3. Major Mensah Gbedemah

4. Lt. Commander Akpaloo

5. Warrant Officer Class 2 Obeng

6. Private Owusu Adu

7. Corporal Owusu Boateng

8. Leading Air Craftsman Gaktipo

9. Lance Corporal Ansah Atiemo; among other persons.

Lessons Learnt

After the insurrection, the AFRC introduced what they termed a “House Cleaning Exercise” aimed at fighting corruption. That was when the mantra “probity and accountability” was born.

Three former military leaders of Ghana, Lt. Gen. Afrifa, Col. I.K. Acheampong and Lt. Gen. Akuffo were all executed by firing squad together with five other senior officers deemed by Special Courts set up by the AFRC administration to had been corrupt.

This led to the now-infamous slogan “Let the blood flow”, rallying cry civilians used in calling for more of the corrupt military and civilian politicians to face the firing squad.

The wishes of the mob civilians were granted by the AFRC, and eventually, the “House Cleaning Exercise” was extended to some entrepreneurs whose assets were confiscated by the government.

There were high levels of indiscipline amongst the junior ranks toward the senior officers and civilians. The AFRC lost total control of the military and soldiers went on a rampage.

There was a total breakdown of law and order, a situation which led to arbitrary arrests, beatings, abductions, killings, detentions, and soldiers seized monies and personal property of entrepreneurs who were not politicians.

The AFRC ruled from June 1979 to September 1979, and handed over power to Dr. Hilla Limann in September 1979 following general elections which were being supervised by SMC II; the AFRC did not stop the election time table; their mission was purely a “House Cleaning Exercise” – soldiers in barracks against soldiers in politics.

But JJ Rawlings betrayed the spirit of June 4, when he staged another coup d’etat on 31st December 1981, overthrowing the Limann administration and closing down Parliament.

Rawlings went on to rule as Head of State and Chairman of the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC), for almost 11 years, and handed over power to himself on 7 January 1993 after he had won civilian elections in November 1992. He handed over to himself again after he won the December 1996 elections, and finally left office in January 2001, after 19 years in office – from an initial mission of a “House Cleaning Exercise” aimed at stopping the military from taking part in politics and civilian administrations.

Chairman Rawlings who in civilian years became President Rawlings made June 4 and 31 December public holidays – celebrations that brought a lot of pain to people who either lost loved ones, lost businesses or had to flee the country for their dear lives.

Akata-Pore has alleged that Rawlings in the 1980s used to force his opponents to watch films of the executions of some of his victims such as Cpl. Giwa, Awah, Aliu, Sarkodie-Addo, Sgt Malik, Pte. Tanti, Amartey Kwei, Maj. Nana Akwasi, Dzandu, Tekpor, Sgt. Yaovi Anku, Maj. Twumasi Anto, Baba Shaibu Ibrahim, Sgt. Joseph Issaka, Maj. J.A. Ocran, WOII Charles Aforo, Yaw Brefo Berko, Kyeremeh Djan, Godwin Mawuli Dra-Goka, Pte. Charles Koomson, Samuel Boamah Panyin, Cpl. Martin Adjongba, Pte. Henry Obeng, Cpl. Edward Offei , Mustafa Bruce, Godfred Nyavie, Atta Bruce, Moses Akrong, Eric Addo, Vincent Ayivor, Zakari Salifu, Issah Isahaku, Kwame Nkansah, Kweiper Yartey, Yaw Medagodzi, Benjamin Mireku, Samuel Akiti, Odartey Aryee, one Ahmed, Abu Hasiru, Kofi Kodua, Mohammed Ali and John Kudjo.

June 4 2020

41 years after the insurrection, Rawlings and his folk are marking this sad event in the history of Ghana with the theme “strengthening the spirit of patriotism, resilience and integrity in difficult times”.

What is the real motive behind this 41st celebration?

Can this be a solemn memorial celebration or observance or what?

Will JJ Rawlings explain the motive behind the marking of June 4, 41 years on, especially when he has betrayed the spirit of June 4?

Sgt. Alolga Akata-Pore has quizzed, “Is it a solemn memorial for the Generals he executed or a memorial for the soldiers who died fighting on the day, and who mistakenly thought that they were fighting to liberate the ordinary person? Otherwise, which memorial is it then? If it is a memorial for the Generals, then does it mean he now regrets their killing? If so, why doesn’t he mention their names on June 4 and say sorry to their widows and families? And if so, why doesn’t he ask their families how they want to remember their loved ones? Or he thinks he owns the memories of those whose deaths he ordered, and had buried in mass graves?

“If it is a memorial for the soldiers who died fighting on the day to release him, why has he not published their names? Why don’t they appear in the backdrop of the podium in place of his favourite picture in which he is caricatured as Che Guevara of Cuba?”

What has JJ Rawlings done for the family of the soldiers whose execution he ordered? Or did he ensure that their wives received their widows’ pension payments?

After 41 years of June 4, why does Flt. Lt. JJ Rawlings justify the killing of Generals Akuffo, Afrifa, Boakye, Utuka, Kotei, Amedume, Colonel Acheampong and Colonel Feli?

Akata-Pore further stressed, can Rawlings, “on the 41st anniversary of June 4 take time to tell us how corrupt the Generals were and how much wealth and property they acquired that merited their killing. And while he is at it, he should juxtapose their ‘loot’ with what he has himself acquired and explain to us how justified he was in killing them?”

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