“The coups in West Africa are a major concern, but, for us, we are resolved to protecting the Constitution and the will of the people. If the people decide that democracy is the type of governance they want, then we need to respect that. Our mandate is to protect the territorial integrity of the State, and we are focused on that.
“So, when you hear any news of coup, you should be assured that the Ghana Armed Forces is not interested in governance. We believe that if the people don’t want the government, they have a maximum of four years to change it.
“It’s mostly the press who put the fear of military coup in the people, but I want to assure you that we have the interest of the nation at heart.” These are the words of the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) of the Ghana Armed Forces, Vice Admiral Seth Amoama, as reported by the Daily Graphic yesterday.
The mere mentioning of the word coup sends shivers down the spines of many Ghanaians. Though the 1979 bloody coup, led by the late Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings, was described as a house cleaning exercise, many civilians lost their lives and properties during the period. The 1982 coup which overthrew Dr. Hilla Limann’s administration was no different.
Apart from this, Ghanaians were forced to sleep under a curfew against their will, but there was nothing they could do about it, because those who had the guns were calling the shots. With these traumas still at the back of our minds, especially those who saw the 1979 and 1982 coups, there is the fear to hear that the military have taken over the reins of the country.
Unfortunately, because of the military takeovers that have hit the West African sub-region in recent months, the issue of coup de tats has been revived in Ghana. The Chronicle does not, however, expect the military to also join this debate. That is why we are alarmed over the reported statement made by the CDS that the military would not support coup in Ghana.
The Chronicle may not be privy to intelligence information he has as the CDS, but even if that is the case, he does not need to send any signal that will create fear and panic among the civilian population. All what he must do is to work behind the scene to prevent it from happening. For a whole CDS to be commenting on coup matters in public, it feeds into the perception that, may be something is about to happen, which we believe is NOT the case.
In any case, those who stage coup de tats do not secure official permission from the military top hierarchy – they plot underground and then execute it. So the argument by CDS Amoama that the military would not support coup does not arise in this case. The political situation in Mali, Gabon, Guinea, Niger and Burkina Faso is not the same in Ghana.
Some of the presidents in the aforementioned countries turned their respective countries into family dynasties and were always subverting the will of the people. Certainly, this is not happening in Ghana as we have, since 1992, peacefully changed governments through the ballot box. With these credentials, why should a military officer just get up to announce that it has toppled a constitutionally elected government, for a whole CDS to also be commenting on this?
As we earlier indicated, the civilians may be entertaining that fear, but the moment the military also start talking about it, it exacerbates the situation and this is what The Chronicle is against. It is ironical that the same CDS, who was accusing the press for putting the fear of military coup in the people, is also guilty of the same offence.
To us, the duty of the CDS and the military establishment is to defend the 1992 Constitution, as he himself admitted when he met members of the Ghana Journalists Association. This, we dare say, is what must occupy their minds and not coup comments that will rather frighten the people.
