WE have a bad past that we must acknowledge — a past of political victimisation, political vindictiveness and intolerance; a past of political stigmatisation, a past that had rendered our political terrain unstable over the years and which made it difficult to promote national cohesion, progress and development.
Since the violent overthrow of the First Republic under Dr Kwame Nkrumah on February 24, 1966 and the stigmatisation of his regime which followed, successive governments have consistently pursued a cynical agenda of not giving credit to their predecessors.
The military government which succeeded the Convention People’s Party government of Dr Nkrumah bestowed on itself the acclaim, Liberators. So the National Liberation Council (NLC) did not see anything good about the Nkrumah regime, not even the solid foundation it laid in the various sectors of national development, including education, agriculture and industry.
The short-lived regime of the Progress Party (PP) under Dr Kofi Abrefa Busia which sprouted from the ashes of the NLC could not find any kind words for its predecessors, not even the NLC which made it easy for the PP to gain political power.
When General Ignatius Kutu Acheampong emerged on the scene with his Redeemers on January 13, 1972, it was like nothing good ever happened in this country until their arrival. General Acheampong, then a Colonel, was on record to have justified the coup that even the few amenities the military was enjoying were denied them by the Busia regime.
General Acheampong’s own National Redemption Council (NRC) matured and transformed itself into the Supreme Military Council (SMC) as a way of sidelining junior officers from the realm of things. When Gen. Acheampong was overthrown in a palace coup in 1978, to be replaced by SMC II, he was described by his colleagues in SMC I as a dictator who was running a one-man show.
Incidentally, both General Acheampong, who led SMC I, and General F.W.K. Akufo, who led SMC II, and their other colleagues on the council were cut down by bullets of the firing squad at the Teshie Shooting Range during the infamous house cleaning era under the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) led by Flt. Lt. J. J. Rawlings.
Dr Hilla Limann’s People’s National Party (PNP) which assumed political power in September 1979 had hardly planted its feet in the ground when its mandate was rudely and cruelly terminated on December 31, 1981 to herald the ’Revolution which ended all revolutions’— the 31st December Revolution.
After that, it took 11 long years before constitutional rule was restored on January 7, 1993, spearheaded by the National Democratic Congress (NDC), an offshoot of the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC).
Throughout these periods of political turbulence which saw numerous change-overs, there was one thing which remained constant. None of the governments was modest enough to acknowledge the achievements of its predecessors.
Since most of the changes came as a result of military coups, it was always characteristic of the new administration to justify its intervention by condemning everything about the previous government.
The cumulative effect of that phenomenon was that the nation never built upon its past achievements. Successive governments never continued where others left off, with each new government starting something new which was hardly ever completed.
Kwame Nkrumah’s educational policy which was the envy of many countries and which set Ghana on a cracking pace ahead of its contemporaries; his agricultural programmes which attracted the Malaysians to come and understudy our agricultural system and to return home with oil palm seedlings from our nurseries; the ambitious industrialisation policy of that regime which saw Ghana at par with South Korea, India and other emerging industrial nations in the 1960s were all abandoned.
More than 45 years after Nkrumah’s overthrow, Ghana has started talking about going nuclear in power generation when the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission was set up in the 1960s by Dr Nkrumah to manage the Kwabenya Atomic Reactor which had, as part of its objective, the generation of energy for the country’s industrial growth.
General Acheampong’s ‘Operation Feed Yourself’ which attracted the youth of the day to participate in the building of the Dawhenya Irrigation Project in the 1970s could have been sustained instead of being abandoned after his overthrow.
His regime also saw the introduction of the low-cost housing concept which witnessed the construction of modest housing units in various regional and district capitals to cater for public servants serving in those communities. That concept was abandoned and the best other governments could do was to sell this housing units to the highest bidders.
Several other development projects under different regimes went the same way and the nation was the loser.
With the restoration of civil, democratic rule in 1993, many Ghanaians thought our politicians would break away from that negative past but it seems that enlightenment has not reached us yet.
We have witnessed two major changes of government since the 1992 Constitution was promulgated. The first was in 2001 when the NDC lost power and handed over to the New Patriotic Party (NPP). The second was a few months ago when the NPP was also swept out of office and had to hand over to the NDC.
Interestingly, when the NPP came to power, they hardly saw anything good in the previous administration. Everything had to be created anew. It was like the economy had collapsed, the educational system was not working, food production had gone down, unemployment was high and poverty was everywhere. Even the educational system had to be changed, at least in name and number of years. So we were back to square one.
We are a few months into a new administration and we have started hearing the same old words. Nothing was good under the NPP administration. Their best was nothing but the worst this country had ever witnessed. The good and the bad are likely to be put into one basket and thrown away on some filthy refuse dump.
Gullible as we are, those on the side of the new government see members of the previous government as corrupt and useless, while those on the side of the previous government see members of the new government as opportunists who have come to reap where they have not sown.
Consensus building and the spirit of building upon our successes, while making corrections where there is genuine evidence of mistakes or failure, are lost in the name-calling which follows every regime change.
Apart from everything else, the fear of the unknown has contributed largely to the animalistic instinct with which some politicians push their determination to remain in power.
Apart from stigmatisation, there is also the fear of victimisation or political persecution which has become part of our politics.
The danger inherent in this phenomenon is that there is mistrust and suspicion between the key players in the old and the new regimes. It also makes continuity in terms of policies and programmes difficult, since the new regime will prefer starting something new, which will not give any remote credit to the old.
On the part of the old, they will be lurking in the corners ready to jump up with shouts of victory as soon as the new regime tries to build upon something they (the old regime) had initiated.
So do we now realise why we are begging from countries like Malaysia which came to learn from us some 50 years ago?
The greatest danger to us as a nation with this kind of attitude is that corrupt elements in previous governments can escape punishment or attract sympathy from supporters, claiming political persecution when their nefarious activities are brought to public notice.
That is why we must break away from this evil past. Those who do well must be congratulated and recognised, while those who abused public office should be exposed and dealt with appropriately.
President John Evans Atta Mills has been repeating at almost every opportunity that he was not going to embark upon any political vendetta nor would he be in a rush to go after officials of the previous regime just to satisfy the demands of his party supporters.
He, nonetheless, gave assurance that he would not shield any public official, whether in the previous or his administration, who would fall foul of the law.
Members of the previous regime should also be honourable enough to admit that as human beings they are not perfect and, therefore, could have made mistakes. They must also admit that not all of them operated above board and, therefore, they should not apply the group interest to defend those who, clearly, did not satisfy the dictates of their public offices. Pretending to be angels when they are not near saints will not help the fortunes of this nation.
President Mills has also declared publicly on several occasions that he will continue with every project initiated by the previous regime and build upon every good thing bequeathed to his administration by the Kufuor administration.
Of course, there will be need for the correction of genuine mistakes which should be expected in any human institution.
These are fine and noble pledges that President Mills should be encouraged to fulfil. We cannot live and progress with bitterness in our hearts. We cannot live in fear and anxiety as a people who want to move forward and we cannot make the necessary sacrifices if we are not sure whether our good works will be recognised and appreciated or added to the malfeasance of others who have failed the nation and condemned.
The distinction must be drawn and proper things done in the interest of this country.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
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