Ghana in dangerous times – Nunoo-Mensah

Brigadier-General Joseph Nunoo-Mensah (Rtd) has observed that Ghana will be heading for doom if the situation in the country continues to remain the same.

“If we do not take care we will live to regret. We are living in dangerous times! I am getting old so I don’t want any coup d’etat. We have to protect our democracy because we’re not stable yet,” he warned.

The retired army officer was speaking at the launch of a book entitled, ‘JJ Rawlings and Democratic Transition in Ghana’ authored by Prof. Kwaku Danso-Boafo, a former Minister of Health and Ghana’s immediate past High Commissioner to the United Kingdom.

Published by Ghana Universities Press, the book, which delves into former President Rawlings’ political journey, has 384 pages with 15 chapters, 1,062 end notes and 250 bibliographical entries.

President John Mahama was to launch the book but when the MC, Fritz Baffuor, MP for Ablekuma South, announced that neither the president nor his representative could make it to the function, the mantle fell on the controversial ex-soldier to do the official launching after which the first copy was bought for GH¢2,000.

“People are still living in abject poverty after 57 years (of independence) so we need to be very careful,” General Nunoo-Mensah noted adding, “We haven’t learnt much from history.”

He said the June 4, 1979 uprising masterminded by junior ranked military personnel to topple the SMC2 government, “was a terrible thing; we don’t want that to happen again.”

According to the ex-serviceman, “We have lessons to learn otherwise history will repeat itself.”

Dr. Nicholas Amponsah, Political Science Department of the University of Ghana who did the review said, “There is no doubt that if we are really serious about moving forward as a nation, then we need to take a critical look at this book.”

He said the former president was the first leader on the African continent to make his people feel what he called “a sense of certainty and security.” He pointed out that Jerry John Rawlings “was the first leader to ensure that a government can have the sense of security to finish its tenure.”

“These are some of the profound achievements for all who are objective enough to judge JJ Rawlings with. You understand why his admirers refer to him as Junior Jesus and his opponents demonize him as Junior Judas.”

The lecturer said, “JJ Rawlings’ work was not just a coup d’ etat. It was a coup to end all coups,” and added that by the former president’s efforts, Ghana has enjoyed two decades of relatively sustained democratic governance.

He said Mr. Rawlings’ abhorrence “to anything that sounds injustice” should never be overlooked as well as events that culminated in the formation of the 4th Republic and easiness with which he accommodated other leaders.

Dr. Sena Kpeglo, Registrar at Volta University of Allied Sciences, Ho, who chaired the launch, said “The book satisfies our intellectual curiosity and would help to develop Ghana’s contemporary politics.

“It provides an interpretation of the politics of JJ Rawlings.”

The author, Prof. Danso Boafo said, “I wrote this book because the transition and consolidation of our democracy owe a lot of gratitude to the person of JJ Rawlings.”

He stated, “We have worked on this book consciously. It is not designed to defame anybody. It is purely academic work.”