The Dispatch (Accra)
Ben Ephson
15 June 2000
Accra — The address by President Jerry John Rawlings, aka Kwashie Rawlings on June 3, 2000 to mark the 21st anniversary of the June 4 Uprising, was as he acknowledged, "the last time I am celebrating this momentous event with you in my capacity as Head of State of this country."
Reactions from a cross-section of Ghanaians across the political, social and economic ladder brought out two main views: it was emotional but then, the President has himself to blame for the shortcomings he mentioned. The reactions have been aggregated.
The President said: "Ever since we re-established constitutional government with real democracy and meaningful freedoms that have been enjoyed in our political history, there has been creeping the canker of civil lawlessness, the politics of attribution and other social divisive and destructive tendencies that spelled the doom of previous governments in this country……. At the same time, I must warn that if we persist in interpreting our current democratic freedoms as a license to cause civil and industrial unrest without reasonable cause, abuse and vilify decent people, none of us will survive the serious upheaval that will definitely come as the consequence."
The concern of many Ghanaians was - what were those civil lawlessness that the President was talking about that the current laws cannot deal with? If the current laws have not adequately dealt with those social vices, what prevented his government from passing laws to strengthen the hand of the law enforcement agencies to deal with the issue? They were aware that his ruling party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has an overwhelming majority in Parliament to ease the passage of such laws. Moreover, the opposition in Parliament are known to have supported moves by government to improve upon security in the society.
Another point of the President - "the lawlessness on our roads resulting in the death of innocent people, the general level of discipline, disrespect for authority and disregard for social - all these are indirectly a consequence of what some people have set out to do - to undermine the authority of this government by encouraging civil disorder."
Quite a number of Ghanaians The Dispatch talked to were wondering - how can anyone deliberately encourage drivers to be lawless on our roads? Has the President ever bothered to stiffen the laws which will induce discipline on Ghanaian roads? If he has and the level of lawlessness on our roads has not diminished, what else has his government done? His government gives a lot of support to the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) but what has the Union done in terms of curbing indiscipline on our roads? Vehicles overload from their various stations, at times, being driven by unqualified drivers, with illegal seats fixed in the vehicles. What have they done?
Many were surprised and angry at the President's threat, "if there should be another upheaval - and God forbid - the civilian front will pay a heavy price," because the soldiers paid a price with their lives in both June 4, 1979 and December 31, 1981 upheavals. This is surprising because the President has been the Head of State for almost 20 years and what prevents him from reviewing those laws and enacting ones which would have addressed "the injustices and indiscipline which are weakening our social fabric".
Many were angry because the soldiers "paid a price with their lives" at a time he was in charge of affairs. What has he the President done for members of his fraternity, the military to even acknowledge that his government has done enough to ensure that the social cankers which necessitated those upheavals do not flourish? One of them remarked: "Who made the President Ghana's Robin Hood?"
On his government's commitment to fight corruption, many Ghanaians including those who are acknowledged as 'Rawlings' die-hards', expressed extreme disappointment at the President's lack luster attitude towards the rampant reports of corruption. They thought it was a little funny when the President implied that actions against certain corrupt elements in society had stopped because of articles or editorial comments in the private press.
Quite a few of them pointed to what one described as 'The Dispatch's pet story - the Keta Sea Defence Scandal.' What has the President's government done concerning the refund of the ¢2 billion? Will the refund be done with the appropriate commercial interest being levied as sanctions? What is the use of setting up a probe into allegations of corruption and being unable to implement the vital recommendations?
A retired soldier who has been a Rawlings loyalist since May 15, 1979 had this advice for the President: "J.J, please do something so that when you leave, some of us can walk with our heads high".
His Excellency, are you listening?
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