Kofi Dankyi Beeko
11 June 2008
opinion
It is phenomenal, how most Americans say they remember November 23rd, 1963. This was the day that John F. Kennedy, the 35th US President, was assassinated in Dallas, Texas.
Americans who were of age enough to remember, or register anything say, they remember, for example, the number of drinks they had gulped down in their favorite pub, another says, he remembers the size of the T-bone Steak, that he had consumed that day.
A female doctor I had met in Chicago in 1971 told me about her romance, which turned glorious that day, November 23rd, 1963. In the same way, a lot of Ghanaians, (and I am included), remember vividly, what they were doing on the 4th of June, 1979, when Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings, and his henchmen, stormed themselves free from the military custody in which they were held, and captured, one by one, the Generals who had planned, days later, to have the "ribald-rousers" of the Armed Forces convicted in a tribunal, and have them executed.
I happened to be close to an official guest house, in which "one big man" was believed to have been resting. They collected him, after a shoot-out with his body-guards. Until the morning, there was only an air of confusion, hanging around everywhere in Accra first, but as the morning wore on, throughout the country. General Akufo, the then Head of State, was reported to have been rounded up, and so were a number of his Ministers, some of them in civilian roles at the time.
Odartey Wellington, a gallant Army Officer, is said to have fought to the end, instead of seeking a hide out. His last station was at a police outpost in Nima, a district in Accra, which everybody seems to know. Till the next day, anybody interested in listening, and writing at the same time, could collect enough material to fill the encyclopedia Britannica. Memorable events in Ghana!!
The juicy part of June 4th wouldn't have been over, even after you come to a full-stop with the Britannica. Stay tuned!
In 1793, Marie Antoinette, the Queen of France, and spouse of Louis XVI, King of France, were executed by a revolutionary court. 22 000 French citizens were sacrificed in that revolution, and a Scientist like Lavoisier, was among them. Then, in 1918, Czar Nicholaus II of Russia, and his entire family got executed by the Bolsheviks, in the October Revolution, having taken place one year previously. In the aftermaths of World War II, Communists almost succeeded in overthrowing the Bastion, the British Monarchy. The juicy story is re-told in the book, penned by Peter Wright, (The Spy Catcher). Then, we all watched it on Television, end of 1979, the Iranian Revolution that sent the Sha into exile, to meet his subsequent natural death in Egypt several years later. Let us stop here, or the list would get unnecessarily long. But, in all the irregular changes of power, "the people have been unhappy, with the affairs of the state, -the running thereof".
Rulers have been "negligent" as regards the needs of people, that had served them, "often under harsh conditions". Often quoted scenario is, the people of France in the 18th Century, facing scarcity of bread. When this reached the ears of her Majesty the Queen, Mary Antoinette, she simply recommended, "If they can't get bread to eat, let them eat cake." Perhaps, a comment or two on the Ghanaian situations, 1966, and the many other Coupe d'etats, until 1979, and 1981, (closely linked), may be worth making. There exists a valid impression, that, the youth of our country, (35 years and below), seem to know too little of the relevant facts that have mottled the country's history, and perhaps, culture, since the event in 1966, and ever since, until "the relative peace" since 16 years.
The explanation, in my opinion may be sought in the observation that, a big chunk of the population is illiterate. Even with "educated people", reading is not as strong a habit, as it once was. Entertainment on FN-Stations with "intermezzos" of news items, and at times political exchanges, are the vogue, e.g. "news file", "Good Morning Ghana", and "newspaper review", on daily basis. The Holocaust, (the near extinction of Semites in Europe, 1933-1945), has run on German television intermittently, since the mid-seventies, and the German public is urged, to observe "how their nation was", only sixty years ago. Books on the holocaust abound in all libraries, and all book-shops. Websites exist, where one could assess any details. Adolf Hitler, Austrian born, and absolute dictator of Germany, from 1933 till 1945, lived from 1889, until 1945, when he, with his newly wedded wife, his Propaganda Secretary, and his entire family, committed suicide in the subterranean bunker in Berlin. In spite of a high standard of Education during his time, brutal dictatorship could thrive. So did some degree of dictatorship thrive in the first Republic, in spite of our "show boy" carrying Doctorate Degrees, (I understand in political science, and Theology). Examples of Dictators who had degrees "to be kind to human beings" include Dr. Sun Yat Sen of China, in the early twenties, and "Papa Doc. Duvalier" of Haiti.
It is interesting how dictators manage to successfully court from all strata of the societies, followers, sympathizers, and above all, COLLABORATORS. In its simplest form, money tends to be a simple, but the easiest "buy-in." Conscience gets lost. In an environment where the state tends to be the largest bread-giver, co-operation with dictators tends to be easiest in coming. "Squeeze" out of business of entrepreneurs who may not connive readily is a frequent phenomenon.
In 1979, when General Akufo and his colleagues met the tragic end in Ghana, stories did fly in Ghana, where a soldier, (Lands-corporal) is believed to have been spilled with human faeces in a chamber-pot, as he tried to jump a queue to receive his ration at the Market, which now demolished, bears the name of "Rawlings' park."
A day before, the same Junior Officer is believed to have been part of a "group", that sent an articulator truck full of grocery, to General Akufo's home in Akwapim, Akropong. Do you see a little bit of Marie Antoinette, 1793? The last Shah of Persia, (Iran), is accused of having torn villages apart, by having super-high-ways constructed, tearing villages apart, that had been whole communities since millennia. Development isn't bad, but perhaps, enlightening the people first about it, is better. The Sha of Persia had advanced the status of the woman, in an otherwise puritanical society.
The first wife of Sha Mohumad Pahlevi II, who hailed from Egypt, from a family with Pharaonic connections, found Iran in the early 50s, "dastardly backward". So, why should enlightenment of the Iranian society, especially the womankind be undesired? But, in the end, exactly that seemed to have played a role in building up hatred against the Shah's regime, in the name of "Allah". There seem to be a couple of concerns, as to whether in Ghana, the events of June 4th were necessary. The American would refer to it, as a million Dollar question. Indeed. Those who argue that, "every people" develop culturally, politically, along lines, which seem the same for all races, (and perhaps, with few exceptions, if any). The Germans had passed through the pangs of Hitler's torturing dictatorship, which went seamlessly into the woes of World War II, and the hunger of post World War II. The rationing of food items, especially butter, almost drove the working class in the Ruhr-district into a rebellion in the early fifties, hardly a decade following Hitler's War. The occupation armies acted quickly!
Hunger will trigger rebellion, and so would torture. To the same degree? There cannot be an answer. For example, why don't the German folk learn from the experience of the British, or even the Roman Empire? Much as the civil service everywhere in Europe seems guided by the Roman civil regulations, each and every nation seems to want to go through the same experience, rather than skipping some steps, because, another country failed to thrive, using some method. Education?
A country like Singapore, through the sagacious leadership of one man, has been able to skip many hurdles, which we in Africa were not able to. For example, the security apparatus of Israel was tapped upon. Super-powers were invited to shield the small Island-City-Nation, and they have been prosperous. Education has always been supreme.
Inadequate buying power has played a see-saw game with poor standard of education. Not even the locally educated has the urge to read voraciously. Reading contributes to better learning than either listening only, or hearing only. Structural arrangements on the cerebral cortex, as well as the portion of the brain, known as the "basal ganglia" guide in understanding this. Fifty years ago, there was no paucity of books in the country. Students having traveled to England and the USA would write home for some books to be sent to them, since they were available and cheaper in Ghana. Venders of books were so trained that, whilst you entered a book-shop, at times, just to browse, (like a cow does, if I might say so), the attendant's narrative about a book might induce you to buy it. Not anymore! Not even the daily newspapers have any high patronage. The newspapers, as I hear, when I try to take sample in the population, are too expensive. Fifty or seventy Pesewas seem too expensive, even for the middle class. Most Ghanaians fold the newspaper into a slim patch, and carry it everywhere they may go, throughout the day.
This is when they have been given it free of charge. At their destination, (their home), it might not be read at all. Newspapers get wrapped on all sorts of items, especially, food items, than they get to be read. In European cultures, is there a person who doesn't read some newspaper everyday? I am not sure, if he/she is born yet. The events that might have precipitated the June 4th events of 1979 have been documented only fragmented. It is not available to 60% of the population, who aren't "facultative readers." -There was Boakye Gyan, and there was J.J. Rawlings, and they were friends, and they were smart military commissioned officers. . Akufo wanted to kill Rawlings, so Boakye Gyan rescued Rawlings. They killed Akufo, Felie, Utuka, ..! The lady who was telling me the story ran out of names, so she stopped. That was all she knew about the event, that so shaped the nation. It has tendencies of Unifying, but again, awful tendencies of untying the rope of unity. Was June 4th a necessary evil? Was it even evil? Education is going to answer
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