The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Africa Centre for Security and Intelligence Studies (ACSIS), Paul Coonley Boateng says President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s comment that ‘coup not an option for Africa’s problem’ is questionable.
He explained the President should have been bold enough to tell his fellow African leaders rather than telling the international community.
“As ECOWAS Chairman, what did he [President Nana Addo] do to reduce this problem in West Africa?” he questioned in an interview with NEAT FM’s morning show, 'Ghana Montie'.
Coup not solution to Africa’s problem
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has urged the international community to send a clear message to coup plotters that coups have never been, and will never be durable solutions to Africa’s political, economic and security challenges.
“Statements condemning coups alone without corresponding action will, however, achieve little or nothing, as witnessed in recent times. This problem requires collective agreement, effective deterrence, bold action and, equally important, adequate preventive measures,” he said.
Delivering the keynote address at a side event organised by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, in Munich, Germany, on Friday (17 February 2023), the President stated that “there are those who still hanker after authoritarian, personal rule, because they claim Africa is underdeveloped and democracy is cumbersome, and we need to get things done in a hurry.”
Quoting from the 2019 Annual Risk of Coup Report, he indicated that Africa has experienced more coup d’états than any other continent, which, he said, is “an unsavoury statistic”.
Ghana’s coup
Citing the case of Ghana, President Akufo-Addo noted that political instability described much of the early decades of the nation’s life as an independent nation, and Ghana became notorious for sampling every and any type of political experiment.
“The one-party-state of the First Republic was overthrown in our first military coup, and the Second and Third Republics, which were practising democratic governance, were also overthrown by coup d’états. My father, President of the 2nd Republic, was overthrown some 51 years ago, on 13th January 1972. Kutu Acheampong’s coup brought his stay in office to an end,” he said.
Bad leadership
Paul Coonley Boateng, however, suggests President Nana Addo’s father's overthrow was a result of bad leadership.
“The records are there . . . with every coup the military has their reason for any government overthrow,” he noted.
Fix your government if you don’t want a coup
Mr Coonley Boateng further said, "If the citizens are fed up with bad governance and call on the military to save the situation, they will have no option but to listen to the masses. If you don’t want a coup, you practice democracy and don’t make things too rigid and autocratic.”
“It’s not about sending a strong message; it is what you will do to make the people happy. He [President Nana Addo] can’t go and stand somewhere to send a strong warning . . . when they gave sanctions to Guinea and Mali did that deter them? It is not the sanctions that will make them stop what they are doing, it will not work,” he told host Kwesi Aboagye.
Listen to interview
Source: King Edward Ambrose Washman Addo/peacefmonline.com/ghana
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What project or program did the President say he was going to implement that he failed to do so?
Our President can talk but implementation is the problem .
There are difficulties all over the world, and Ghana is no exception. Of course, there's no doubt about Ghana's economic challenges, but it's encouraging to note that there have been many notable developments along the way. Notable among these are the railways, airports, education, health, tourism, industrialisation and digitalisation agendas. Never before in Ghana's Fourth Republic have these sectors seen such massive infrastructure development as they have under the Akufo-Addo administration. Indeed, it's instructive to note that all these developments are taking place despite the global challenges posed by the pandemic and the war in Ukraine. Although there are many Ghanaians who believe that the war in Ukraine does not have a direct impact on Ghana's economy, they forget that there are many European economies that are directly affected, which has a cascading effect on Ghana's economy. So I believe that given the excellent performance of the Akufo-Addo government, there is a good chance that it will remain in power rather than being pushed out by the military.
Then, your references should go to J.J Rawlings and His party people.
Well said, how come the very people who waste their precious time to queue to elect people democratically are the very people who jump on to the streets in support of the military when they stage a takeover? How come? When people feel disappointed, when they feel cheated, when they see people they know very well in the community who couldn't afford a motorbike not to talk of a car now dashing cars to people after becoming politicians, when they see single room or a chamber and hall occupants becomes owners of mansions in 48 months after their party wins power, they get peeved. These people live in the same Ghana, they know who you are, all of a sudden you transform from a nothing man to money man. We know people who's rooms were so small such that a set of furniture could not go into their rooms, infact for some of them their doors were to small such that some type of furniture couldn't have paased through such doors. Hmmmnnn. Just conduct a survey, bet me close to half or more people will prefer a military take over .Someone who's ever first job in life is a political position, such a person can afford to buy a car for someone who has been working for over 25 years, meanwhile the one dashing the car is not up to 25 years in politics. Infact that person is not up to 50 years on earth. Can you imagine? Anybody who saw the 79 and 81 coups in Ghana will not support a military takeover but what is happening currently is not different. Between 1981-1991 under the PNDC, there were no party chairmen, secretaries and whatnots but the appointees were not misbehaving even though they were running a one man show , those appointees didn't need any parliamentary approval to do anything, infact there was no parliament. They could have also go in for loans or print more of the country's currency and share it among themselves but they didn't. They could have awarded contracts to themselves but they didn't, they also knew how to inflate contracts but they didn't, they also knew how to concentrate development in areas they came from but they didn't, they also knew all the good things of life but they didn't grab because they were conscious of the fact that those monies did not belong to them. The FOREST was SHRINKING but the TREES kept VOTING for the AXE for the AXE was clever and convinced the TREES that because his HANDLE was made of WOOD he was one of them. This is what is happening in Africa today. All the political parties are the same, in Ghana they are identical twins , the same , very much the same.
This element, Paul Coonley Boateng, needs the assistance of psychologists. The guy is completely mud and a disgrace to his family. If the father staged a coup, does it mean the son should continue? What kind of stup1d1ty is that?