A ban placed on sevenformer Ghanaian army generals from entering any military installations in thecountry after they met with former President Jerry Rawlings is generatingintense debate. Some security experts say the move by the National SecurityCouncil to slap a total ban on the former army generals could be misleading asit could be misconstrued that they were planning to stage a coup de'tat. ButPresident John Kufuor's government denies the assertion, saying the measure wastaken in the interest of national security ahead of this year's generalelections.
Thesecurity agency also reminded Ghanaians that a similar ban imposed onformer President Jerry John Rawlings from entering any military installation inthe country is still in force. Kofi Adams is the spokesman for Ghana'sEx-President Rawlings. From the capital, Accra he tells reporter Peter Clotteythat the government is afraid of its own shadow.
"This is an absurdity of thehighest order because I really do not see the cause for taking such a seriousaction against these generals who are out there to try to restore the integrityof the process of the elections. If the government is not guilty, and if thegovernment is not desperate and afraid to face the genuine election comeDecember seven without fraud and violent, I don't think they would have takingthe kind of decision that they took," Adams pointed out.
He said the decision to banwell-meaning former army generals is regrettable.
"These generals are outthere with noble intentions to add their expertise to the process of securingthe campaigning process and also on the day of the election. And one of themhas even gone ahead to have a meeting with the minister of interior, and so forthe national security to take this knee-jerk reaction, it becomes worse whenthey base their decision on a newspaper publication. So, what it tells me isthat the national security has no intelligence unit, and that is very bad forthe country's security," he said.
Adams sharply denied theformer president wants to destabilize the country by organizing a coup de'tat.
"If he (Ex-PresidentRawlings) was planning to destabilize the country, I don't think this is theway he would go about it. But let me say that Jerry Rawlings is the formerpresident of this republic's commitment to the sanctity of the right of choicecannot be questioned. In 1992, in 1996 and in 2000 he supervised genuineelections, one of which resulted into Ghana's first transfer of power from ademocratically elected government to another," Adams noted.
He said Ghanaians are notinterested in coup de'tats and but want to reject the ruling party in thisyear's general elections.
"This government with how ithas ruled the country now, everybody wants to reject it. Nobody would give it(government) a leeway by going to topple it through a coup de'tat, not at all.It (coup de'tat) is no longer fashionable. They came in through the thumb andthey will surely go out by the thumb," he said.
Adams described the move toban the former army generals from entering any military installations in thecountry with immediate effect as an attempt to cause anarchy.
"It is a recipe for chaosbecause these generals that you have banned from entering militaryinstallations is not the way to secure this country. What they have rather doneis to expose to Ghanaians that the security set up is up to something sinister,because if one of the reasons for which they took that action was that theformer president had talked about commanders not obeying unlawful orders, bytheir (government) action they are suggesting that commanders should obeyunlawful orders. So, the government is up to give unlawful orders against itspolitical opponents. So, genuine minds and strong minds who are coming up tosuggest otherwise must be dealt with by saying that oh don't go to militaryinstallations," Adams pointed out.