Government spokesperson on Governance and Security, Mr Palgrave Boakye-Danquah has dismissed claims that conditions are rife for a coup d’état in Ghana.
He said this claim is baseless and should not be embraced.
He was reacting to a comment by the Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Ghana, Professor Raymond Atuguba who indicated that Ghana is currently a fertile place for coup due to the bad economic conditions.
Prof Atuguba asked the government to acknowledge the economic mess and try to deal with it.
“We do not want coup in this country but if we do not act quickly we may have one in our hands. There is one thing to do now, prevent coup in Ghana since the climate and the environment, national and immediate international, are conducive for one. We must compel the government to acknowledge the current economic mess, they mostly, and previous governments, to a larger extent.
“Ghana’s economic problems started before Covid-19. On balance, Covid-19 was a good thing for Africa and Ghana.” he said at a forum held by Solidare Ghana on Monday February 28.
But Speaking on the New Day show on TV3 with Johnnie Hughes on Wednesday March 2, Mr Boakye-Danquah said “The more we encourage conversations of coup d’états the more the more people feel yes, it is imminent. I have witnessed coup d’états. In Liberia I have seen how devastating coup d’états can wreck a country.
“So, let us put it as a liking scale. Today, 2nd of March, there is a coup in Ghana. This is what will happen, shops will be closed, schools will be closed, hospitals will be closed, there is going to be a total shut down. People will go out in arms, carry knives, those who have guns will carry it , they will come to your homes, people will die.
“People will start burning malls, people will take the hospitals, young people will die. If this is what we want then I think we should prepare the table for a buffet and start eating.”
He added “When we raise the conversations around coup d’états, I am deeply concerned no matter the merit of it. I think it is important that we have a soul search having come through from 1978, 1981, up until the 4th Republic to this state, I think that it is extremely backward to have tabled that motion of a thought of an indicator of how it looks like.”
“I don’t think this is what we want as a country, I think that dialogue is important , I think that engagement is important. I don’t want us to ever in our reportage or conversations table in coup d’états.
“I am an academic as much as Prof Atuguba is an academic, clearly, the indicators that have been raised do not merit any basis that Ghana is on the bench of a coup d’état.”
By Laud Nartey|3news.com|Ghana