Government spokesperson on Governance and Security, Mr Palgrave Boakye-Danquah has said Ghanaians should not encourage conversations on a possible overthrow of a constitutionally-elected government in Ghana.
In is view, such thoughts are extremely backward.
Speaking on the New Day show on TV3 with Johnnie Hughes on Wednesday March 2, he 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 detats, 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.”
On this subject matter, a former Attorney General under the Rawlings administration, Dr Obed Asamoah has described persons who are calling for military takeover as childish.
He said these persons are unaware that the consequences of coups are nondiscriminatory and that they themselves are at risk.
Speaking in an interview with TV3’s Roland Walker on Tuesday March 1, Dr Obed Asamoah explained that the soldiers who overthrow a constitutionally elected government will always revenge against persons they had bone to pick with.
If for example, he said, some one was fighting with a military officer over a woman, that person will be targeted if there is coup and be eliminated.
“This fix Ghana elements, some of them are openly calling for military takeover. Those people are childish. When coup happens the power that is wielded by the soldiers immediately after the coup is not discriminatory, they look at it in personal terms.
“If for example you have crossed some military officer in traffic and he is annoyed with you he is coming to shoot you in the confusion of the revolution.
“Or maybe, you have been fighting with him over some girlfriend, in the confusion he will shoot you. So the consequences can be non-discriminatory, they can affect the very people who are asking for that,” he said.
He further indicated that it is not automatic that a military government will solve the problems facing the people for which they are calling for a revolution.
“The other thing is you can have a military government that will be completely inefficient,” he added.
The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, has also expressed concerns about commentaries on coups among some Ghanaians in the country lately.
He noted that if coup happens, it is Parliament that will suffer not the judiciary or the executive.
Speaking during a meeting with Council of State members on Tuesday March 1, he said “If there is coup, it is parliament that suffers , judiciary will always be there, there will always be an executive arm and because of that absence of parliament many Ghanaians don’t understand what parliament is.
“I have gone through it from 1993 up to date, I have seen some of the challenges, I have identified some. When I took over as Speaker then the weight came on me.
“I see myself, even though I a member of the NDC, through out my practice I have not been a fanatic of party politics. I have always preached across the political divide.”
By Laud Nartey|3news.com|Ghana