Friday, December 12, 2014

GHANA IN DANGEROUS TIMES – NUNOO-MENSAH

General Nunoo-Mensah at the official launch of the book

By William Yaw Owusu
Friday, December 12, 2014

Brigadier-General Joseph Nunoo-Mensah is predicting doom for Ghana if situation in the country continue to remain the same.

If we do not take care we will live to regret. We are living in dangerous times! I am getting old so I don’t want any coup d’ etat. We have to protect our democracy because we’re not stable yet,” he warned.

The retired army officer was speaking at the launch of a book titled: ‘JJ Rawlings and Democratic Transition in Ghana’ authored by Prof. Kwaku Danso-Boafo, a former Minister of Health and Ghana’s immediate past High commissioner to the United Kingdom.

Published by Ghana Universities Press, the book which traces former President Rawlings’ political journey has 384 pages with 15 chapters, 1062 endnotes and 250 bibliographical entries.

It was President John Mahama who was scheduled to launch the book but when the MC, Fritz Barffuor, MP for Ablekuma South announced that neither the President nor his representative could not make it, the mantle fell on the controversial old soldier to do the official launching where the first copy was bought for GH¢2,000.

“People are still living in abject poverty after 57 years (of independence) so we need to be very careful,” General Nunoo-Mensah said, adding “we haven’t learnt much from history.”

He said the June 4, 1979 uprising masterminded by junior ranked military personnel to topple the SMC2 government “was a terrible thing” saying “we don’t want that to happen again.”

“We have lessons to learn otherwise history will repeat itself.” 
Dr. Nicholas Amponsah of the University of Ghana Political Science Department who did the review said “there is no doubt that if we are really serious about moving forward as a nation, then we need to take a critical look at this book.”

He said the former President was the first leader on the African continent to make his people feel what he called “a sense of certainty and security,” adding “he was the first leader to ensure that a government  can have the sense of security to finish their tenure.”

“These are some of the profound achievements of all who are objective enough should judge JJ Rawlings,” saying “you understand why his admirers refer to him as Junior Jesus and his opponents demonize him as Junior Judas.”

The lecturer said “JJ Rawlings’ work was not just a coup d’ etat. It was a coup to end all coups,” and added that by the former President’s efforts, Ghana has enjoyed two decades of relatively sustained democratic governance.

He said Mr. Rawlings’ abhorrence “to anything that sounds injustice’ should never be overlooked as well as events that culminated in the formation of the 4th Republic and easiness with which he accommodated other leaders.

Dr. Sena Kpeglo, Registrar at Volta University of Allied Sciences, Ho who chaired the launch said “the book satisfies our intellectual curiosity,” and would help to develop Ghana’s contemporary politics.

“It provides an interpretation of the politics of JJ Rawlings,” she said.
The author, Prof. Danso Boafo said “I wrote this book because the transition and consolidation of our democracy owes a lot of gratitude with the person of JJ Rawlings.”

“We have worked on this book consciously. It is not designed to defame anybody. It is purely academic work,” he said.


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