Stop stirring tension in Ghana with extreme political hypocrisy – March 2018
Over the past two weeks, Ghanaians, both at home and abroad, have been treated to a heightened sense of tension, fear, trepidation and anxiety over a news item that the current government of President Nana Akufo Addo has signed a military agreement with the United States of America under which the latter is going to establish a “military base” in Ghana. The carriers and propagandists of this news gave all kinds of scenarios and information that sought to create the impression that the current government had “sold off” Ghana’s sovereignty and independence to the United States for a paltry sum of 20 million US dollars.
The propagandists of the above news were led by leaders of the Opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) who then organized what they had termed a “nation-wide massive demonstration” against the attempt by the government to “sell” Ghana to the United States. It turned out to be a few hundred bored people who had nothing to do with their time who thronged the streets of Accra. It became clear as the days went by and as they kept making noise that many of them had either not read the agreement itself or were being mischievous, plain and simple. Much as the few officials of the government, the Defence Minister and Minister of Information sought to explain matters to allay the fears of Ghanaians, the more noise the NDC leaders made with some even suggesting that the President should be “impeached” for “selling” Ghana to the United States for 20 million dollars. Another Opposition member of a defunct political party, HassanAyariga even offered to pay back the 20 million dollars the government is accused of collecting back to the US government.
All these hype and dangerous rumor mongering have created too much unnecessary and needless tension in the country over the past two weeks. Finally, as reported in one of our lead stories in this issue, on Thursday night April 5th, 2018, President Akufo Addo addressed the nation and laid bare the facts of this Ghana-US Military agreement which the NDC claims has “sold” Ghana to the United States for 20 million dollars.
As the President pointed out clearly in his address, nothing can be further from the truth in the propaganda mounted by the NDC apparatchiks. What they have been doing for the past two weeks is nothing short of heightened and dangerous hypocrisy. Why? This is because in all their extreme noise-making, the NDC never mentioned that the previous NDC governments under Jerry John Rawlings and John Dramani Mahama had signed very similar military agreements with the United States in 1998 and 2000 (under Rawlings) and twice in 2015 (under John Mahama).
The difference between the 1998, 2000, 2015 agreements and the 2018 agreement signed by the NPP government just lies in the behavior and honesty of the Ghanaian leaders who initiated and signed these agreements. Whilst the NDC Presidents Rawlings and Mahama signed the agreements in secret, unknown to the Ghanaian public, Nana Akufo Addo’s government sought to have the people’s representatives in Parliament to see, debate and ratify this agreement before it goes into effect.
The questions we wish to pose to the NDC and all like-minded propagandists are the following: Who is being honest with Ghanaians as far as these military agreements ae concerned, the NDC or the NPP?
Who “sold off” Ghana to the Americans, if these agreements are “sell-outs”, the NDC or NPP?
Why did the NDC in all their noise-making never mentioned that they had signed as many as three of such agreements before they were booted out of office?
Who secretly negotiated with the United States and shipped two terrorists from Guantanamo Bay to live in Ghana, have their names changed, got Ghanaian wives and Ghanaian passports?
Ghana is currently enjoying political stability and we strongly encourage all the actors on the political stage to approach our politics with honesty and respect at least for the intelligence of the ordinary Ghanaian. They should spare us the unnecessary and needless tension they try to create at the least opportunity.
