THE HISTORICAL ANTECEDENT OF JUNE 4 UPRISING
The June 4, 1979 Uprising was a revolt by the Armed Forces of Ghana to address the ills of the Ghanaian society that arose out of combination of factors such as high cost of living, economic hardship, social repression, Kalabule that led to high inflation as well as institutionalized corruption among the elite class of society and the ruling Military hierarchy that had promised to transform the Ghanaian economy by implementing social policies and programs that will have direct impact on the sustainable livelihood development of ordinary Ghanaian and would alleviate poverty and economic hardship on the Ghanaian people. But the Military Junta of Supreme Military Council [SMC I] led by Gen. Kutu Acheampong and II led by Gen. Akuffo failed to address these challenges of the Ghanaian people. This development led to frustration among the Ghanaian public and misunderstanding within the Ghanaian Army.
The event of June 4 was not a coup d’état as it was described but a popular uprising. A coup d’état is when a Military junta overthrows a Civilian government. But In the case of June 4, it was a Military take over from another Military government that reflected the desires and aspiration of the Ghanaian people. It is neither a Revolution because Revolution reflects change in ideology, political philosophy and direction of a country example; from a capitalist ideology to socialist ideology or vice versa. This popular uprising by the Ghanaian people led by the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council [AFRC] represented the spirit, desires and aspirations of the Ghanaian people so it was a popular uprising and not a coup d’état. The June 4 was birthed by the Mutiny on 15th May, 1979 where some Junior Officers of the Army who were relentless to represent the voice of the masses to topple the SMC II Government that were perceived as corrupt. This mutiny failed hence these officers including flight Lt JJ Rawlings were arrested and put before trial at the Court Martial. Their main concern was the corruption among the High Ranked Military Government whiles majority of Ghanaians continue to suffer under economic hardship and abject poverty. So, the events that birthed the popular uprising were as a result of bad governance to which citizens were subjected to economic hardship, social repression, high rate unemployment, amidst high cost of living and institutionalized corruption among high ranking military leadership. During these periods, there was shortage of foodstuffs, groceries and many products and provision for livelihood were scarce which people termed as “Kalabule” (Hording of goods and services) where the rich was getting more richer and the poor was getting more poorer. There was no middle class. So the uprising sorts to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor in society. In the light of this, the mutiny and the popular uprising which attracted, the academia, students, market men and women, professionals like teachers, doctors, lawyers, Civil society organizations and the grassroot sort to tackle these ills that has crippled the Ghanaian economy by bridging the Gap between the rich and the poor and creating a classless society where supply of goods and services will be accessible to all.
When the mutiny failed on May 15, the gallant officers including JJ Rawlings were put before trial. The climax of the trial was that the state prosecutor who was responsible for the prosecution of Rawlings and others on the charge sheet re-echoed the spirit of the mutiny by giving reasons why these officers embarked on this mutiny to restore confidence in the Ghanaian people of good governance against bad governance. He said “Mr. President, the first accused JJ Rawlings had for long time felt disillusioned about injustice in our society, more particularly the Acheampong regime and so when in July 1978 when the SMC was reconstituted with removal of Acheampong as Head of State, JJ Rawlings thought things were going to improve but to no avail and when he realize that there was no improvement in general condition of the Ghanaian people, he was struck with dismay and lamented over what he termed as “the tarnished image of the armed forces”. He regretted that at the time when the military junta is due to hand over to a civilian government, the military had done nothing to improve the image of the armed forces. So, JJ Rawlings and his colleagues facing trial rather won the support of the State Prosecutor and one prosecution witness confessed that Rawlings had declared he was ready to die for his colleagues and when Rawlings was given the opportunity to speak, He owned the mutiny by his popular proclamation that “Leave my men alone, I am responsible”. He turned the trial against the Military government by accusing it of massive corruption and requesting that his fellow accused be set free. JJ diatribe resonated with the entire nation as there was massive suffering, abject poverty and economic within the Ghanaian society. In the night of June 3, 1979 whiles Rawlings and his peers were incarcerated for sentencing, Junior officers including Boakye Gyan broke into the jail where Rawlings was being held and freed him and ostensibly marched him to the National Radio station GBC to make announcement of AFRC take over and requested all military officers to meet with them at the Nicholson stadium in Burma camp. The entire nation went uproar with the slogan “power to the people”. The Senior Military officers and the Military Junta who were involved in corrupt practices during their tenure of office including Gen. Acheampong, Akuffo, Kotey, Utuka, Afrifa and others were put before trial at Court Martial and subsequently executed by firing squad when they were pronounced guilty of all charges preferred against them by the prosecution.
THE TRAJECTORY OF THE UPRISING, THE IMPACT AND SUCCESS STORY
So, the event of June 4 and its success story cannot be overruled in the annals of Ghanaian politics. Admittedly, although there were excesses, the event served a purpose for the good of the Ghanaian people. The event birthed a principle of probity, accountability, honesty, integrity and social justice which are tenets of democratic development of any sovereign states and social contract between government and citizens. This was because at the time of the popular uprising led by the good people of Ghana, there was deep seated corruption within the military government of SMC, political oppression, economic mismanagement, arbitrary price increase of goods and services to mean high inflation rate, hording of essential goods by corrupt citizens, indiscipline and abject poverty among the Ghanaian people. These principles of the Uprising mentioned above sort to sanitize these prevailing conditions of economic mismanagement and unbridled corruption by the military government SMC II led by Gen. Akuffo who toppled the SMC I government led by Gen. Kutu Acheampong hence, the event ended the dark days which Ghanaians found themselves.
All though the AFRC was short lived by transferring power to a Civilian government to continue with the Political, social and economic reforms, it came back through the 31st December, 1981 Coup D’état to implement its social policies and programs which the civilian government failed to do after the AFRC handed over power to them. The 2nd coming of Rawlings and his men through the Provisional National Defense Council [PNDC] sort to entrench the principles of the June 4 Uprising: probity, accountability, honesty, integrity and social justice in the body politic of Ghana. There has been much commentary about this coup as unjustifiable because it toppled a civilian government, but the Leadership of the PNDC led by JJ Rawlings proved critics wrong beyond reasonable doubt by entrenching the principles of probity, accountability, honesty, integrity and social justice to core in the body politic of Ghana by addressing the challenges the country was faced with. The PNDC implemented the Rapid Populist Approach mantra through the Structural Adjustment Program (SAP) which incorporates Agricultural Revolution, bridging the infrastructural deficit, Economic Recovery Programs as well as Educational Recovery Programs and by 1984 these reforms and programs had yielded dividends. The IMF that gave Ghana a bail out of economic hardship cited Ghana as one of the best and fastest growing Economies in Africa. The infrastructural gap was reduced by rapid expansion of electricity and water to rural communities to lessen rural urban migration, railway development projects to enhance the movement of cocoa from rural communities to urban communities and cocoa roads to enable farmers to cart cocoa from their farms to urban communities to which Ghana became the leading producer exporter of cocoa in the world by 1982. Agriculture was at its peak and professionals such as teachers and doctors who had fled Ghana to seek greener pastures abroad in countries like Nigeria all returned to contribute their quoter in Nation building. Through this adventure of selflessness, commitment to make Ghana a beacon of hope for Africa by the AFRC/PNDC birthed the 4th Republic to entrench democratic principles in the governance of Ghana.
THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF GHANA TODAY
Is Ghana a Failed State?
Against this backdrop, Leadership today is a mere shadow of the principles that birthed the June 4. The government under President Nana Akuffo Addo has failed to crack the whip on institutional corruption and economic mismanagement. We have lost the sense of responsibility of holding our leader accountable through probity and social justice. The purpose of the June 4 uprising has been defeatist because institutionalized corruption among the political elite, economic hardship, youth unemployment, social repression, political oppression that the uprising addressed has returned back to the body politic of Ghana and the rented media has remained silent on these irregularities and ills that has crippled the political, socio-economic development of Ghana under the NPP government led by Nana Akuffo Addo and Dr. Bawumia. Under the guise of democracy, politicians who entered politics with nothing, have everything at their disposal while majority of the populace continue to live in abject poverty, economic hardship and high cost of living. Politicians have used democracy to amass wealth grabbing everything they lay their hands on and it’s very worst within the current leadership of the NPP Government whiles the ordinary Ghanaian cannot afford 1 square meal a day. It is an animal farm now under the government of Nana Akuffo and Dr. Bawumia; it’s all about create-loot and share. Ghana today is fraught with property owning democracy principle where politicians are amassing wealth at the blind side of their followers and sharing the booty among their family members and cronies. We can talk about PDS scandal where a clientele clique under Nana Akuffo Addo and Dr. Bawumia outsourced the Electricity Company of Ghana to themselves, collected a whooping ghc- 600 million in revenue and cannot be accounted for. The stinking SML deal exposed by KPMG Audit Report amidst tax evasion and arbitrary payments received by SML from GRA, the Sky Train mantra where $2m has been paid to a consortium with nothing to show, $12m has already been spent on Agyapa deal with nothing to show, the National Cathedral Scandal where $58m have been spent so far and still remains a manhole, the Cecelia Dapaah mantra, former Minister of Sanitation under whose bed millions of dollars was found and attempt cover up by government for her to escape prosecution, and most recently the attempt sale of SNNIT Hotels to a Minister of State as well as $12m paid to a contractor to construct the Pwalugu Dam in the Northern Region to assist irrigation purposes with nothing to show and many more countless scandals captured in the various Audit Reports between 2017-23,.
So, the events that inspired the June 4 uprising are events of Ghana today—Unbridled corruption, high inflation rates, high cost of living, Cedi depreciation, gargantuan fuel hikes, soaring food prices, social repression, political oppression, youth unemployment, frivolous expenditure by the executive whiles majority of the masses suffer in abject poverty, arbitrary prosecution of opposition members and return of criminal libel in guise where political opponents are arbitrarily arrested and persecuted for criminal libel which was outlawed by the current President Nana Akuffo Addo when he was the Attorney General. There is human right abuse, extra judicial killings and brutalities by police and military in Ghana where perpetrators have not been brought to book and government have failed to investigate to core to compensate victims. Today in Ghana the 4th estate media, clergy, opinion leaders, CSO’S that were vociferous in the past are silent over these ills of the Ghanaian society.
CONCLUSION AND WAY FORWARD
So, the arrested conspirators of June 4 including Rawlings stood for the will of the people and the trial further highlighted their desire to defend the will of the ordinary people. So the June 4 was a spontaneous reaction to the events of 15 May and the trial of the conspirator that took place. It indeed reflected the will of the people and whiles those who chose the path of distorting this history and Narrative out of political expedience have done so to the detriment of our political fabrique that made Ghana a beacon of hope for Africa democracies as results of successes chalked by the June 4 Uprising. So, the spirit of June 4 will forever reign supreme in the annals of Ghana politics. No history can distort the success story of June 4; it speaks volume of selfless leadership and commitment to serve the will of the masses upholding to the tenets of social contract, justice and civil liberties. As those who tried to distort this truth did so, the national call for drastic change was overwhelming. The event of May 15 was an antecedent of June 4 which brought difficulties facing the nation to the fore and challenged the youth particularly student groups and junior ranks of the Armed Forces and the country at large to take their destiny in their hands and change the course of Ghanaian history which today is suppressed by political corruption among the political elite.
As we commemorate this day, the 45th Anniversary of June 4, we cannot forget the events of that period and why June 4 uprising happened. Ghana is at the cross road and citizens must continue to demand for probity, accountability, honesty, integrity, and social justice from leadership and greedy politicians who rides on the back of the ordinary citizens to enrich themselves while others live in abject poverty. We can achieve this together in the December 7 general elections by voting for change because Sovereignty resides in the people and emanates from the by the 1992 Constitution
To conclude, it is important to note that the events of June 4, 1979 was not a coup d’ etat but a popular uprising that resonate with the good people of Ghana at the time. Therefore, principles and trajectory of June 4 uprising; probity, accountability, honesty, transparency and social justice should inspire countless Ghanaians to vote for change in the upcoming December7 general election since democracy has given every Ghanaian the will power to change the narrative of bad governance and economic mismanagement by the NPP government to a narrative that will improve the living standards of the ordinary Ghanaian through a policy framework that will have direct impact on the sustainable livelihood development of the ordinary Ghanaian. This will make politics relevant to the course of the suffering masses. The onus rest on civil society organizations, progressive voluntary organizations, opposition political parties, students and professionals and Ghanaians of upright mind to join forces to change this narrative of corrupt government through the ballot in the December 7 general elections. For; it is a passing torch and who fix it knows.
“Truth is one and Truth cannot be adulterated. No matter how a lie runs faster someday the truth shall overcome it because truth is Life”—Jerry John Rawlings. Rest in Peace! Neho JJ Rawlings and Rise in Glory on the Resurrection Day! Now praise you Great and Famous Men the Fathers named in story.
Article by
Dr. Michael Richmond Smart-Abbey (Political and Public Policy Analyst, Security Intelligence and Governance Expert, Historian and Theologian)
PROFILE
Dr. Michael Richmond Smart-Abbey is a prolific Writer and Author with most of his Books and Articles published worldwide. Notable of his Books in non- fictional are: Fundamental Doctrine of Christianity, The Divine and Sacred Mystery of Priesthood, Fictional : Terrorism, A Threat to Global Peace and Security, Organizational Security Management Training Modules VOL 1 &2. Born in James Town, British Accra in 1979, he had his Elementary and Secondary Education at New Hope Preparatory school, Institute of Divine Education, Korle Gonno, Accra and Achimota Secondary school, Ghana respectively. He holds (BA, Hons, Political Science with History [University of Ghana, 2003], Associate Bachelor of Arts Degree in Prophetic Ministry Studies [Impact Bible Training College], Master of Divinity [Christian Leadership University USA, Doctor of Theology, ThD [Asia Pacific College of Theology, Philippines, Doctor of Philosophy, PhD, Theology option [Christian Leadership University, USA] Gen. Cert. of Training, Organizational Security Management [Sabrewatch International Security Training School, East Grinstead, England, UK], Executive Certificate and Executive Advanced Certificate in Security Intelligence and Forensic Studies [Knutsford University College, affiliated to University of Ghana]. He had previously worked with VAT Service, Ghana as Revenue Officer, Sabrewatch Security Ltd, UK as Safety and Security Officer, the National Sports Authority, Ghana as Principal Administrative Officer, Safety and Security Coordinator and Management Member [2007-2018]. He was also a Member of National Security Council Board for Sports and Coordinated Safety and Security for all National Teams Matches between 2008 and 2018. He is a Christian Theologian and ordained Minister of the Gospel by the Association of Independent Ministers of Great Britain and currently a practicing Consultant in Organizational Security Management, Governance and Research Fellow in Qualitative Research Methodology, Executive Director, Biblical Advocacy and Christian Theology Institute, A Book and Teaching Ministry.
CONTACT
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