The sixth month of the year June, touted by its “June-borns” as the greatest month, has varied experiences in many Ghanaian families, and evokes varying emotions. It is a month of births, and it is a month of deaths. It is a month of joy, and it is a month of sorrow!
Memory
Sunday 4th June 2023 was the 44th anniversary of the insurrection/mutiny/ revolution of 4th June 1979. As I watched the celebration on TV, my mind went into memory lane. Having been told that, “Ghanaians have short memories,” the protagonists believe that, Ghanaians who saw/experienced the atrocities of June 1979 have forgotten.
To them, Ghanaians have forgotten that, Generals/Colonels were executed, Judges were abducted and murdered, Businessmen/women were declared thieves and hounded, and Makola women brutalised! Revolutionaries therefore celebrate the violence of the period oblivious of the pain of victims’ relatives.
Sadly, many who saw /suffered the atrocities have been silent, probably because of the potential of violence, which the revolutionaries brag about as their trademark/monopoly. They therefore do not come out openly to educate Ghanaians on what happened. However, Ghanaians have not forgotten the chants of “let the blood flow” by university students of the time who are today’s elderly/old men and women.
For anyone who did not experience the violence/deaths of the period, it is easy to reduce 1979/1981 to a mere academic exercise where people display theoretical mental dexterity. However, for victims/anyone who saw it, 4th June 1979 and its aftermath were traumatic/tragic.
4th June 1979
It started as a mutiny by soldiers of the 5th Battalion (Bn) of Infantry at Arakan Barracks, Accra. Earlier, on 15th May 1979, Flt Lt Rawlings, attempted taking over the country by attacking the Recce Regiment where he hoped to commandeer armoured vehicles of the Regiment.
Led by our Commanding Officer of the Armoured Recce Regiment Maj Abubakar Sulemana, the attempt was foiled. After being arrested, Rawlings was charged with treason. In a dramatic twist during his trial, he endeared himself to Ghanaians when he told the court that, the men he used for his May 15th attempt were innocent, and that he alone was responsible for what happened. With the corruption/economic malaise in Ghana, Rawlings’ bold statement resonated with Ghanaians.
Events
Early on Monday, 4th June 1979, firing started at the 5 Bn of Infantry, Arakan Barracks. The murky situation suggested a mutiny in the offing. As day broke, it was established that, the mutiny was led by a L/Cpl Tasiri. What their grievance was however was not clear.
Needing an officer to lead them to the Broadcasting House to announce their take-over of the state, Tasiri approached a captain who refused to be part of the mutiny. The mutineers then decided to release from the Military Intelligence Cell Rawlings who was facing trial for treason for his 15th May 1979 attempted coup.
Believing he was going to be killed, Rawlings doggedly refused to come out. Forced out by the mutineers, he sustained a deep cut in his palm from the cell’s metal door which he had clung to, hence the bandaged hand in subsequent days. Out of the cell, he was driven to the Broadcasting House to announce the take-over of the country by young officers and Other Ranks.
Casualties
The immediate enemy was the Recce Regiment which had foiled Rawlings’ earlier attempt. When mortars were fired at the Recce Regiment Square, the first round that landed killed a young soldier instantly. Later during the day, Maj Gen NA Odartey-Wellington, the Army Commander was killed-in-action by the mutineers at the Nima Police Station.
Also killed were Colonel Joseph Enninful, the president of the Court Martial which was trying Rawlings, and Mrs Enninful.
To the shock of the whole nation on 16th June 1979, Gen IK Acheampong a former Head of State and the Maj Gen EK Utuka, the Border Guards commander were executed by firing squad after a kangaroo court of young officers and some academics found them guilty of corruption. As if the bloodshed was not enough, on 26th June 1979, five other Generals and a Colonel were executed.
They were Lt Gen AA Afrifa (Rtd) a former Head of State, Maj Gen FWK Akuffo a former head of State, Maj Gen REA Kotei the CDS, Air-Vice-Marshal Boakye the Air Force Commander, Rear Admiral Joy Amedume the Navy Commander and Col Roger Felli the Minister for Foreign Affairs.
But for the threat of intervention by some foreign countries, Ghana was on the path of “Menguistu-type Ethiopian-revolution” in which many Ghanaians had been earmarked for execution. The three months which followed till power was handed over to President Limann in September 1979, saw many summary executions.
Aftermath
Many Ghanaians who did not die were traumatized for life. Some promising military officers had to flee Ghana.
Shakespeare said “unnatural deeds breed unnatural troubles!” While many of the revolutionaries who killed died unnatural deaths in what Buddhism/Hinduism call the Law of Karma, those alive defend their revolution, or maintain a discreet silence, or have become very religious. Ironically, having sentenced Generals to death for taking bank loans they were servicing, some individuals have become rich from the spoils of the revolution. Disrespect for authority and indiscipline at the time are the legacy left behind.
A senior colleague I served with in the Sinai Desert, Egypt in 1975-76 as UN peacekeepers with the United-Nations-Emergency-Force (UNEF) 2’s favorite saying was, “if someone takes you for a fool, make him aware that, you are not as foolish as he thinks. You have only chosen to look so for the sake of peace. But it will not last forever!” For those who revel in the belief that, Ghanaians have short memories, and bask in the glory of monopoly of violence, remember that Ghanaian families still grieve over relatives they lost.
To potential young future adventurists, the history of British Colonel Oliver Cromwell who executed King Charles 1 in 1649, only to be posthumously executed in 1661 is well-documented and studied! “Posthumous execution” is the ceremonial mutilation of a dead body as punishment. It shows that even in death, one cannot escape justice!
As Shakespeare’s Mark Antony said in Julius Caesar, “the evil that men do lives after them. The good is oft interred with their bones!”
May the souls of all victims of June 4th 1979/31st December 1981 rest in peace. Never again should such blood-thirstiness happen in Ghana!
Leadership, lead! Fellow Ghanaians, WAKE UP!
Brig Gen Dan Frimpong (Rtd)
Former CEO, African Peace Support Trainers Association
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