When An �Osahene� Stoops So Low

During the days of the Ashanti wars, a general who led such wars was called Osahene. The Osahene swore before his troops that he would be the last to leave the battlefield, and promised to die rather than surrender to the enemy. It was the show of bravado of an Osahene that gingered the Ashanti warriors to fight till the drop of the last blood. Anytime an Osahene returned from the war front, women sang his praises for days on end. The Asante kingdom was built with the blood of the Osahene and their descendants are still revered. This is the third time I am writing about Retired Major Osahene Boakye Djan, the former Spokesman of the defunct Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC). Surely this is not going to be the last time since he has now jumped into the political waters, where the current is swift. Since he arrived from exile by the grace of the NPP regime which established the National Reconciliation Commission, he has issued controversial statements which make us doubt his sincerity. At the National Reconciliation Commission where he testified, he was so arrogant in his defense of the atrocities of the wish-to-be-forgotten revolution that the chairman of the Commission, Justice Amuah Sekyi, had this to tell him: �Thank you for coming. But you are not apologetic enough�. It came to pass that after the palace coup which ousted General Acheampong as the Chairman of the Supreme Military Council, the ban on political parties was lifted in January 1979 and June 18th the same year was fixed for presidential and parliamentary elections for Ghanaians to go to the polls to elect a government of their choice. Several political parties registered and kick-started their campaign. The then military regime, led by General Akuffo, stayed neutral and watched from the touchline as the politicians slugged it out in the towns and villages of Ghana. In fact, everything was ready for the election when on 15th May 1979 we heard the shrill voice of a man on air, telling us that the army had taken over power from the SMC II. Workers in Accra abandoned their journey to their offices on hearing the news of alleged gunshots at the Burma Camp and the Flagstaff House. Briefing the press the following day, Colonel A.A Enninful, a fine military gentleman and Director of Public Relations of the Ghana Armed Forces, told Ghanaians that the leader of that uprising was one Flight Lt. J.J. Rawlings. He hinted that a Military Tribunal had been set up to try the guy and his colleagues who wanted to disturb the peace. As Rawlings and his gang of indiscipline junior ranks were being tried, Ghanaians kept their cool while political parties ignored the military and went about campaigning. Unknown to Ghanaians, Then Captain Boakye Djan and other junior ranks planned to break into the guardroom where Rawlings was kept, with the sole aim of releasing him from lawful custody. On June 4th the same year, the dream of Captain Boakye Djan came to reality and Rawlings, who had grown so lean, was spirited away and taken to the Ghana Broadcasting Co-operation to make yet another announcement that he had overthrown the SMC II regime. As the top military hierarchy run for cover, it took only Major-General Odattey Willington, the Army Commander, to resist the mutineers. He was killed in the process and the AFRC tightened their grip on power. Captain Boakye Djan was made the spokesman of the junta which set out in a systematic agenda to kill all officers above the rank of a major. In the following melee, Colonel Enninful and his family, including his pet dog, were all mowed down by the mutineers. For three months, Ghanaians were fed with nothing but blood and iron. The bizarre exhibition of �soldier power�, the drilling and shaving of suspects with broken bottles often explained away in the name of �revolutionary justice� were all what the people endured as we continued to pray to the high heavens to come to our rescue. Out of anger, the lean-looking Chairman Rawlings commanded that the Makola Market should be demolished and it was done. Then the time came for more blood to flow. Before Ghanaians could blink their eyes, the former Head of State, General Ignatius Kutu Acheampong, who was dismissed and living in his village at Trabuom in the Ashanti Region, was arrested and executed at the Teshie Military range. On that same day, the then Border Guards Commander, Major General Edward Kwaku Utuka, also faced the firing squad. Before we could wipe our eyes of the tears, six other senior officers were lined up at the military range and summarily executed. The immediate past former Head of State, General Fred William Kwasi Akuffo and General Akwasi Amankwaa Afrifa, another former Head of State, former navy Commander, Rear Admiral Joy Amedome, former Air Force Commander, Vice Marshall George Yaw Boakye, former Chief of Defense Staff, Robert Ebenezer Abosey Kotei, former Commissioner for Foreign Affairs, Roger Feli, were all lined up at the Teshie Military Range and shot like common criminals. All these bloodshed was under the supervision and had the blessings of Captain Boakye Djan, who was the de facto Prime Minister. After the three months of carnage and bloodbath, Ghanaians went to the polls to elect Dr Hilla Limann and his Peoples National Party to lead the nation in a democratic dispensation. Dr. Limann met with all the members of the AFRC and offered to retire them from the Ghana Armed Forces with a resettlement package. They all agreed and received their cheques. It was only Rawlings who did not fly out of the country after receiving his cheque. Undoubtedly, the man knew what he was after. When Boakye Djan left the shores of Ghana, he found himself in the UK, where he later told us that he was attending the University of Gatwick to do War Studies (whatever that means is known to him). Two years later, when the same Rawlings came shouting that he had overthrown the Limann regime, this man who now calls himself Osahene (Commander) was still enjoying life in London. As the Gyiwas and the Sarkodies were forced to pay the supreme price to get us out of the quack mire, this so-called Osahene was still drinking his tea in the white man�s country. He could not even muster courage to come down to bury his father when the old man died, fearing that Rawlings will arrest him and execute him like he did Sarkodie Addo, who was also a member of the AFRC. As we continued to trudge on with pain in our hearts following the lost of our dear ones through the revolution, the junior brother of Boakye Djan, who was a student at the University of Science and Technology, Kyeremeh Djan, was framed up in a coup d��tat with Dra Gorka, another student who had returned from abroad on a visit. The two young lads were tortured, quickly tried and executed. Still, the man who calls himself Osahene shamelessly stayed in London, enjoying life. This is the man who is now staking his interest to go to parliament on the ticket of a political party founded by his arch enemy, My Rawlings. No wonder Rawlings once told Ghanaians that at the peak of the June 4th mutiny, Boakye Djan was hiding under the bed of his girl friend somewhere in Accra. If Osahene Boakye Djan thinks Ghanaians have forgotten the pain that he unleashed on us as a member of the AFRC, then someone out there should tell him that as long as some of us are alive and kicking, we will continue to tell the younger generations of his sordid past. What is he going to parliament to do with his blood stained hands? In fact, what has he got to offer the people of Jaman after running away to hide in London and leaving them behind to bear the pain of a revolution he nurtured? After being told by Kofi Adam that if he was able to produce an NDC party card it would be a fake one, why is he still worrying himself. Has the man got the word �shame� in his lexicon at all? No, Mr. Coward, the Ghana that you left behind in 1979 has come a long way. You need to stay long enough and get yourself cleansed of the iniquities before you will be admitted into the �comity� of genuine Ghanaians. You helped derailed a democratic dispensation, run away to hide in far away London and now here you are disturbing our ears with loose talk. You better put up or shut up over there in Jaman.