Coups based on self-interests - Dr. Nyarko
We are enjoined to safeguard the constitution - Kwadaso MP
The Member of Parliament for Kwadaso, Dr. Kingsley Nyarko, has reacted to comments of Law Professor, Raymond Atuguba about threatening conditions in Ghana that have the possibility of encouraging coup d’états.
According to him, it cannot be entirely true that military takeovers are predominantly premised on economic hardships in a country.
He explained that there are many other revealing conditions for coup d’états and as such, the impression that has been created is misleading.
Speaking on the Thursday, March 3, 2022, edition of Good Morning Ghana on Metro TV, and monitored by GhanaWeb, the MP said that while he knows that the law professor means well for the country, his attempt to make it look like there is a constitutional rational behind his thinking is wrong.
“I know that he’s a nationalist, he means well for this country and he wants this country to make progress. We all have genuine concerns; legitimate concerns about how things should be done and probably done differently, so nobody can contest that.
“I’ve been going through the constitution, there’s nowhere that the prescription for change of government is premised on military takeovers. There is nowhere in the constitution that says that when economic prospects are not doing well, there should be a coup d’état – it is not in there. On the contrary, the constitution enjoins us, in Article 3, that all of us owe it a duty to ensure that the constitution is safeguarded and even when the military takes over, anybody who tries to restore democratic dispensation, has to go scot-free in terms of no punitive measures against that person,” he said.
Dr. Kingsley Nyarko further challenged the impression of Prof. Raymond Atuguba to the effect that economic conditions add up to some of the biggest reasons for military takeovers in any country.
He said that on the contrary, self-interests contribute most to such political downturns.
“Lawyers are the persons who should, at all material times, ensure that the constitution, or the democratic dispensation is held in its sanctity. Before you can say that a particular variable leads to a certain variable outcome, then you should have been able to control all confounding or most of the confounding variables.
“When Raymond said that research shows that economic conditions are the main trigger of coup d’états, I disagree with him and that is not factual. We know that when it comes to military takeovers, there are myriad of factors but you realize that even though some of them mention economic conditions, they’re largely born out of self-interest as well,” he said.
Prof. Raymond Atuguba spoke at a Solidaire Governance Forum on Ghana's constitution and other matters relating to coups.
The Dean of the University of Ghana Law School suggested that the country’s worsening economic situation will serve as a futile ground for a coup.
According to him, the country is broke to the extent that the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, has warned that the government may not be able to pay salaries if something is not done in the next three months.
He said his assessment that Ghana may be rife for a coup partly springs from the knowledge he gained from accompanying a friend who worked on a thesis titled: “Why certain coups succeed and why others fail’ with Ghana as a case study."
Professor Atuguba had earlier on narrated how his family survived the 1979 coup back in the northern part of the country.
“Others were not that lucky. Many Ghanaians who were not able to beat the system like the way my mother did or successfully fight the system like my father did, were mistreated, beaten…even killed.
"We do not want a coup in this country yet I fear that if we do not act quickly, we may have one on our hands very soon. A former colleague doctoral Ph.D. student wrote his dissertation also on Ghana.
"He now teaches at a War College in the US. Whiles my topic was on the Ghana Police, his topic was on the Ghana military.
"Naturally, our paths intersected and we have remained friends since. My friend’s Ph.D. thesis was on the topic ‘Why certain coup succeed and why others fail’. His case study was Ghana.
"My current assessment that Ghana may be rife for a coup partly springs from the knowledge I gained from accompanying my friend through part of his doctoral research on this topic.
"It does not help matters when we consider Samuel Huntington’s thesis on the snowballing effect of coups in the sub–region and the closeness of recent coups to home. A big part of why certain coups succeed and others fail is the economy. What is the state of Ghana’s economy today?
"At the level of the most irreducible idiomaticity, Ghana is broke. Your nation is radically broke. So broke the Speaker of Parliament has publicly warned, gavel in hand, that we may not be able to pay salaries of public sector workers in some three months unless a miracle happens," he said.
Following his lecture, a number of government officials and New Patriotic Party (NPP) members called him out, describing his comments as those that can incite people to embrace coup d’états.
Dr. Kingsley Nyarko has tackled Prof Atuguba over his claims about coups