This Article was first published in August, 2000
Gen. Joshua Hamidu (rtd), ex-Director of Military Intelligence and Chief of Defence Staff of the Ghana Armed Forces, has reacted angrily to a seven-page rejoinder by the Deputy Minister of Defence and the Director of Research of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), Dr. Tony Aidoo to statements he (Hamidu) made at a press conference last week.
In an interview with The Dispatch last Friday, Gen. Hamidu, 63, said that if the army had not behaved in civilized manner in the aftermath of the failed May 15, 1979 coup, “we could have summarily executed Mr. Rawlings and all this hullabaloo would not have happened.”
Regarding Dr. Aidoo’s allegation that he (Hamidu) insisted that the then Gen. (rtd) Akwasi Afrifa should be executed the General said: “That is ridiculous. It is a lie. I had nothing to do with the executions. For three weeks after the June 4 event, questions were constantly raised about executing people. I always stood against it. Surprisingly, the only person who also stood against it was Rawlings.
The young boys wanted blood and I used to tell ‘you cannot resurrect the man once you’ve killed him. If you have any case against people, try them. Let everybody hear what they have done wrong against the country.’ And that even, they could not do.”
On whether his press statement last week was written by himself or scribes of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), he laughed and replied: “Well, he (Aidoo) is an academic and so articulate but at least I have enough commonsense to state my case without ranting. And if I had not written that statement, I would not be taking on press interviews.”
The Deputy Defence Minister also alleged that Gen. Hamidu did not retire voluntarily but was retired because of his long record of professional incompetence. He was sharp-tongued in his reaction: “Well, you should ask Tony Aidoo the basis of that assertion. As far as I know, it would be sad for me to have risen up to the CDS if my professional competence was in question. Of course, the government of the day was not the kind of government that would put the types of Dr. Aidoo in charge of a Ministry he does not even know properly.”
General Hamidu then added: “If it had not been our attempt at being a civilized army, we could have summarily executed Mr. Rawlings and all this hullabaloo would not have happened. We wanted to give the man a chance to prove his innocence or his guilt. And what happened? When we gave him that opportunity, they carried out a full-blooded insurrection.”
On whether he regretted that Rawlings was not executed, Hamidu said: “No. What I believed and still believe that every man or woman who has committed an offence or misdemeanor has a right o be heard and you can’t declare a person guilty until you have heard his side of the story. We gave him that opportunity. We do not know if he has done the same for other Ghanaians.”
Tony Aidoo accused Hamidu of being a coward, unlike President Jerry Rawlings who has had the courage and honesty to admit the excesses of June 4 and December 31, 1981.
Hamidu gave his view: “Well, that is his opinion. I do know this that I have taken responsibility for the breakdown. I have said in my statement that to my shame, things went haywire when we tried to bring down the insurrection. And things went haywire because people said it was an other ranks coup. When the men you command say they will no longer be under your command, there is not very much you can do. You can’t go shooting all of them. And if my admission, by virtue of my position at that time of failure to put down the insurrection does not satisfy him and makes me a coward, I would like to see what kind of intellectual dishonesty he is displaying to this country.”
On his role as a senior security operative in the regime of the late Dr. K.A. Busia, Hamidu, who said he had come home to stay for good, explained: “It’s a shame that the Deputy Minister of Defence of this country does not understand the Military Intelligence (MJ) is a security organization for the whole country. At my time, it was the Special Branch, now called the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI). The MI co-operated with the Special Branch and other security organs. To accuse me of being responsible for the overthrow of the Busia regime is mischievous and at best, a big lie. We did report to the appropriate agencies that all was not well.”
Would he be interested if he was offered the slot of being Mr. J.A. Kufuor’s running mate in this year’s elections? “I have said elsewhere that nobody applies for this job.
Nobody canvasses for this job. Nobody but the flagbearer alone can decide on who he wants as his running mate. Therefore, if Mr. Kufuor in his own wisdom decides that I have the requisite experience to be of use to him in any capacity, that will be his priority. And I would feel very honoured to back him.” Gen. Hamidu said by trying to impute that the NPP was using him, the NDC was trying to make it difficult for him to perform any important tasks for the NPP, adding: “They (the NDC) are very good at making mischief. I think they have proved it over and over again. And this whole thing is mischievous.”
On the question of his safety: “Well, I have only one life to live. I’m 63 years now. I know people who have died naturally of heart attack and other things. And I know of people who have died in funny circumstances in this country. I know that I’m being followed around. I was Director of Military Intelligence for a long time and I know that it is the government’s prerogative to secure itself. If this government sees me as a threat and wants to secure itself by following me, so be it.
I’m not doing anything or about to do anything that will jeopardise the security of this country.
source: The Dispatch
General Hamidu Fires First Verbal Salvo At President Rawlings
A former Chief of Defence Staff, Lt. General Joshua M. Hamidu (Retired), says the Vice President, Professor John Evans Attah Mills, is not safe so long as President Rawlings remains his mentor from whom he seeks advice.
“Prof. Mills, you are not safe, please believe me. I know what I am talking about. Please be your own man” General Hamidu said emotionally at a press conference last Wednesday in Accra.
According to him, this statement was prompted by Professor Mills’ claim that he would be knocking at the door of President Rawlings, morning, afternoon and in the evening for advice when he, the Vice President, takes over the mantle of leadership from next year.
Referring to President Rawlings as a dictator who wished he would always remain in power, General Hamidu said, “Now that his tenure of office is coming to an end, the most recent threat of President Rawlings is directed at the very man he himself has hand-picked to be the flagbearer of the PNDC/NDC Party”.
Continuing, he said the President has explicitly stated that he would be very much around and in charge, long after the forthcoming December elections, and reminded Prof. Mills that “you are equal to the task, without having to make one who has failed Ghana during the past 20 years, your mentor”.
Reacting to President Rawlings’ recent statement that after leaving office, among his prospective activities would be to “police all of us and the gains of his regime”, the Retired General advised all Presidential aspirants in the coming elections to come together and form a Government of national reconciliation.
He said, that’s the only way in which President Rawlings will never be given any future opportunity to “police us and the gains of his regime”.
Touching on the military, he noted that JJ Rawlings has successfully destroyed the esprit de corps of the army by establishing a private army of Commandos named the 64th Battalion and advised forces of the Battalion who, according to him, are better resourced and remunerated, not to allow themselves to be misused “to perpetuate the one man and his family in power”.
Addressing the 64th battalion, he said “a look around for his collaborators in treachery from 1979 to date, should provoke you to ask the question: Where are they all?” And advised that with the impending ending of Rawlings’ tenure, there is the need for a plan to absorb and integrate them into the Armed Forces.
Speaking on events that preceded his going into exile, Hamidu, who returned to Ghana in May, this year, after 20 years in exile, revealed that, in actual fact, the chairman of the AFRC then, Flight Lieutenant J. J. Rawlings and a few of his colleagues in the AFRC did not want to hand over power to the democratically- elected Government of the 3rd Republic.
He said, indeed, even on the morning of 24th September, 1979, the day scheduled for the handing over ceremony, the function was 45 minutes late in starting, because J. J. Rawlings and a few of his colleagues refused to turn up at Parliament House for the occasion.
“I had to send the Minister for National Security to go and persuade them to come to Parliament House where the world press and the Ghanaian press, Diplomats and all invited guests were seated, waiting for this momentous handing- over to take place” Hamidu stated.
He said, it was later he was informed that Rawlings finished wearing his uniform in the Pinzgauer vehicle while proceeding from Burma Camp.
“Between 1966 and 1969, we had the military liberators. They didn’t liberate our country. From 1972 to 1979, we had the military redeemers. They did not redeem our country. And, from 1982 to date, we have had the military defenders who later wrapped themselves with a thin veneer of civilian democratic credentials. Only the clothing of the boss has been demilitarized, but not his mind. These defenders have only temporarily convinced themselves as having so far been effective in defending only their misdeeds and not the rights of our people,” the former Chief of the Defence Staff stated.
According to him, the President has sown some awesome seeds of destruction, disintegration and potential anarchy that can make the country ungovernable.
“He seems to be oblivious to the immutable natural law that ‘we always reap what we sow’. We, the Ghanaian people, must never again permit violence, anarchy and mayhem in this land,” he added.
He went on to entreat students and the youth of the country to pursue excellence in order not to become casualties like their predecessors, twenty years ago, who were used to support what was not and has never been in the interest of the country, adding that “the unfolding globalised world is ruthlessly competitive and demands the best of every citizen of our world.”
Responding to questions from the media concerning the possibility of his joining the political race, Gen. Hamidu said he didn’t have the resources and, even if he did, it would be too late to form a political party.
Source:Â Ghanaian Chronicle -Michelle Uduigwome & Isaac Homeku
