Public Interest Lawyer and former Minister of State under the Rawlings regime, Sam Pee Yalley says he is of the firm belief that the flagbearer of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Akufo-Addo, if given the opportunity to be President, has the potential to be reckless with the use of the country’s Armed Forces since he has so much preference for violence.
He avers that his assessment of Ghana’s one-time Foreign Affairs Minister is based on remarks he (Nana Addo) passed when he addressed the press recently and stated his party’s position on the Ivorian crisis.
Mr. Sam Yalley described comments by the opposition that Ghana has lost in African diplomacy as intriguing and misleading since available evidence does not support such claims, pointing out that it appears the NPP is uninformed about the issue or simply trying to misrepresent facts for their own political expediency.
Speaking on Radio Gold’s Alhaji and Alhaji show, Mr. Yalley said it is indeed worrisome that the NPP is talking about committing troops since their track record does not support their current position. He noted that a wise President does not just follow procedures by needlessly dispatching troops to maim and kill people, adding that every country has its foreign policy based on certain values and principles and Ghana’s principle ought to be its permanent interest not permanent friends.
“Whose interest are we going to serve if we take (up) arms tomorrow to go and fight the people of Ivory Coast?…knowing very well that from the North to the Centre of Ivory Coast to the South are made up of Ghanaians…And those who are oblivious of history, they should be reminded of the Kotoko/Asec match. Even a football match and its repercussions on Ghanaians there was so devastating, so a wise President is not the one who will just follow procedures and say that ‘oh yes, send troops to go and kill people’. Who is he going to kill? The first 10 people he’ll kill may be Ghanaians,”
He continued; “President Mills has said on countless occasions that he stands by the position of ECOWAS; besides every country has foreign policy based on certain values and principles and for me, Ghana’s principle ought to be and must be our permanent interest and not permanent friends,” he emphasized.
According to him, President Mills never looks at events on its emotional side and reasoned that the Ivorian political impasse would not have reached this level if ECOWAS had given President Mills the opportunity to speak with Gbagbo when he offered to do so right from the onset. To him, it was a huge political gaffe on the part of the AU and ECOWAS to place sanctions on Cote D’ivoire at the beginning of the crisis.
“He (Mills) has a wiser way of looking at things instead of an emotional way of looking at things. Prez Mills looks at things more in-depth than just political gains or political votes…If you’ve a society and you declare that I’m not a member, does your rules govern me now? The fact that you’ve taken such a position means you’ve already taken sides and your diplomacy will be faulted. And that’s why the AU/ECOWAS goofed…They should’ve taken a neutral position and allowed cool heads to reign,” he proffered.
The former Minister of State then lambasted flagbearer of the NPP and maintained that he (Akufo-Addo) is likely to recklessly deploy Ghana’s Armed Forces to fight a needless war if he becomes the president of Ghana.
“Considering what Kofi Koomson said, I am beginning most unfortunately to suspect that if you give this country to Nana Akufo Addo, it is very likely he will recklessly deploy the use of Ghana Armed Forces. Why do you at this time, when there is serious crisis in Ivory Coast, try to put political pressure on your government because you are the opposition leader?…I think that Kofi Koomson may be right that he cannot sleep if we give this country to Nana Akufo Addo. He has the potential to be reckless with the use of armed forces and he likes violence. I think he likes so much violence if you look at the Bamba boys and everything. In this current situation, Akufo Addo should not say what he is saying,” he fumed.
Source: Beatrice Adepa Frempong