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The Presidential
Palace debate
E.
Ablorh-Odjidja, Ghanadot
October 6, 2009
The debate on the
merit of Jubilee House has shifted from cost to safety issues.
So the whole point of moving President Atta Mills and staff to
Jubilee House now evolves on the assurance of security.
However, the issue of safety did not bother ex-President J. A.
Kufuor when he moved into Jubilee House in his final days at the
presidency.
Nine months later, safety and security are the cardinal reasons
for not moving the Atta Mills administration. And they have been
raised by none other than a National Security Advisor, and a
retired General. I would love to take his view serious, but for
one reason: His excuse, unfortunately, marks the point of
overreach for a case that has long been badly handled.
“In my personal view, I will prefer the Castle to be the seat of
government,” he offered, talking against the move to Jubilee
House.
And the General’s reason for preferring the Osu Castle was
because of the sea at the back of its walls.
The problem is the Swedes, the orginal builders of the Castle,
thought so too in the 1650s. They lost it to the Danes. In 1693,
an intrepid Akwamu warrior called Asomaning, probably someone
we should build an edifice for, overwhelmed the security system
of the Castle, sea and all, and seized it in the only
justifiable coup ( if we should call what he did a coup).
Unfortunately, Asomaning was to sell the Castle back for a
pittance, probable for an amount worth extremely less today
than the security barracks the General wants for Jubilee House.
The Swedes and all thought the sea was an effective security
barrier. Understandably, they were right at a time when the only ferocious
threat was one that could come from the direction of the sea,
like canons fired from a floating, wave rocking wooden frigate.
In today’s terms, the sea is not enough. This is the 21st
century, not the 17th when weaponry was not precision science.
Moreover, history has taught us that the most likely threat to
our democracy has always come from an internal coup, not from
foreign troops or invaders.
This is why Jubilee House has this one advantage. Surrounded by
streets on all sides, it would be easy to mount surveillance
cameras on it. The White House, the seat of the government of
the world’s super power, is in the middle of the city of
Washington, D.C and it has surveillance cameras all around it.
As for the sea, it cannot be turned into a defense system
successfully with Ghana’s feeble economy. Putting warships or
frigates at sea for 24 hours a day tour, seven days' week
surveillance is something beyond our means now. (Just by way of
curiosity, how many warships do we have now? The number should
come as the resource for our whole sea defense!)
Or should we invest in some powerful surveillance cameras
pointing out to sea when the threat against our constitution has
always been internal?
Interestingly, the General failed to grasp the significance
“response” plays to imminent danger. The lack of vigorous
response to insurgencies has historically made our nation
vulnerable to the very danger the General seeks to prevent with
residency at the castle.
This “response” is a human factor, not technological means. It
has heart and it has courage as well as loyalty and conscience.
The last time there was a successful attack on our government
was in 1981. Response to that attack was abysmal when compared
to the brutal ones directed at subsequent failed ones.
But there is a more serious case against the General; his
failure to understand that the Osu Castle was once a slave fort:
The opposition to its candidacy as an executive seat is about
cultural memory and disgrace.
It must not be forgotten that the Osu Castle, now seat of
government, was once a departure point into slavery. As such, it
harbors bitter memories of regret and betrayal for our brethrens
in the Diaspora. Is this the memory we must honor by turning it
into the executive seat of the first Black Country to gain
independence from colonial rule?
The cultural abomination that was ended when in January 7, 2009
Ex-President John Kufuor moved the seat of government from the
Castle to the new Jubilee House. It was the NDC party, with
President John Atta Mills at the helm, that moved the seat back
to the Osu Castle or the slave fort.
In truth, the original decision to stay out of Jubilee House was
a political one. It is something to regret but to forgive.
However, what should not be forgiven is this attempt to save
face by offering more lame excuses.
E.
Ablorh-Odjidja,Publsiher
www.ghanadot.com, Washington, DC, October 6, 2009
Permission to publish: Please feel free to publish or
reproduce, with credits, unedited. If posted at a website,
email a copy of the web page to
publisher@ghanadot.com . Or don't publish at all.
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