Brig. Gen. Dan Frimpong (Rtd) | E-mail: [email protected] |The writer is a former CEO, African Peace Support Trainers Association, Nairobi, Kenya and Council Chairman, Family Health University, Teshie, Accra.
About a year ago, on May 26, 2025, one of Ghana’s most prominent journalists, Nana Kwasi Gyan-Apenteng, passed on to eternity.
Nana consistently said to me: “General, the Military keeps so much to itself that we civilians know next to nothing about you.
We, therefore, judge you by the actions of a few young enthusiastic soldiers who go overboard with youthful exuberance in town.
What we think about you, rather negatively, is mainly rooted in the June 4, 1979/December 31, 1981, revolutions, when most Ghanaians were not born, which may be anachronistic now.
So please, get your Directorate of Public Relations (DPR) to educate us on the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, and maybe spearhead it yourself in your writings!”
It reminded me of Chinua Achebe’s quote, “Until the lions have their own historians, the tale of hunting will always glorify the hunter!”
This article is, therefore, dedicated to the memory of Nana Gyan-Apenteng on the first anniversary of his passing.
History
On May 15, 1979, an uprising led by Flt Lt Rawlings was quelled by the Recce Regiment. In the subsequent trial for treason, he won the sympathy of Ghanaians when he attacked Ghana’s leaders for corruption.
Before the trial could end, some soldiers, led by L/Cpl Tasiri of 5th Battalion Infantry, Accra, mutinied on June 4, 1979, and released Rawlings from detention cells to lead them to the Broadcasting House (GBC) in what eventually became the overthrow of the SMC2 government of Gen. FWK Akuffo. Gen. Akuffo had displaced Gen. Acheampong in a “palace coup” a year earlier.
A new military junta, the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) of junior officers/other ranks/civilians, was created, with Rawlings as the leader.
In what they described as “house-cleaning”, the AFRC executed the former Head of State, Gen. IK Acheampong and the Commander of the Border Guards, Gen. EK Utuka, by firing squad on June 16, 1979.
Again, on June 26, 1979, a group of generals and a colonel were executed. They included two former heads of state, Gen. FWK Akuffo and Gen. AA Afrifa.
Others were Navy Commander Rear Admiral Joy Amedume, Air Force Commander Air Vice Marshal GY Boakye and a former Army Commander, Gen REA Kotei. A former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Colonel Roger Felli, was also executed.
Earlier, on June 4, 1979, Army Commander Gen. NA Odartey-Wellington was killed in action as he fought to counter the coup makers at the Nima Police Station.
Colonel Joseph Enninful, president of the court-martial trying Flt Lt Rawlings for his May 15, 1979, attempted coup, was cold-bloodedly murdered with his wife in their home in Burma Camp.
June 30, 1982
At the Sekondi Naval Base, on February 4, 1982, Commanders Adjavon and Barnor, and Chief Petty Officer Hughes were murdered by revolutionary naval ratings. But for the timely intervention of the 2nd Infantry Battalion, Takoradi, things would have been worse!
On June 30, 1982, following the December 31, 1981, coup which overthrew Dr Limann’s government, the charred bodies of three High Court judges and a retired Army Officer were discovered at the Bundase Military Range, about 30 km east of Accra on the Accra/Lome Road.
They were Justice KA Agyapong, Justice FP Sarkodie and Justice Mrs Cecilia Koranteng-Addo, a lactating mother.
The retired Army Officer was Major Sam Acquah. While not officially stated, they were alleged to have taken decisions against proponents of June 4 during President Limann’s regime.
Remembrance service
In my July 2019 article titled, “Kofi Chokosi – Never Again”, I stated:
“On Wednesday, June 26, 2019, a remembrance service was held at St. Catherine’s Catholic Church, Burma Camp, in memory of the generals/colonels who were executed in June 1979.
It was organised by the children of the slain victims.
The aim was to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the event that transformed their mothers into widows and them [the children] into fatherless kids.
Preaching on the topic “Never again”, the catholic father stated that such unprecedented violence, which characterised those dark days of Ghana, must never happen again.
The Chairman of the Ghana Peace Council added that while the murders were reprehensible, we should not fixate on the past.
He stated that it is important to learn history so that lessons can be learned for a better future.
A spokesperson of the children stated, “Our fathers were murdered out of hatred, envy and jealousy, without a fair trial.
Subsequently, spurious and baseless charges were trumped up against them to justify the despicable and heinous murders by the perpetrators.
As little children in 1979, our lives were turned upside-down by the execution of our fathers”.
Tombstones
On June 25, 2019, I visited the Osu Military Cemetery.
The tombstones of three of the murdered generals who had been reburied at Osu following their exhumation eerily reminded me of how young they were.
AVM Boakye was 41. Maj. Gen. REA Kotei was 40, while Rear Admiral Amedume was 38. Col Felli was also 38.
Concluding, the preacher asked, “What accounted for this most un-Ghanaian bloodthirstiness?
Again, with the benefit of hindsight, what did Ghana gain from spilling all that blood?
It simply broke open the gates of indiscipline/corruption, consequences of which we suffer today in all spheres of life.”
Summary
I concluded my article of June 2023 titled “June, the Sixth Month” with the words below:
Many Ghanaians who did not die were traumatised for life. Some young, promising military officers/ADCs had to flee Ghana into the unknown, their lives destroyed.
Why were all the successful Ghanaian businessmen in 1979 branded thieves and hounded?
Shakespeare said, “unnatural deeds breed unnatural troubles!”
While many of the revolutionaries who were killed killed themselves, or died unnatural deaths in what Buddhism/Hinduism call the Law of Karma, those alive defend their revolution, maintain a discreet silence or have become very religious.
Ironically, having sentenced Generals to death by “kangaroo-court” trials for taking bank loans they were servicing, some individuals (both military and civilian) have enriched themselves from the spoils of the revolution. Disrespect for authority and indiscipline at the time were the legacy left behind.
Law of Karma!
What Ghana needs is a solution to our annual ritual of floods, “galamsey”, RTAs, indiscipline/disrespect, food security, health, schools-under-trees, etc, not celebrations which bring back pain!
Ghanaians, let us be each other’s keeper, behaving with humaneness and not like the Matthew 3:7 “brood of vipers” who murder and demand righteousness!
May the souls of all victims of June 4, 1979/December 31, 1981, rest in peace, and may the perpetrators also find peace!
Never again should such bloodthirstiness happen in Ghana!
Finally, may the soul of Nana Kwasi Gyan-Apenteng, whose demand for the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth inspired this article, rest in peace!
Leaders! Lead by example/integrity/humility! Fellow Ghanaians, wake up!
Source: graphic.com.gh