Saturday,
July 19, 2014
Folks, President Mahama has administered the oaths of allegiance,
office and secrecy to 12 new envoys, including Alhaji Abdul Rahman Haruna Atta
(Ambassador to Namibia). Some commentators have quickly labelled
Haruna Atta as a “traitor,” having come across all these years as a bitter
opponent of anything Rawlings and NDC but turning round to join hands with the
Mahama-led government and turning his back on the NPP that he has identified
with.
To
those people, I say “Due!” They really don’t know the man. Haruna Atta sprang
up with the Rawlings phenomenon and was even appointed as the CEO of the
defunct Ghana Film Industry; but he lost the position in circumstances that
fuelled his bitter opposition to Rawlings and by transference, to the Mills
administration. But about a year ago, he came out to say that he was more than
willing to serve Ghana in the Mahama era. And his appointment as an Ambassador
confirms it. Should anybody blame him? I won’t.
Doing diplomatic work entails
many things; and I hope those 12 envoys will not add to the lot already at post
but not doing enough to create opportunities for Ghana to profit from countries
with which it has diplomatic ties. Our Ambassadors and High Commissioners need
to be innovative (as President Mahama sought to imply) and ensure that the
Missions vigorously pursue programmes for the good of Ghanaians in their areas
of jurisdiction and others seeking to do business with Ghana. Trade promotion
is one major area to consider.
They also need to work hard to
collect data on Ghanaians living in their domains so accurate records on the
population and others can be generated to respond more productively to the
needs of Ghanaians. So far, there appears to be no database to help know how
many Ghanaians are living where or what their major problems are that the Ghana
Missions must address. We know how foreign missions operate in Ghana and must
learn from them.
On
the flip side, though, I want to raise my voice to condemn what I consider as
an “undiplomatic conduct” on the part of the US Embassy in Accra. The Embassy was
yesterday (Friday) compelled to render an apology to the Office of Ghana’s
President, following the use of its official tweeter handle to respond to an
earlier tweet posted by President John Mahama.
President
Mahama had posted on the social media site to assure Ghanaians that current
economic challenges would be over soon. "As a people, we have had
to make sacrifices. I wish to assure you that the results of these sacrifices
would begin to show very soon," the President tweeted.
The
Embassy responded by tweeting: "And what sacrifices are you making? Don't
tell me that pay cut".
This
happening is despicable, especially, considering the fact that it occurred in
the diplomatic confines of the US Embassy in Accra. That is why the explanation
given by the US Embassy is not only ludicrous but wayward as well:
“‘…
the Embassy in an attempt to explain the situation said one of its staff
accidentally caused the blunder and apologised for that…. Our staff mixed a
personal handle with that of the embassy's...We've communicated our apology to
the Office of the President, the Embassy posted’.”
I
wonder how an individual staff member with his or her own private tweeter
account can mistake the official US Embassy’s account for his/her own and use
this way. And why did the US Embassy itself not detect the faux pas until it
drew anger from Ghanaians before reacting this way? And to imagine that our own
government didn’t immediately take up the matter to put the Embassy where it
belongs is pathetic. Of course, it won’t surprise me if our Ministry of Foreign
Affairs didn’t react as expected because….. you know why. Ghana is a small fry
that cannot do without US backing and won’t want to bite the finger feeding it.
If you doubt it, re-think!!
Within
this context, we want to say that our government has to ensure that it is on
top of affairs so that foreign missions operating in Ghana don’t abuse our
leniency or hospitality to fuel the tension already rising as a result of
orchestrations and manipulation of public sentiments by political opponents and
the labour agitations going on.
When
it comes to politically motivated problems in Ghana and the involvement of
foreign missions, the US Embassy is a prime suspect. Precedent tells us that
the US has been inquisitive and intrusive when it comes to Ghana’s internal political
developments. Collaborating with the cowards in the security set-up and the
United Party opponents of Dr. Nkrumah to overthrow his government in 1966 is
known to us. So also do we recall the diplomatic and security crisis that
occurred under Rawlings (I mean the Michael Soussoudis affair). We also recall
the Wikileaks publications on Ghana as gathered through the US’ diplomatic
cables. There are many other instances, which alert us to the fact that
anything coming from the US Embassy in Ghana that muddies the waters has to be
looked into seriously.
In
the first place, no one compelled that Embassy worker to respond to our
President’s message of assurance. Ghanaians, not citizens of the US, were the
President’s audience. So, what justification could a non-Ghanaian (more so an
inquisitive, trouble-making US Embassy worker) have for inserting
himself/herself in the conversation that the President had sought to initiate
for Ghanaians?
I
entreat the government to sit up so that seemingly “harmless” comments of the
sort from this US Embassy staff member doesn’t turn out to be part of the grand
scheme of undermining our system. The retort from that Embassy worker is really
rude, crude, and troubling, given the fact that it questions the integrity of
our President and his government. It’s a retort to be punished and not glossed
over. If possible, the government should ask that that particular worker be
withdrawn from Ghana, having come across as unfit to relate to. Will the
government act boldly?
The
US won’t tolerate any impetuous or impudent conduct against its President on
its own soil by any member of a foreign mission. Why should Ghana not prove
that it has respect for its territorial integrity and the Office of the
President of the Republic of Ghana and that no one will be allowed to undermine
that office? As I have already said, it takes much “spine” to take on the US;
but if our government can manage affairs properly, it should use this flippant
US Embassy incident as a means to forewarn and deter any such misconduct in
future from anywhere (other Embassies, High Commissions, or foreign companies
operating in the country). Anybody with balls out there?
I shall return…
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E-mail:
mjbokor@yahoo.com
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