8-) Overthrow Of Limann Needless — Fulera B| Madam Fulera Limann, widow of former President Hilla Limann, has described the overthrow of her husband as “needless and uncalled for.” She has, therefore, asked former President Jerry John Rawlings to apologise because his husband’s “removal from office was unjustifiably done.” Breaking her silence 35 years after her husband was overthrown, Madam Fulera, as she is popularly referred to, said the reason former president Limann contested the 1992 election was to prove to Ghanaians that he did nothing wrong to warrant such “needless removal.. She was speaking at a lecture organised by the People’s National Convention (PNC) to commemorate 35 years after the swearing in of her husband as President of Ghana. The three-hour event, which was on the theme “The Limann We Know”, brought together key members of the PNC, including the party’s chairman, Alhaji Ahmed Ramadan and 2012 presidential candidate, Hassan Ayariga. Dr Limann assumed office as president on September 24, 1979 having had power transferred to him by Flt Lt. Jerry John Rawlings then chairman of a junta, Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC). He was, however, overthrown by the same was overthrown by former President Rawlings on December 31, 1981, after being in office for 27 months. Following the 1979 coup, Limann was elected President on the People’s National Party ticket (now PNC). He stood for the elections following the disqualification of Alhaji Imoru Egala by the then ruling Supreme Military Council and won 62 per cent of the popular vote in the second round of voting. In 1992, at the end of the PNDC military rule that overthrew him, Dr Limann once again found himself involved in politics and stood as the candidate of the PNC in the presidential election that year. He received 6.7 per cent of the popular vote in the elections, coming third. He remained active among the Nkrumaist political movement in Ghana. Dr Limann died of natural causes and was survived by his wife, Mrs Fulera Limann, and seven children: Lariba Montia (née Limann), Baba Limann, Sibi Andan (née Limann), Lida Limann, Daani Limann, Zilla Limann and Salma Limann. After the hand-over ceremony in 1979, Military intelligence personnel consistently reported destabilising activities of former members of the AFRC. Dr Limman insisted that there were no legal justifications to hold them in custody under a democratic dispensation. This decision eventually cost him the presidency and the years of humiliation and alienation he suffered at the hands of the Rawlings administration. Touching on some of the exceptional leadership skills exhibited by Dr Limann, Prof Antwi-Danso said the former president did well to lead an “all-inclusive government where he allowed institutions to work without interfering in their affairs.” Mrs Limann lauded the leadership of the PNC for instituting a day to honour her husband and called for unity in the party to continue the legacy of Dr Limann. According to her, the PNC could become a strong and formidable party if the grassroots and the leadership would team up and build the pillars within the party. Mrs Limann described her husband as a man of peace, unity and one who involved all in the building of the nation, adding that those attributes continued to distinguish him from other leaders in the country. Read Article Comment: We Need To Move On Now. Time Could Be A Author: G. K. Berko Date: 2014-09-29 12:26:01 Comment to: Overthrow of Limann needless — Fulera Time could be a blanket we conveniently pull over our eyes to block certain unpleasant incidents. None of our Coups was ever a better substitute for real Democracy. So, in that sense Limans overthrow was needless. But if we would be very honest with ourselves, we would admit that Limans Coup did not happen in a vacuum, nor was it an isolated happenstance. I see it as a continuum of what our Political trajectory had been since the overthrow of Nkrumah. Mrs. Fulera has every right to mournfully chastize J.J. for overthrowing her Husbands regime. But if you asked Rawlings, he might tell you that a lot had either gone on in Limans Administration, or been condoned by it to betray the Revolution that J.J. and his colleagues had even killed other Ghanaians for. Surely, the personal character of Liman had never been in question. But it is the performance of his Government and the Party that sent him to the Presidency that caused J.J. to usurp Limans regime. The very first thing that J.J. criticized the Liman Administration for was the offer of $100,000 it gave to each of the members of J.J.s Military Junta, ostensibly to send them off to study abroad. In reality, the money was seen by many Ghanaians as a pay-off that was intended to shut the Junta up even if the Administration misbehaved. J.J. was the only member of the Junta who rejected the offer for the reason given above. He also indicated that the offer compromised the main objective of the Revolution he led, that is, to curb corruption in Government and elsewhere in our System. J.J. was vilified by his own colleagues, like Boakye Gyan for taking that stance. In fact, that issue is strongly believed to have caused the rift between Rawlings and Boakye Gyan, which later culminated into an attempted Coup involving Boakye Gyans younger brother, Kyeremeh Gyan, whose life Rawlings did not spare upon the failure of that Coup. Many would ask who gave J.J. the prerogative to be the Nations One-man Police, and also whether the Governments he subsequently came to superintend for 19 years were devoid of Corruption to justify his Coup against other Regimes. That is a whole different issue. But it has to be noticed that J.J.s rejection of, and opposition to, the said monetary compensation was the source of a period of harrassment of him by the Liman Administration. To the Liman Administration, J.J. refusal to take that amount and leave Ghana meant the Coup-Leader was going to be a threat to the Administration. So, the Administration began a 24/7 surveillance of him at very close quarters that really resembled a House Arrest of some kind. J. J. complained formally to the Government to have the constant tailing of him stopped but it never did. The Military Intelligent guys were detailed to be on J.J. everywhere he went and slept. One wonders how he even succeeded in pulling off his Coup against Liman under such surveillance. Obviously, he was not alone in his plot and had plenty of help. Meanwhile, a lot of corruption had resurfaced among the Liman Goverment and Party that together with the resultant J.J. Coup became a self-fulfilled Prophecy. We must be honest to concede that J.J. did not begin any subversive activities immediately after handing over to Liman. Certain events triggered the perceived subversive activities. So, it behoves our Journalists to delve deeper into issues of this National importance for the relevant facts to tell the full story and the truth, whether or not we hate J.J. Whatever the faults of Limans Administration, I think we could have resorted to the Courts to seek redress instead of the Coup. However, we must concede that much of the same cause for previous Coups did occur in Limans era to trigger the Coup. It was not an infallible Administration. I vividly remember how the late Krobo Edusei, for example, was running around imposing his will on many Official decision-making without any Official capacity. He was even cited by the Media at the time to have earned a conflict with the then Ashanti Regional Minister for interfering in the Ministers duties. The impression many people had was that the Old CPP Asscciates of Limans Administration were looting the Treasury, throwing their weights around the Country, and taking over even rations allocated to whole communities due to shortages, through the GNTC Stores. The Reporters therefore have to tell all the story for the younger folks who were not aware of what went on to have all the information to make their fair assessment of that Historical period. Long Live Ghana!!! ghanaweb/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=327990&comment=10920640#com
Posted on: Tue, 30 Sep 2014 07:58:48 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015