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As regards the position of the Uganda Army, I am perhaps the only African leader who is not afraid of a military take-over. I have already publicly accused and condemned military leaders as General Ankrah, Major Afrifa and the late General Ironsi for using national guns — not their own property — in order to place themselves in positions of authority and pretend to rule the country on the false propaganda of being the "saviour" of their various countries. I do not accept the soldier-saviour who misuses, unconstitutionally, national weapons in order to place himself into the job of a politician. I treat that kind of exercise and action, to say it mildly, as corruption. I have read with amusement various press reports on how military regimes have stopped other forms of corruption in some African countries. My view of all this kind of report is that the whole thing is bad. If a politician like Nkrumah or Nyerere or Kenyatta, who saw the possibilities of Africans being free in their own countries: worked for it, suffered, made sacrifices, and succeeded at least initially in realising their vision, turn out to be Heads of corrupt Governments, how much so would a military man, who never went through those processes of imagination, formulation of policies, arousing of the interest of the people towards the goal of independence, be when that soldier becomes the boss of the country? The immediate thing to realise is that the soldier, if he was a true soldier all the time, did not know of the battles which were being fought, the issues at stake, the glory above the conquest of lowering the colonial flag, and it is my view that the military man will preside over a more corrupt Slate than the politician. If corruption is the issue for deposing an illustrious leader like Nkrumah, then the answer cannot be found in replacing him with General Ankrah. It is my view that there must have been more corruption in Ghana during the time of General Ankrah than there was in the time of Kwame Nkrumah.
I am, therefore, not afraid of military takeover in Africa. Indeed, at some awkward times I entertained the idea that the armies of Africa should take over all the governments in Africa. (it) |
