Col. (Rtd.) Festus Aboagye has warned that if the economic inequalities in Ghana are not addressed, the instability that other West African countries have been experiencing could easily occur.
According to the international conflict resolution expert, the very factors and circumstances that sparked military coups in other West African countries exist in Ghana, so the country is not insulated against turbulence.
“All of us need to be worried. I belong to the school of thought that you don’t fight terrorism with only guns and bullets. Indeed, it will be more productive to address some of the socio-economic inequalities.
“I don’t need to be a political scientist or an economist to argue that the Northern part of this country [is] bordering countries that are unstable, where there are gross socio-economic inequalities.
“What is going on [in Burkina Faso] is a contagion; forget that the UN Secretary-General called it an epidemic. A contagion can spread in all manner of ways, especially if the conditions are right.
“Although there are some specificities of country context for these military coups, some of them can be found in West African democratic states, including our own,” Myjoyonline.com quoted the ex-military man as having said on Newsfile on Saturday.
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In his view, anyone who thinks Ghana is too democratic to experience another military takeover must be tickling himself and laughing.
“We could find some of the grievances that have been used by the military in other countries in our own country and, therefore, we need to be very concerned.
“Corruption is here as in Mali, Guinea, and Burkina Faso,” Aboagye said.
His admonishment follows the military coup in Burkina Faso on Monday which has been attributed to President Roch Marc Christian Kabore’s inability to deal with insecurity posed by militia groups.
