After three coups d’état by senior military officers in Ghana, the image of the military had sunk so low that the promise of general elections in June 1979 was not enough to assuage Ghanaians. Feeling that it was necessary for the military to cleanse itself and restore its image, a group of young officers and other ranks of the Ghana Armed Forces mutinied. The leader, JJ Rawlings, and six others were put on trial by a military tribunal.
Rawlings’ wife, Nana, said later that “he had been complaining unceasingly about injustices, corruption, abuse of office and other malpractices going on within the military administration”.She continued: “I don’t know whether to tell you all this … Look, there came a time when I was hiding my ration of essential commodities from my workplace … from him”.“You know what he did after work? He would either take an aircraft out diving or spend time riding horses at the recce.
The commentator went on to say that since General Akuffo took power, his government had gone on “a campaign that laid all the guilt, corruption and malpractice on Acheampong’s administration, many of whose members are in the present SMC and who made policy decisions with him”. In detention, Rawlings had no access to any medium of information. No newspaper. No radio. If he did, he would have been more than amused by what a commentator said on the African Service of the BBC on the morning of 19 May 1979: “According to one report, Rawlings wanted the military to stay in power for another two years.”
Rawlings had begun jotting down his own defence: “Your worship, I’m here not to deny my efforts that led to the events of the 14th into the 15th; neither am I here to deny my convictions, my concepts, my beliefs, my conscience. Convictions I share with these honourable men [the other six accused], soldiers, but first and foremost citizens of this country .
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