CEO of VALCO, Daniel Nii Kwatei Titus-Glover, has said that coups d’états in general are terrifying and that he would not want to see more in Africa.
He pleaded for the use of every channel available to address some of the problems plaguing the sub-region to bring about peace, rather than to support military takeovers, since he believes that this is a wrong course to take.
Titus-Glover stated that when governments are problematic, some of these military takeovers seem necessary as a result of their actions, in-actions, and the populace ends up supporting it. However, he argued that military takeovers and coups d’états are bad for any independent nation.
“Having said so, in the past 3 years, when you look at the trajectory of coup d’états, there have been 6, including what has happened in Gabon. Burkina is about twice, then came the Guinea one, we had the Mali one and then recently is the Niger one. But there is a trend that is running through. The Burkina one, the Niger one and the Mali one, anytime they succeed in these coups, you see the Russian flag being displayed.
“Because these are French colonized countries and yet, any attempt that these coup leaders succeed, you see them flying the Russian flag. What signal is it sending? What is it telling us? Does it mean that they don’t believe in their colonial masters anymore and for that matter, they have fallen in love with the Russian people? It is something that we critically need to analyze and to understanding what is happening that is making the people to not have any more interest in their colonial masters.”
Daniel Nii Kwartei Titus-Glover
Moreover, he questioned why the French Ambassador in Niger refuses to leave, despite being asked to do so, bringing up the fact that it is because Uranium in Africa is a highly significant mineral to the West.
“Absolute defiance that ‘yes I’m not gonna go, whatever you want to do to me, go ahead and do it.’ It’s because there is another special interest why they don’t want to leave. Now they’re saying that the electricity connection to the Embassy has been cut off. Maybe they have a generator but when the fuel gas finishes, we’ll see how they’re going to operate it. This is not a good signal for us to look at.”
Daniel Nii Kwartei Titus-Glover
Additionally, he claimed that even after ECOWAS and Niger were unable to communicate initially, the Nigeriens still gave General Abubakar, the former Head of state of Nigeria, access to the country so he could meet with the military leaders. He asserted that working with the juntas to come up with winning solutions was the only way to end coups.
Akufo-Addo To Make Best Decision
According to Mr. Titus-Glover, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has served as the nation’s Foreign Minister, an International Diplomat, and the Chairperson of a Security Council meeting. As a result, he claimed that the President, who is well trained in international diplomacy, will ultimately make judgments that will benefit the people of Ghana.
Additionally, he said that sending military forces into Niger is not the greatest solution because, in his opinion, they cannot remain there indefinitely. “At the end of the day, we will need to move out and when we move out, what is the guarantee that all that has been done will be sustained? It’s not going to help,” he opined.
“Now Mali and Burkina said they are sending their jets and other things to go and support in readiness of the ECOWAS military force that will be coming there. I don’t think that is going to help anybody. Now that they have given the opportunity for the engagement with the ECOWAS Heads of states and government, for me, it is a way that we need to go and to solve this problem.
“Because most of them use the Tema port for their transit cargo, so it means that we (Ghana) are going to suffer in terms of revenue. So clearly, we need to make sure that this dialogue that we want to engage should be the right way we want to go and deal with some of these things.”
Daniel Nii Kwartei Titus-Glover
READ ALSO: I Don’t Know A Single Person Who Wasn’t Expecting A Coup In Gabon- Kwesi Pratt
