Coups against Busia and Limann were totally unjustifiable – Kofi Amoabeng speaks

A retired Captain has spoken against coup d'etats

Prince Kofi Amoabeng says coups turn the army on its head

Amoabeng is particularly displeased by overthrow of elected governments

Captain (Rtd.) Prince Kofi Amoabeng has stated that coups against democratically elected governments cannot in any way be justified.

He revealed in an interview on Accra-based Citi

Read full articleTV on Wednesday, December 8, that he quit the military because of the rampant overthrows in the seventies through to the eighties.

According to him, it was untenable to remain in the military because when those coups occurred, the institution as it was was turned upside down with non-commissioned officers calling the shots.

“The Armed Forces is a line management institution…the system had been turned upside down and non-commissioned officers were now making decisions for the state, can you imagine?

“At the time the revolution took place as in 1979, Ghanaians had gone to the polls... And every military coup I condemn, especially the coups that happened when the elected governments haven’t served their term, what is the use of it?” he quizzed.



He explained that exceptions could be made in the case of leaders who were overstaying in officers or gravitating towards establishing one-party states citing the specific case of Kwame Nkrumah…

“But the Limann’s coup, was was it for, the guy comes to power (for) one or two years. Busia’s coup what was it for? The Military had no business. Even though we can now say Acheampong is one of the best that we have had, what was his business in overthrowing Busia?

“The people had elected their PM as in Busia’s case for four years, if you ask me, no one had to intervene. If you have to govern (as a soldier), go to the poll and let the people elect you,” he added.

Amoabeng said he was not interested in politics but believes that politics played a role in the takeover of a bank he had co-founded, UT Bank in 2017.