How the progress party curtailed freedom of speech

The Danquah/Busia gave birth to the Progress Party(PP) and the New Patriotic Party(NPP).They have the same ideology, principles and character, if you will. Nothing has changed.When leaders of the NPP talk about infringement on their right to free speech,it raises many questions.I am trying to draw readers attention the fact that the Danquah/Busia tradition where the NPP is coming from are not what they preach to the world as custodians of the rule of law but the direct opposite.

At a PP rally at Techiman,Brong Ahafo,Victor Owusu proclaimed that the PP would be ruthless and dismiss any civil servants who have made it their habit to making unfavourable comments about the government in the course of their duties. Civil servants could simply be dismissed for making adverse comments about their government. It is interesting to note that when the National Union of Ghana students joined the United Nationalist Party in calling for amnesty to Dr Nkrumah on April 24th,1971,the PP government responded by enacting a law demanding that any person who promotes by whatever means the revival of the disbanded CPP or the restoration of its leader as head of state or of government of Ghana shall be guilty of second- degree felony. The offender shall on conviction or indictment, be sentenced to imprisonment for a term not less than 5 years unless the attorney general is of the opinion that special circumstances exist which justify the imposition of a lesser sentence. The enactment of this law and an earlier proposal to protect the Prime Minister by legislation from insult revealed the PP government's determination to curtail freedom of speech.

As the government was unaware of the political damage it was causing, it clashed with the Trade Union Congress(TUC) on whose membership the economic measures in the country took the greatest toll by first trying to change the leadership.This,they did by endorsing and campaigning on behalf of Busia's own candidate, Osei Mensah for the post of secretary-general. The TUC,in its efforts to resist Busia's attempts to dominate it, formed a joint Consultative Council with NUGS and the newly formed Justice Party (JP) and criticized the introduction of a development levy.But note NPP's quick objection to any form of levy now.This move was questioned by the TUC because while the PP government imposed a development levy on workers, it at the same time increased the salaries of politicians.The reality was that, the PP government was more interested in consolidating its position than promoting national development.

The alliance with the Justice Party worsened the government's fears of a TUC-called general strikes.In a desperate move to counter what it termed as "anti-national development " attitude of the TUC,the PP government rushed through Parliament, the "industrial relations act" of 1971 (Act 383) which abolished the TUC, arguing that the TUC was an integral part of Nkrumah's CPP.The state therefore, partially encouraged employers to lay-off more workers where unemployment stood at 20% of the labour force at the end of 1971.An unofficial wage freeze pegged wages way behind inflation. For example, wage earnings went up only by 4.5% while the consumer price index shot up to over 90% after a brief respite. Yet the PP government stubbornly refused to yield to labour the demands for wage increase from ¢0.75 to ¢1.50.This militant and uncompromising stance of the government not to yield to labour demands resulted in a number of strikes as given below. In the year 1970,there were 56 nation wide strikes with 20,083 workers involved and 123,582 days lost. In 1971,there were 71 nation wide strikes with 32,164 workers involved and 100,846 days lost. Totalling in the 2 year period, there were 127 nation wide strikes, 52,247 workers involved and 244,427 days lost.

Workers were generally disenchanted with the government's economic policies which resulted in ugly confrontations with armed police officers.In one such confrontation, 3 people lost their lives at the Samraboi Plywood factory. This move to disband the TUC staff implied that the PP government was seriously doing away with the whole labour movement unless they were ready to subordinate to and be controlled by the government. So where is the Danquah/Busia's so-called high "democratic" principles? .As summed up by B.A Bentun,the then secretary -general of the TUC, that "the PP government had shown no understanding of politics. Join me next on "WHEN THEY WERE IN POWER"

Edward Clark.