Coup in Ghana would not succeed - U.S. envoy

The Dispatch quotes the outgoing United States Ambassador to Ghana, Kathryn Dee Robinson, as saying in an interaction with journalists last week that the likelihood of a coup in the country or an attempt to wrest power by violence is small, very small.

"It is my reading of the Ghanaian people that a vast majority of them would not stand for that and that those who try to do that would not be successful. They might try but I do not think they will succeed," the paper reports her as stating.

She said the US government has laws under which all assistance - security and financial – are withdrawn if a group comes to power through extra constitutional means.

This is why since December 1999, nothing has been provided to the government of Cote d'Ivoire.

Ms Robinson, who leaves Ghana later this week after a three year stay also said: "I really do not think any coup attempt will be successful, I think the chances of people trying to mount a coup are low, I also think the chance of a coup attempt succeeding is even lower."

She also admitted that, "rising political temperatures in the run up to the first round of the 2000 elections was a great source of worry that things would turn out other than by peaceful electoral process.

The U.S. envoy, who is retiring from the Foreign Service after 27 years service, felt that the "path of democracy in any country does not always flow smoothly and has it's twists and turns.

“Democracy, to me, is about a people and the government they choose to serve them."