Bentua is a Ghanaian name for rectal syringe otherwise called “enema anal poire with canula” or “poire à lavement avec canule” in French.

For the past few days, it has been uncovered in Ghana by the security agents that some people had been assembling deadly materials with the intention of overthrowing the New Patriotic Party government headed by His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

Among the weapons retrieved from various places including a hospital, are home-made pistols, improvised explosive devices (IED), and alleged “bentua” etc.

Among those behind the plot to usurp power through a coup d’état are a medical doctor, civilians, local arms manufacturer and some past and present military personnel.

I am not going into the details of what I know as are currently in the public domain but will dwell on bentua as a component part of the assemblage of materials intended for staging the coup d’état.

Whether true or false, as to bentua having been found among the materials retrieved from the suspect coup plotters, I have heard how former President John Dramani Mahama has been deriding the government’s announcement of having foiled a coup d’état attempt.

He has been downplaying the whole issue as a farce and the government’s diversionary tactic to remove the Ghanaians’ mind from the economic hardships and insecurity facing the nation. For him, His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and his NPP government after their numerous promises to win election 2016, have failed the nation woefully hence seeking the sympathy of the people by inventing a coup plot to divert the focus of the people from their incompetence and failures, to the coup plot.

For former President Mahama, how can bentua be used to stage a coup d’état, he quizzes?

Let me use analogies to explain to him how bentua, if indeed some were found among the deadly weapons intended for the coup d’état, could indeed be effective weapons to use to realise the objective of the coup plotters.

In the bible, did not that comparatively smallish David, a poor shepherd boy, used a sling and a single small stone to kill the Philistine giant, Goliath? Was Goliath not making a mockery of David, who was far smaller than him, for not wearing any armour, for not having any weapons but a sling in his hand?

Did David not prevail upon Goliath with his sling, a material considered in the eyes of all those around as a joke when facing the heavily war-protected Goliath, the most feared giant of course?

When you are a male giant, thus heavy build, muscular, strong and tall, can you not be overpowered by an experienced smaller person?

From a story once narrated to me by my former boss, a Hungarian, a midget in their country once beat up mercilessly, a feared giant who had threatened to beat the midget.

While the giant was bragging, the midget (an extremely small person having normal physical proportions) rushed on him unaware; went in-between his two legs and headed his balls with all the might he could muster. Suddenly, the big person found himself writhing on the floor. The smallish guy sat on him, beating him hard.

According to my boss, if the spectators around had not intervened to remove the midget from him, the giant would have ended up dead.

Why are liquids of any type if not checked, and certified to be genuine and in an approved smaller quantity, not allowed on aeroplane in accompanied hand luggage? Is it not because there are some mixtures of liquids that can be used for explosives and are capable of being triggered remotely to kill people and also bring down aeroplanes? They were once used by aeroplane hijackers and terrorists.

Has former President Mahama seen how some liquids can be used for explosives to cause harm and death to people and destruction to property?

Can such liquids, if they are not corrosive, not be hidden in bentua? If bentua is used as a means to store and explode such a dangerous material capable of harming and/or killing, can it not be used to play effective role in a coup plot?

The recent Russian novichok attack on the Skripal family in Salisbury in the UK tells volume about how deadly some liquid poisons can incapacitate their victims within minutes. Can such an extremely deadly poisonous liquid not be hidden in, or discharged by, bentua, by experts?

What if these coup plotters attack a soldier manning an armoury with a deadly poisonous liquid using bentua to discharge it when the soldier is taken unawares? Once the soldier is disabled, can the coup plotters not avail themselves of the weapons in the armoury? Bingo, they have all the necessary sophisticated weapons they need.

They can attack and overtake national radio and TV stations using same means. Once such sensitive installations have been taken, the coup has partly, if not completely, succeeded.

Has bentua in the marital history of Ghana not been used by some women to attack their rivals for venturing into their marriages or relationships, to pump liquid pepper or acid into their face?

The bentua as in this coup plot under discussion was to complement the other weapons or accessories retrieved from the said various hideouts, to successfully execute the coup plotters diabolic intentions.

I don’t blame former President Mahama for deriding the bentua found, if any was found, to rubbish the alleged coup plot because he is incapable of reasoning as an intelligent person to see the role bentua can play in such circumstances.

Once the issue is not about stealing public funds and assets, he is clueless. If it were corruption, thus embezzling funds or using his influence to favour his family and cronies, he would be on top of the issue. Shame on him for exhibiting that level of ignorance, although a former President of Ghana, he is!

Last but not the least, does it not take the tiny crab to kill the mighty elephant? Does former President Mahama know about this? Does he doubt how a crab can kill an elephant in normal or some extreme circumstances?

The tiniest of things can cause extreme harms in extreme situations. What you least expect to be dangerous can be the most dangerous in some cases.

Let former President Mahama wise up! This is not about “Ede bii keke” or “Yen ntie obiaa” but about serious coup plotting with the potential to undermine the security of the nation, cause harm and deaths to people, and destruction to properties.