Word: busia
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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While it lasted (two years and four months) the Ghana government of Prime Minister Kofi Abrefa Busia, 58, was one of Africa's most unusual success stories. Popularly elected, it seemed to care little about maintaining its own popularity. Said Finance Minister Joseph H. Mensah when he introduced an austerity budget last year: "This government is prepared to run the risk of political unpopularity in' its efforts to change the basic structure of the economy"-a task, he admitted, that might take ten years...
Unfortunately, Busia and his idealistic colleagues reckoned without the army. The oversight was odd, since it was the army that in 1966 had overthrown Ghana's first civilian government, the tyrannical regime of Kwame Nkrumah, and it was the army that had allowed the elections that brought the Busia government to power three years later. Last week the army moved again. Three days after the end of Pat Nixon's official visit, and two days after Busia had flown to London for treatment of an eye ailment, the first brigade of the Ghanaian army moved...
...apparent leader of the coup was Lieut. Colonel I.K. Acheampong, 40, the British-trained brigade commander. He accused Busia of mismanagement, corruption, "hypocrisy" and arbitrary arrests-almost the same charges the army had justifiably leveled against Nkrumah. The officers were particularly angry that the economy-minded government had cut the military budget by 11% and had abolished some of the perks (including certain tax exemptions and housing allowances) that the army had enjoyed "even under the Nkrumah regime...
...awkwardly, like a jewel-encrusted bear. Three times he fired his flintlock into the air, and was answered by the volleys of 400 muskets. Then he lumbered across the field, his mouth filled with green leaves, symbolizing his identification with the earth, to greet Ghanaian Prime Minister Kofi Abrefa Busia and the other official visitors...
...white minorities, but had ruled out direct participation in violent solutions. Continuing to display his low profile, Rogers had listened quietly and attentively to Black African leaders, who seemed impressed with his receptivity to ideas. That receptivity was nicely illustrated in Ghana. During talks with Prime Minister Kofi Busia, Rogers was asked for a $15 million aid loan. The request was granted immediately...