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A fiery exchange unfolded on Peace FM’s Kokrokoo on September 1, 2023 between Kwesi Pratt Jnr, the Managing Editor of the Insight newspaper, and Yaw Adomako Baafi, a former Communications Director for the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
The two clashed over the issue of justification or otherwise of coups and the changing stance of some political figures.
The exchange was sparked by Kwesi Pratt’s assertion that certain members of the NPP are now expressing negative opinions about coups, despite having previously celebrated the 1966 coup in Ghana’s history.
Adomako Baafi however, contested Pratt’s claim, asserting that no official NPP member or the party itself had ever endorsed or justified coups. He challenged Pratt to provide concrete evidence to support his assertion.
In response, Kwesi Pratt urged Adomako Baafi to obtain a copy of ‘The Stolen Verdict’ a book in which he said the NPP justified the 1966 coup, and read it to ascertain the accuracy of his claims.
Adomako Baafi remained steadfast, stating that the reference provided by Pratt did not align with the facts and insisted he would provide evidence to counter what he deemed as distortions by the veteran journalist.
The exchange between the two figures unfolded as follows:
Kwesi Pratt: In Ghana here, things have changed. Our brothers who justified the 1966 coup, today, because they are in government, they are saying all coups are not good. Is it now that they have realized that all coups are not good?
Adomako Baafi: Wofa Kwesi
Kwesi: Please, I beg you, time changes. Time passed, and whenever you talk about the 1966 coup, they claim that it is good because some coups are good. But now when you listen to them, they claim that all coups are not good.
Adomako: Don’t generalize it. As I am sitting here with you, Wofa Kwesi, I am an NPP member, and I was born into the party, of which I am very proud. I am saying that a coup in whatever form is not good, and our leaders have said so. So, if you sit here and neglect certain things and go by heresy, please, with all respect, NPP has never written a book that justifies any coup.
Kwesi Pratt: Masa, I have never said that.
Adomako Baafi: The distortions that some of you wrote about the 1966 coups and others, some of us are ever ready to set the records straight. But as it stands now, as a member representing the NPP, I am saying that a coup is never good. So, if you come and sit here and say things, please, I beg you that politics of fallacies shouldn’t be entertained, and let us be straightforward.
Kwesi Pratt: Professor Mike Ocquaye, did he condemn the 1966 coup? Go and read the ‘Stolen Verdict,’ an official document of the New Patriotic Party. They went on a demonstration regarding the 1966 coup. So, if today all of you have agreed to speak against all coups, let us take it that way.
Adomako Baafi: Uncle Pratt, this is a discussion. Mike Ocquaye’s issue that you are talking about, ‘The Stolen Verdict,’ for me, I have my documents. Let me show them to you. Kofi Awoonor is not an NPP member. His book, which he wrote to justify the coup, and Tawiah Adamafio, who was a CPP member, also justified the coup. I am coming to bring the documents for you to see.
Kwesi Pratt: Yaw, what I am saying is time has changed, and we have moved forward. Those who praised some coups, today are saying all coups are not good. May be it is because of modernity, but that is the truth. Some time back, some of us were praising the 1966 coup.
