When Burkinabe coup plotter Ibrahim Traore honoured the invitation to witness the inauguration of President John Dramani Mahama he did so because he needed the recognition of democratically elected leaders in the sub-region.
Such support has been in short supply…democratically elected presidents shun coup makers.
Ibrahim Traore’s Sahel-type military fatigue decorated with his side arm gave him a special posture when he shook hands with our President at the Independence Square. He made coups look attractive and our President provided the impetus for this mindset. Today this coup maker has his posters on many trotro vehicles leaving us with the impression that coups are welcome in West Africa.
The posture and gesture were not lost to the bloody jihadists who for now are invincible and beyond the reach of the Burkinabe leader.
The jihadists have taken mental note of the friendship between our President and the man they want to oust and form their preferred governance structure.
They might have decided to have us in their orbit in which case we must redo our security setting.
Ghanaian traders who go to Burkinabe are now targets of the jihadists it has become obvious. It is instructive to note that until now they had no business attacking Ghanaian traders.
The best way to communicate their angst to the President is through the unfortunate blood-letting which left in its trail eight Ghanaian traders dead completely immolated.
Today ECOWAS is a shadow of itself as coup makers exit the club to form their version of the economic bloc. The existence of ECOWAS has never been so threatened in its entire history.
Our President must rethink his strategy because the current template of picking friendship from the coup-makers club won’t help us. If indeed the jihadists have set their sights on our traders venturing into that country to buy tomatoes for sale back home then they might have to abandon the business.
The Burkinabe junta leaders have severed links with France the colonial authority and headed to Russia.
Our President too is pro-Russia although he is being careful about making this public lest he incurs the wrath of Donald Trump. The love for Russia is a common feature between President Mahama and his Burkinabe counterpart.
We now have an envoy specifically engaged to deal with the non-ECOWAS segment of West Africa. If this is not a subtle way of recognizing the Francophone coup makers club by our President we do not know what else is.
We are yet to see a robust statement from the government regarding the murder of our traders in that country. The statement so far released do not have such punch, dwelling more on asking Ghanaians to avoid high risk regions of the sub-region.
We insist that this be done and a compensation package considered. When our compatriots were killed in the Gambia the president then an MP put so much pressure on President John Agyekum Kufuor to demand compensation for the victims’ families from his Gambian counterpart. We recall how even when the compensation came the victims’ families were shortchanged.
