What lessons can Zambia learn from Ghana´s AFRICOM experience?
…as the African nation regrets opening doors to it
28.05.22
Zambia must be prepared for some major security compromises following their decision to allow an a US AFRICOM presence on its soil says a prominent Ghanaian activist and politician Kwesi Pratt Jnr,
Pratt said, the Secretary General of the Socialist Movement of Ghana says his country went in ´hook line and sinker ‘in allowing the US African combatant wing on its soil, just like Zambia, to an extent where the country´s leadership is impotent its citizen’s under threat.
“I feel sad that Ghana is hosting one of these foreign military bases whose terms of agreement are shocking,” Pratt lamented.
In order to illustrate how Ghana has been “emasculated” by the US military through the AFRICOM presence exactly similar t the one Zambia´s President Hakainde Hichilema has entered without consulting Zambians, Pratt raised the following red flags saying:
• I f (Pratt) feel sad that in Ghana, our President cannot enter a military office or base of AFRICOM in his own country
• I feel sad that Ghanaian property under the agreement and terms can be damaged or destroyed by SU soldiers under AFRICOM and there´s no recourse to the court of law
• I feel sad that US soldiers can kill in cold blood, ordinary Ghanaian citizens and cannot be tried for the killings according to the agreement
• I feel sad that radio frequencies (worth millions of dollars) are given for free to US soldiers under the agreement, but Ghanaian must pay
• I fee sad that US soldiers can enter and exit Ghana without being searched by Ghana authorities
• I fee sad that even Ambassadors and other diplomats have less rights and privileges than US soldiers under AFRICOM because Ambassadors still have to produce passports to get in and out Ghana but American soldiers under AFRICOM don’t.
• I feel sad that the US can station a military presence in Ghana, and we cannot establish a battalion in Washington DC.
Pratt concluded by asking the million dollar question many Zambians are asking, “why do we allow them (AFRICOM) on our soil.”
Recently Anthony Bwalya, President Hichilema´s spokesman lamentably failed to yield to questions on Hot FM to publish the MoU his boss has entered with AFRICOM regarding their presence in Zambia that has been widely rejected.
Bwalya instead lamely quipped that AFRICOM is in Zambia to protect Zambia´s national security, a broadly rejected premise by many pundits, local and international.
Local voices against AFRICOM include Fred Mmembe, Ambassador Emmanuel Mwamba, Wynter Kabimba, Dr Nevers Mumba and Sean Tembo to mention but a few.
In the past, however, all President´s ahead of Hichilema rejected an AFRICOM presence in Zambia and chose to side with the African Union and SADC in order to avoid conflicts that could arise from the ´toxic relationship. ´
The question pundits are asking is whether Zambians want to jump in the same cesspool as Ghana finds itself in and can’t get out?