and revival of the myth of the nation. There was indeed an optimism of great expectations
from the new regimes. The people thought that the promised gains of independence that
were constantly elusive in the first republic could be made accessible by the military,
after all. But before going any further, it will be necessary to consider the background
against which the military class emerged in the colonial days. Like their civilian
counterparts, Sivanandan (57) reminds one that they “received their education under
colonialism” and completed their studies in elite institutions like Sandhurst. Although the
experience at such institutions greatly contributed to their hatred for colonialism, and
they must have had a great deal of relief at independence, “their culture and mentality”,
Sivanandan argues further, “remained deeply dependent and derivative” (57). The
implication of this is that far from creating an opportunity for redeeming the nations from
the stakes of socio-political and economic failure, it was unlikely that the military would
save the nation as envisaged by the people. This view can be further stressed when one
searches back to consider the use into which the military formations were put in the
colonial days. There was a common history defining the formation of the military class
not only in Ghana and Nigeria, but in the whole of Anglophone West Africa. According
to Baynham (1988: 20):
The military establishments of former British West Africa trace their origins to the
constabularies commissioned by trading companies and colonial administrators for
internal security duties in the latter part of the nineteenth century. With the advent of the
Ashanti Wars and fears of French colonial expansion in West Africa, the forces from
Gold Coast, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and the Gambia were amalgamated under Lugard in
1897 on the orders of Joseph Chamberlain, the Secretary of State for the Colonies to form
the West African Frontier Force (WAFF) and were given legal recognition in 1901... In
the first years of its history, RWAFF (sic) was used as the constabularies had largely been
employed before, for expeditions to establish and secure British rule on the frontiers of
empire. After the Ashanti War of 1900, the force served mainly in northern Nigeria and
inevitably left behind memories of punitive activities...Viewed against this backdrop, the flaw in the enthusiasm and excitement of the people
becomes clearer. The complicity of the military as a colonial formation and the use into
which it was put at the time had created in its members an identity that appeared to be
insulated from being made accountable to the rest of their society. Besides, the privilege
of serving in the colonial institutions as agents of suppression to all forms of opposition
can doubt that Kwame Nkrumah has completely lost the trust and confidence of the people of this
country...” (Maxwell Owusu 1989:378; author’s emphasis).