Ghana's former Chief of the Defence Staff, Lt. Gen. Joshua Hamidu, has advocated the formation of a government of national unity because "the current national predicament cannot be solved by one party alone."

He told a news conference that such a government, cutting across the political and ethnic divide, is also the surest way to prevent the return of President Jerry Rawlings "to interfere in any future government," as he did when he ousted President Hilla Limann's government in 1981.

He called on all political party leaders to unite for this purpose.

Hamidu, a critic of Rawlings who returned from nearly 20 years of self-imposed exile recently, said the possibility of Rawlings interfering in any future government after the December e lections is evident in a pledge he allegedly made to Vice-President John Mills.

He quoted Rawlings as telling Mills, the flag-bearer of the National Democratic Congress or NDC, that "he (Rawlings) will be very much around and in charge long after the forthcoming December elections."

He recalled that during the hand-over from the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council to the People's National Party government, Rawlings said he was putting the new president and his government on probation.

Hamidu said Rawlings carried out this threat 31 December 1981 when he ousted Limann's Government, ushering in the Provisional National Defence Council or PNDC.

"Prof. Mills: you are not safe," he told the vice president. "Please be your own man. You are equal to the task without having to make one who has failed Ghana your mentor...Join the rest of the prospective leaders to give Ghana a government of national unity."

To the 64th Battalion of the Ghana Armed Forces, he said: "You are first and foremost Ghanaians. Don't allow yourselves to be misused to perpetuate the rule of one man and his family."

He said the battalion, which was the former commando unit under the PNDC, should be absorbed into the regular army.

He advised the police, who he said have been abused by lack of respect and resources, not to allow themselves to be used to support the rigging of the December elections.

Hamidu also advised the electorate to value their votes, which he described as "a liberation card." Let the PNDC/NDC "misrule guide your vote," he added.

He warned "charlatans," who pray for continuity, that the day of reckoning will eventually come for all opportunists.

He called for reconciliation and forgiveness, but added that whoever wishes to be forgiven must show remorse, repentance and actually request forgiveness from those he has hurt.

He said Ghanaians should not deceive themselves that the civil wars happening in other countries could not happen in the country, saying: "Where peaceful change proves impossible, violent change becomes inevitable."