Ghanaians deserve better - Rawlings

Former President Jerry John Rawlings, on Tuesday noted that gaining power through the vilification of political opponents was a negative trait permeating Ghana's politics.

He said the strategy "is a ploy to divert public attention from failed electoral promises and misadministration." "Ghanaians deserve better. They need a government that directs resources and efforts at solving problems as opposed to orchestrated paranoia."

The former President was speaking at a public lecture held in Accra to mark the 23rd Anniversary of the 1979 June 4 Revolution, under the theme, "The June 4 Spirit Lives On."

He said Ghana needed politicians who are ready to serve the people rather than to be served. "What our country needs today are politicians who are willing to work for the people and for a sovereign, independent and dignified nation capable of providing viable social and economic welfare for all citizens."

The former president whose June 4 coup brought him to power said those who honoured the spirit of the June 4 revolution did not do so to glorify violence and unrest but to remind Ghanaians that no government should create conditions that would degrade the people and push them beyond "breaking point."

To him, the significance of the revolution laid in the cause of the "spontaneous uprising" and in the way "we endeavoured to channel what would have been a bloody and destructive rage into a re-awakening of the truly democratic spirit of our people."

Rawlings reminded Ghanaians that throughout history, whenever people are in a "hopeless situation and disillusioned and oppressed beyond a certain limit some catalysts sparked off a spontaneous reaction" and that was the mood of the people in 1979.

He noted that it was the principles of June 4 that created for the common people political awareness that elected leaders must serve rather than to be served.

Former President Rawlings said it was this awareness that laid the foundations for the constitutional order that Ghanaians were enjoying and that without June 4 multi-party democracy would have remained rituals by which power circulated among a privileged elite.

He said those who doubted the fact should compare the membership of the district assemblies and Parliament with those of the pre-June 4 era.

The comparison, the former President said would show that the few rich and educated elite no longer dominated the country's political decision-making process.

He noted that members of Parliament and the district assemblies have vastly different social, economic and educational backgrounds with a rich variety of experience and linkages to all social groups.

The former President Rawlings said the propaganda that the June 4 was motivated by individuals in search of power and wealth "is not easily confounded by the fact that we have not only supervised elections but also handed over power to the victorious party."

"History will certainly record the rights and wrongs of the path we followed. But the constructive achievements that have come with June 4 and 31st December need not wait for posterity."

He said the social justice and welfare visions of the June 4 and the 31st December materialised in the expansion of electricity, water, health, education and other social amenities to communities that previously did not enjoy them.

Learning from the past was the only way to improve social relations and to ensure the development of the country. "The historical memory of a nation must be kept clean and clear for the sake of its people," Rawlings who is also founder of the minority National Democratic Party told party supporters at the forum.

He said: "I am proud of having handed over the government twice without creating obstacles, for the sake of national stability. I am proud of the fact that it was under our administration that the 1992 Constitution was drawn and adopted." The former President mentioned that the constitution could have been amended to keep him in power but said it would have contradicted the spirit of June 4.

He said "boom" speeches had become boring and that since the "boom speech" last year the stakes had risen, a reference to his last year’s speech in which he lashed at the Kufuor administration, calling its leading members and liars and warning them a “boom” if they continue to oppress and suppress the people.

The former president said the National Democratic Congress (NDC) was interested in the government coming out with socio-economic policies to assist in enhancing the peoples' living standards to prevent what he termed '"boom actions."

The former first Lady Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings, former ministers of state, National Democratic Congress functionaries and a cross-section of the public attended the lecture. Conspicuously missing from the audience was the chairman and general secretary of the party, deepening suspicions of cracks in the party. Also rooted on his front role sit in Parliament as the NDC commemorates the June 4 uprising was minority leader, Alban Bagbin.