You are here: HomeOpinionsArticles2012 11 13Article 256187

Opinions of Tuesday, 13 November 2012

Columnist: Mensah, Promise

Rawlings Got It Wrong

A few days ago, I heard on one of the media stations that Ex-President J.J. Rawlings who was beginning to gain some credibility as far as I am concerned has gone back to join the President Mahama campaign train. All I could mutter was, ‘’interesting times in Ghanaian politics indeed”. Are Ghanaians that politically naïve to wave in the affirmative for his sudden stance? Most certainly no and never shall we be.
Recently at the National Democratic Party’s congress in Kumasi, he said people will go to heaven not so much because of the love of God but because of the fire in Hell. He was also seen asking the NPP flag bearer Nana Akuffo-Addo to assure him of the safety of other political parties if he, Nana Addo becomes president.
Remember this is a founder and former president who has been consistently criticizing his very party all along due to their gross inefficiency in power, crass corruption, malfeasance and maladministration at skyrocket level.
Save his indecision concerning whether President Mahama was visionary in his BBC interview, he has been saying some kind words about the president lately. However the core surrounding him is still the same. Therefore I proffer to him to extend a note of explanation to well-meaning Ghanaians what he takes us for.
I tell you honestly that if anyone leader after independence had the opportunity to take Ghana to a higher pedestal of development, it was he, Ex-president Rawlings and his PNDC and NDC, for their almost two decades in office. With his current stance, I crave to know whether he subscribes to the notion of political integrity.
Are the evil dwarfs surrounding the president gone now? For Ex-President Rawlings to tell us he has gone back to the NDC Campaign train is a blatant disposition of the integrity virtue in the highest order. I believe that principle is wholly preserved or wholly sacrificed, there is nothing as preserving it in bits or parts. Calling passengers to board your vehicle knowing very well you have a flat tyre is gross inhuman deception. To tell Ghanaians the abysmal performance of the current NDC government and going back to them portrays double standards. That NDP, an offshoot of the Rawlings’ parochialism was disqualified adds more fire to the already boiling water
My opinion is that if the NDC was going to win the December Elections, Rawlings joining them will dent their fortunes in the political market absolutely. This is very glaring since his credibility is highly questionable owning to his double standards. Furthermore taking earlier paragraphs into consideration is he himself afraid of opposition? Is this why he said you do not throw way the bathe water along with the child? If his going back to the NDC campaign train is calculated to ensure the defeat of the NDC in December, then so be it.However this will also leave a political scar on him personally as a man short of the values he so much preaches about. Whichever way RAWLINGS GOT IT ALL WRONG!
Just as I don’t want to see Kennedy Agyepong, NPP MP for Assin North on any NPP campaign platform due to his suffering of credibility crisis emanating chiefly from his outrageous ethnocentric remarks, I so much don’t want to see Ex-President Rawlings on any NDC campaign platform either, may be until things get better. Discerning Ghanaians are watching. Long live Ghana! God Bless Ghana!!