the Hypocrites, Parasites and “Greedy Bastards” Come to Take a Bite!!!

There’s no political party on this planet which is made up of saints and no one with his or her head properly screwed on would think same. The Labour and Conservative parties in the United Kingdom are no different. So are the Democrats and Republican parties in the United States of America. Bringing it closer to home, neither the NPP nor the NDC are made of saints. I dare say also that, no individual in any party could claim sainthood. Rawlings wasn’t a saint. Kuffour was no saint and President Mills cannot claim sainthood either. But when an individual is hero-worshipped and made the monarch of all that he surveys as the NDC made former President Rawlings, such a person would see himself or herself as the only saint alive. Somehow, I have sympathy for former President Rawlings. The poor man has been made to feel he is the only righteous person in Ghana hence his complete disregard for anybody else but himself. This dates back to the PNDC days in the 1980s but with the onset of democracy in 1992, some Ghanaians decided to disengage from that hero-worship mentality. The NDC though seeing the Rawlingses as their major election winning weapon consistently lambasted and chastised anybody who dared criticise the Rawlingses. The truth is they goaded on the Rawlingses to slag off all and sundry especially those in NPP; and so after his combined period of 19 year rule ended in 2001, Rawlings continued in mainstream politics rather than sit back as a former President. He continually bashed President Kuffour from post to post during the latter’s tenure and even after. Coupled with the numerous allegations and name calling, Kuffour suffered the ignominy of being compared to a notorious armed robber! Through it all, then Prof Mills, NDC and their surrogates applauded because it was to their advantage. Even around 2008, then candidate Mills and the NDC were still basking in the glory of the corrosive power of Rawlings’ acid tongue.

Some of us time and again cautioned President Mills and the NDC to tame Rawlings or the latter would turn around to consume them after he had finished with Kuffour, Nana Addo and the NPP. Prof Mills and the NDC conveniently turned a blind eye over the years. Now that the Rawlingses have turned on them, they are petulantly blaming the NPP for goading on the former first family. So on 15th May, Rawlings mounts the lectern again and claims to be fighting “perceived enemies and traitors” and suddenly, the NDC, led by Kwesi Pratt; its chief hired assassins are cowering for cover under the now non-existent umbrella. Rawlings is being vilified and castigated for being himself. Let’s take a detour to the memory archives for the antecedents of what he said on May 15th. Rawlings first tagged some of President Mills’ ministers as “greedy bastards” a couple of years back and has consistently highlighted their inadequacies. If he labels those incorrigible “greedy bastards” as “traitors” today for betraying him and his “principles”, why begrudge him now? Readers may recall that then Majority Leader in Parliament, Alban Bagbin even once said that President Mills has “…surrounded himself with sycophants, bootlickers and fair-weather friends who are prepared to clean the Presidents shoes…” At the time, Bagbin said he was only “…calling a spade a spade…” On SADA, same Bagbin posited that President Mills “…has failed miserably…” Shortly after this, Bagbin was made a minister and has since not raised a whimper!

Similar noises were made by E. T Mensah. The same E.T who was popularly referred to as “JJs barber”! He was such loyal lieutenant to the Rawlingses until now! He was equally silenced with ministerial appointment and his foetal murmurings suffered a premature death. Remember Nii Afotey Agbo? This was another Rawlings loyalist who even described one Deputy Minister as “having a low IQ.” Same was also appointed a minister soon after his outbursts and has since gone deaf and dumb. Then Nii Lantey Vanderpuye; another loyalist who has since betrayed former President Rawlings for the sake of his position as Presidential Staffer. Readers would recall how Nii Lantey Vanderpuye milked the Rawlings charisma in pursuit of his dream to become the NDCs Youth Organiser. It is interesting that this same Nii Lantey Vanderpuye should be the one who is leading the chorus to call the bluff of the Rawlingses!! These few examples are testament that there are indeed “traitors” within the NDC as former President Rawlings recounted.

It is not surprising though that some of the people who fit the description of “traitors” and “greedy bastards” are the very ones leading the craze to chase the Papa J and Mama K out of town. Even shameless chameleonic Kwesi Pratt with his prehensile greedy trait has joined the fray to bash the Rawlingses!! Same Kwesi Pratt who abandoned the late President Hilla Limann of the CPP stock to follow then Chairman Rawlings and his PNDC gangs! And same one who connived with the PNDC to be put in prison just so that he could “spy” on his colleague journalists! Yes, the same Kwesi Pratt who later joined forces with Kuffour and the NPP in the 2000 elections and published in his newspaper that then candidate Mills was “…something and could not be trusted…” to manage the affairs of this country. It this same Kwesi Pratt who is now the armour-bearer of President Mills! The one and only prating Pratt who unashamedly calls himself a “friend of Nana Akuffo Addo” and yet clandestinely went to tell lies about him to the American “imperialist” as he likes to call the latter! With this infamous past, could Kwesi “something” Pratt have any moral ground to scold the Rawlingses? Who would have thought that a man with the unenviable track record of shifting through his alliance gears with the dexterous skill of a Formula 1 driver would be one of those to school the Rawlingses on the lesson of loyalty! But that’s Kwesi Pratt for you: shameless, opportunist, vile, a “traitor” and a “greedy bastard.” Pure and simple!!

But methinks President Rawlings is right. The behaviour and the utterances of the aforementioned individuals and many others not here recounted confirm the suspicions of former President Rawlings of the existence of “traitors” and “enemies” within the NDC. When you analyse the speech of former President Rawlings on May 15th with an open mind and not with the myopic tunnel vision of the likes of Nii Lantey Vanderpuye, one would realise that the former said nothing new other than to reiterate what some personalities in the NDC and himself have said in the past or continue to say. Readers may recall the letter the NDC chairman Dr Kwabena Adjei wrote to President Mills highlighting the “…apathy in the party” and the waning of “grassroots support.” Martin Amidu, the immediate past Attorney General openly declared that he feared for his life due to threats on him from people within the NDC and their “criminally rented press.” Also, just some few weeks ago, Justice Kpegah chastised President Mills for surrounding himself “with law students” hence the government’s appalling record of losing case after case at the courts. The litany of dissent voices from within the NDC is endless. The prognosis has been made by many others within NDC long before Rawlings’ May 15th speech. Any political party infested with “greedy bastards” and “traitors” would not stand the test of time and being the “founder of the party”, it is prudent and right that he seeks to cleanse it of these malicious bugs whose greed and avarice could drag his party into the abyss of history. I dare say that it is only the “traitors” and the uninformed who will seek to drag the Rawlingses to Golgotha to crucify them on this score.

The “traitors” and the “greedy bastards” have used the Rawlingses when the former needed them and have now jettisoned the former first family to the dustbin of history. The couple have every right to let their feelings known. Alban Bagbin, ET Mensah, Nii Afotey-Agbo, Kwesi Pratt and many others at one point or the other expressed similar sentiments until the nectar begun to drop on their tongues and they now neither see nor hear no evil. As things stand now, the Rubicon has been crossed and the battle is joined. The “greedy bastards” and “traitors” have ganged up on mount Mills against the faithful few who have also amassed at the Boom junction. As the battle bell tolls for June 4th celebrations, Ghanaians are waiting for what is going to come out next. For now though, let the “traitors” and “greedy bastards” huff and puff! Let them threat and fret!! In fact, let the hypocrites, parasites and the “greedy bastards” take as many bites at the Rawlingses as they want but they should also bear in mind that the latter will fight their “perceived enemies and traitors” with their last blood.

Whilst we are at it, would someone tell Kwesi Pratt to keep his counsel? What does this 2 faced “greedy bastard” wants the NPP to do about the NDCs problem? The NPP does not need his poisoned-chalice advice. Since when did he come to realise that Rawlings will do similar thing to NPP after he has finished with President Mills? Was “Kwaku Ananse” Pratt not the same person who together with then candidate Mills and Rawlings lambasted Kuffour for 8 years? Why didn’t he then think Rawlings will do similarly to Mills what they supported him to do to Kuffour? Now that “traitor” and “greedy bastard” Pratt is enjoying the crumbs from Mills’ table and the tables have turned, he wants the NPP not to maximise the opportunity. To hell with you Kwesi Pratt! What is good for the goose is equally good for the gander!! The NPP has dealt with the Rawlings verbal assault since 1992 and they will deal with it again even if it comes back in a hydra-headed form next time. For now though, it’s President Mills, the NDC, the “traitors”, “greedy bastards” and Kwesi Pratt’s turn and they must get on with it.

Kofi Kyei-Mensah-Osei