Black out Rawlings - Dr. Nyaho-Tamakloe advises journalists

Dr. N. Nyaho-Tamakloe, a leading member of the New Patriotic Party, has called on the Ghanaian press to slam its doors and impose a total blackout on Jerry John Rawlings.

Dr. Nyaho-Tamakloe was addressing NPP members at Akwei's House, the main meeting place of the party in the Odododiodoo Constituency in Accra on Tuesday.

He said the press should ignore Rawlings because after his recent interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) "it has come out clearly that Jerry Rawlings is someone with a split personality, paranoid and suffering from withdrawal syndrome."

Dr. Nyaho-Tamakloe who, as a medical doctor is on firm ground with his diagnosis, told The Accra Mail that "the media must not encourage such a person. I strongly recommend that Jerry John Rawlings should seek psychiatric advice. This government has no interest whatsoever in hurting Rawlings, it has rather vowed to protect his life while he is in the country."

He cautioned Rawlings' former colleagues and coup makers who fell out with him during his failed revolution not to touch him in any way when they return home from the exile he imposed on them. He admonished those returning from exile who may entertain any such ideas with the warning that, "Any attempt on Rawlings by returning exiles, who were once his friends but fell out with him, will be vehemently repulsed by the government.

"However, like any other citizen, if any criminal charges are preferred against him then he will definitely face the law because he is not above the law."

Commenting on Rawlings' statement about alleged harassment of his former Ministers and party functionaries, Dr. Nyaho-Tamakloe said, "Rawlings should not attempt to shield or defend any of his former ministers or party functionaries who are found to have committed economic and other crimes against the state and the people. He must get the message clear that the era of shielding criminals is over and anybody found to have committed acts criminal in nature against the state will not be spared by the law no matter which political persuasion he belongs to.

"There is no need for any past minister or NDC functionary whose hands are clean to be worried, let alone to be afraid. Either you stole the people's money when in office or you have not stolen it," he said.

Dr. Nyaho-Tamakloe gave the assurance that the ruling NPP government would step up security to ensure that no adventurous person would usurp the constitution of the country again.

Touching on reconciliation, he said that committees of enquiry investigated all the previous governments except the AFRC, NDC and PNDC, which were headed by Rawlings. He was of the view that since those whom the various committees found guilty were punished, it was crucial that the regimes that Rawlings headed should be the main focus of any national reconciliation exercise.

"There is ample proof of the existence of extensive documentation of actions taken by the various committees of enquiry to punish those who acted wrongly in the governments that came after and before the Rawlings era. If there is any past regime to be probed, it must be the Rawlings era, which is the darkest socio-political era in the history of this country."

Dr. Nyaho-Tamakloe, who has never hidden his disapproval of the methods Rawlings has used to gain political advantage over others, explained further that, the NPP government had no interest in setting up committees of enquiry to investigate the 8-year stewardship of the NDC, but acts of criminality against citizens and the state dating back to when Rawlings first tasted political power must not be swept under the carpet.

The NPP stalwart's call for Rawlings to be starved of the oxygen of publicity is increasingly being given consideration by wide sections of civil society, for Rawlings like most demagogues simply adores media attention, whether for the right or wrong reasons.

A news blackout on Rawlings would be difficult to achieve, however, since his comments normally attract counter comments from his followers in the NDC, and others, some of whom are news makers themselves. But it is still a most beguiling idea, for Rawlings to wake up and not read something about himself in the local independent media!

On his recent outbursts on BBC, others believe the time has come for the security agencies to start inviting him for questions to explain himself. That certainly would be news, which no media would want to ignore!