JAK swore never to reconcile with JJ -Adjei

Opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) Chairman Dr. Kwabena Adjei has alleged that President John Kufuor has sworn never to reconcile with his predecessor Jerry Rawlings.

“Information reaching us indicates that President Kufuor has sworn that he will never reconcile with the man called J.J. Rawlings and that he will do everything it takes to disgrace him before he leaves office” Dr Adjei stated at a press conference called by the former president recently.

The NDC Chairman made the unsubstantiated claim when he took his turn to respond to a question about the current heightened tension between the two gentlemen.

According to him, the president intends to “use a certain newspaper to perpetuate that agenda and you all know what that newspaper is; watch it.”

Government sources have debunked the NDC Chairman’s claims described it as “Kwaku Ananse story” but Dr. Adjei was insisted on his position at the press conference.

“… they will continue to use a particular newspaper, to bring the cartoons, churn all the lies, to go on and on and on, and use other radio stations” adding that government is building new offices for the newspaper owners as compensation for the paper helping to humiliate the former president.

In contrast, the NDC chairman claimed that Jerry Rawlings is ready for any reconciliation talk.

“You can see how far we have come and how hardened their position i.e. Kufuor and his people’s position have been”.

On his part, lead counsel for Jerry Rawlings and MP for Lawra Nandom Dr. Benjamin Kumbuor said all efforts at reconciling the two gentlemen failed because the mediators did not keep faith with the mediation process.

According to him, the traditional and religious leaders always assumed that Rawlings was wrong and must accept to take the first step in the reconciliation process.

Messieurs Rawlings and Kufuor have been at each others throats since the change in power in 2001. But the relationship between the two gets heightened intermittently with unfair comments from either side. Several attempts made in the past to bring the two statesmen together yielded no results with either side accusing each other of being the cause of the friction.