JJ Deserves To Be Tied To A Stake And Shot Dead - Bomfeh

The National Youth Organiser of the Convention People’s Party (CPP) James Kwabena Bomfeh, believes going by the principles of June 4th, former President Rawlings deserves to be tied to the stakes and shot dead.

According to him, if the 1979 June 4 Uprising was carried out based on the principles of ‘Probity, Accountability and Social Justice’, then Mr. Jerry John Rawlings must not be walking a free man but should be made to suffer the same fate as former Heads of State Ignatius Kutu Acheampong and General Afrifa.

Commemorating the 32nd Anniversary of the June 4 Uprising in the Ashanti Regional capital of Kumasi, Former President Rawlings said he is saddened that the wrong people are back in power. According to ex-President Rawlings, the PNDC and NDC 1 which he was the leader made a mistake by not identifying intelligent, brilliant and smart people to take over the reins of power from his administration and accused the Mills’ government of indulging in corrupt practices.

The former president eventually turned the June 4 celebration into a campaign rally for his wife’s presidential bid and assuredly said “the will of God will be done in the upcoming Sunyani congress”.

But Kwabena Bomfeh, who was contributing to a panel discussion on Peace FM’s “Kokrokoo” Morning show, stated that Rawlings’ position is contrary to the principles of June 4th which was to preempt a coup after handing over to a civilian administration.

“Seven years in office, the army was going back to barracks without any steps having been taken to punish those who had tarnished the name of the armed forces…This situation posed a threat to the continued existence of the armed forces and the stability of the country, hence the spontaneous action of June 4 to pre-empt the coup immediately after handing over to a civilian administration,” Kabila quoted Mr Rawlings at the time.

In his estimation, in so far as General Afrifa was shot because he was part of the 24th February 1966 coup d’état against the democratic government of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the founder of the NDC ought not to be alive.

“The Acheampong and Akufo government had given the chance for political parties to be formed and they had started operating. Indeed parliamentary election had been held and Afrifa had been elected but the reason why Afrifa was shot was because he was part of the 24th February 1966 coup d’état against the government of Nkrumah which was a democratic government. They wanted coup to end and never repeat itself. So by this June 4th principle, should Rawlings be walking a free man? It is normal for us to tie him and shoot him, just like Acheampong and Afrifa were shot for engaging in a coup d’état against a constitutionally elected government,” he said.

Describing the former President as a hypocrite, Mr Bomfeh denounced the commemoration of the event since the 31 December coup broke all principles the June 4th Uprising stood for.

“So on 31st December, 1981, June 4 became useless, nonsense, and above all unworthy of celebration,” he stated.

Affectionately called Kabila by close pals, the CPP National Youth Organiser who quoted extensively from the book, “The Politics of the Sword” authored by Lt. Gen. Ocran, one of the architects of the coup against Dr Nkrumah, averred that "soldiers lack the political education and mentality to solve governmental problems”.

“They should never purport to govern; they cannot because they generally lack the political education, the mentality and above all the flexibility of mind and approach to governmental problems…The officer who tries to serve two masters by combining politics and military duties becomes at once a bad soldier and a bad politician…And that is what former President Rawlings became and wasted the time of the people of this country for 12 good years,” Kabila espoused.