General News of Saturday, 20 December 2014

Source: starrfmonline.com

JJ: “Truthful” Veep has made me “love” him; Mahama made a good choice

Vice President Kwesi Amissah-Arthur is a “truthful” man and Ghana needs more people like him, former President Jerry Rawlings has said.

The founder of the governing National Democratic Congress heaped praises on the former Bank of Ghana Governor when he spoke at the party’s national delegates’ congress in Kumasi.

Rawlings told the crowd of party leaders, delegates and supporters that he was awestruck by the Vice President’s boldness in correcting an erroneous impression created by a Senior Officer of power producer Volta River Authority (VRA) at the funeral ceremony of the Authority’s late CEO Louis Casely-Hayford.

According to Rawlings, the Senior VRA Officer warped history when he allegedly claimed, during his tribute to the late CEO at a funeral ceremony, that the extension of electricity throughout the country was the brainchild and handiwork of the deceased former CEO.

Rawlings said had the Vice President not been bold enough to correct the wrong impression at the funeral, credit for the extension of electricity throughout the country, a project which Rawlings insists was spearheaded by his Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC), would have been given to an undeserved person.

“This man [Kwesi Amissah-Arthur] made me love him that day. I could not resist going to hold him in front of everyone, grab his shoulder and say it is truthful people like you who must help us to write our history…Mr President, thank you for the choice of this man. I’ve had my quarrels with him in the past, but when I add the positive and the negatives, I think the positives far outweigh the negatives,” Mr Rawlings said.

He insisted: “We…the PNDC into the NDC…provided the vision to provide electricity, the roads and water for the rest of the country…”