Nonsense! Who Born Dog?

For those who wondered whether ex-President Jerry John Rawlings’ tongue-lashing of President John Evans Atta Mills is over, the one-time Air Force pilot has served notice that he is not about to abort the pastime anytime soon, as he screamed “who born dog?” to express disgust at what for him is the nonsense going on around the President.

He said President Mills can sink alone if he so desires, warning that he was ready to liberate the NDC from him.

“I will not stop today. I will continue till his people wake up,” he said during an interaction with party personalities and foot soldiers at his Ridge residence, which was held after an earlier National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting he called as party founder.

The ex-President was in his elements, even expressing doubt about the potency of President Mills in a rather vague manner which left his audience wondering what the import of that aspect of his vitriolic discourse was all about.

He singled out a presidential staffer and newly-elected National Youth Organiser, Ludwig Hlordze, whose use of a motorcade, he noted, was creating a nuisance and even earning for the Mills government a bad name.

“That Ludwig. That little twitch,” Rawlings screamed on Tuesday night. “What does he mean using a dispatch rider to disturb people’s sleep?

Let him video it and send it to Prof Mills so that he can see how he is disgracing his government,” Rawlings charged.

During his time as president, he recalled, “the foolish things going on around the President could not take place.”

According to him, “I said it the other day, the people he surrounded himself with, most of them have worked with me before.

That’s when I said ‘who born dog?’ In my time, none of them would dare do the foolish things they are doing around him.

I’m disciplined and I know Prof is a disciplined man, but why is he not putting his foot down to make sure the nonsense going on around is brought to a halt?

If I could do it, why can’t he do it? If he can do that, we will begin to see some change and if they are not changing, he should boot them out. If not, if not, he will go down with them. And if they want to take us with them, I’m afraid we are not ready to go down with them.”

Vice President John Dramani Mahama, who was present at the cocktail party, could only manage a nod of acquiescence when Mr. Rawlings put to him a leading question of “not so?”

It would have been unwise not to answer in the affirmative under such a heated environment, with the ex-president giving a dressing down of the Mills Administration, even if he did not concur.

President Mills, he said, should learn to rein in his people as a disciplined man and stop them from doing what he said were foolish things.

Turning on President Mills’ speed at the wheel of governance, Rawlings recalled his oft-mentioned description of it as being slow, adding that the situation has aggravated.

“I used to say that he is slow but now... I do not see a reversal of where we came from,” he opined.

Turning to the performance of the Mills Administration and its shortcomings, he asked that these be addressed quickly. “If we continued at this rate for another year, the third year would be difficult and the fourth year would be very, very difficult.

We’ve lost one previous year, we’ve got one more year to prove that we can turn things round.”

The NDC spirit, Rawlings noted, is unlike that of the NPP where members wait for the crumbs after the leaders are done with the meal.

Showing disappointment in the recent change in the party leadership which was effected in Tamale, he lamented that “certain forces within its ranks are using the backdoor to bring some of the old, troublesome guards into the party machinery.”

Party gatherings, especially in Rawlings’ residence, have often been characterized by vitriolic discourses in which his audience is held spell-bound as he goes on and on.

The recent Tamale party congress, it was thought, had put a lid over the outbursts; but the Ridge “who born dog” boom and the notice that “I will not stop today.

I will continue till his people wake up” utterances amply demonstrate that there is no end in sight for what is now humorously referred to as the ‘boom Mills outbursts’.

President Mills, when he hosted a cross section of the Ghanaian media recently, stoutly claimed he was comfortable with the harsh criticisms of him by the party founder, a remark which political observers said was far from the truth.

None of the NDC gurus was ready to pass a comment on the founder’s harsh remarks.

Even Ludwig, who was singled out among the lot, could only muster a ‘no comment’ when contacted yesterday by Oman FM.

By A.R. Gomda