Rawlings’ rhetoric spells chaos

Five of the seven political parties contesting Thursday's Presidential and Parliamentary elections in Ghana warned on Tuesday that President Jerry John Rawlings' campaign rhetoric to the military has put Ghana on "a dangerous path likely to plunge us all into unnecessary chaos."

A statement read by Alhaji Ali Yusuf Isa, PNC National Chairman, said in his November 28 speech to the military, President Rawlings "sought to portray the opposition parties as opponents of law in general and of the armed forces in particular."

President Rawlings is founder and head of the ruling NDC. He is ending eight years as President and is supporting his Vice-President, Professor John Evans Atta Mills, to succeed him. The 1992 constitution limits a president to two four-year terms.

Signatories to the statement issued at a news conference in Accra include the New Patriotic Party, the biggest opposition party, Convention Peoples Party, the Peoples National Convention, the National Reform Party and the United Ghana Movement.

Alhaji Isa said: "The President should be reminded that his role as Commander-in-chief is well defined under the constitution." He asserted that it is "the president who has been the main threat to national security and the democratic process and his personal needs and preferences are not and do not constitute the national interest."

The five parties called on the Ghana Armed Forces to resist being drawn into partisan politics and to maintain their professionalism. "We regard the armed forces and the security agencies and the personnel who serve in them as performing tasks essential to the protection of our territorial integrity," the statement said.

Alhaji Isa listed some constitutional injunctions on the use of the army, including those that state that the government shall not misuse them for partisan politics and the army shall not be passive instruments in the hands of the government.

He referred to members of the forces as "compatriots" who, like other citizens, owe their allegiance to the state and the constitution and are enjoined to defend the constitution. Appearing with Alhaji Isa at the press conference were Sheikh I. C. Quaye, NPP MP for Ayawaso Central, and Mr R. R. Amponsah, Chairman of the NPP Council of Elders.