Rawlings Shines in Botswana ...

....He's an Example to African Presidents

Ex-president Flt.Lt J.J. Rawlings was the toast of Botswana after a five day official working visit that ended last Friday with plenty of things to cheer about and platitudes from top of officialdom.

He was in that Southern African country in his capacity as one of the United Nation's Eminent Persons, promoting the cause of International Volunteerism.

While there he also took on the mantle of Spokesman for the battle against AIDS that is scouring this tiny rich landlocked country that is being decimated by the AIDS virus, making several visits in town beyond the capital, Gaborone.

The private BOTSWANA GUARDIAN of March 30 promoted the visit of the ex- President in endearing terms, describing him as 'Ambassador of Hearts' who was coming to visit with them as an eminent plenipotentiary of the United Nations. 'The UN has hitched itself to the coat tails of Rawlings, counting on his mass appeal on the African circuit to publicise their work', gushed The Guardian, usually a critical popular independent paper.

In a long distance interview, Staff Correspondent Ousa, who is a member of the International Volunteerism Association in Gaborone which worked on the Rawlings' programme, said that there was a sense of high expectations on the Rawlings' visit. He affirmed that the former retired military dictator-turned President lived up to his star billing with engaging talk on AIDS, hunger in Africa, emerging as a very strong advocate for Africa.

Rawlings even found time to talk about malaria and recalled that it was the financially sapping and dreadful experience of one of his own staffers during his term in office that stirred him to devote some of his energies in the fight against malaria. Rawlings, who was accompanied by his wife, also engaged his anxious audience at a cocktail on some of his experiences, recalling that he was once popularly called Junior Jesus, but later nicknamed Junior Judas when his popularity waned. There was another acronym that was coined for him, he recalled- WRA- Who, Rawlings Again- when he sought the Presidency for the second time.

"He commands a lot of respect here," confessed Ousa, and because of his massive build, he has a powerful presence and he clearly dominates the field. Another journalist from the Government-owned Daily News Ms. Manowe, recalled that very little is known about Rawlings but she confirmed Ousa's account that they remember with surprise and hilarity the story that he thrashed his own Vice President. They were amused that shoving and pasting Secretaries of State- Ministers was pretty much common fare.

The former President attracted high compliments and praises from the United Nations Representative in Botswana, Mr. Macharia Kamawu, who held him as a model, going on to say that he wished he could showcase all retired African leaders as an example to the rest of the Western World whose perception of Africa as a democratic experience is very low.

Minister for Presidential Affairs, Mr. Muhai also said at a cocktail towards the end of the visit that he had always seen Rawlings, since he (Muhai) visited Ghana and had had deep interactions with him,as his role model. Rawlings is a good example to African leaders to show that there is life after the Presidency.

Mr. Ousa thought that Rawlings' popularity in that part of Africa is rooted in the fact that there are hardly any good examples of Presidents who have left office without a fight after finishing their constitutional term of office. He explained that ex-President Masire of Botswana has suddenly shot up as a very popular President, higher even in rating than the current President simply because he also left office when his term was over.

He also said that the Ambassador of Hearts sobriquet was in appreciation of the fact that he is devoting his time and energies for a good cause. 'Did he read from prepared speeches?' 'No, he spoke off the cuff, and he spoke quiet well'. Relief. Relief. Chronicle has learnt that Rawlings has been so anxious about how he would be received by the local press that he requested for newspaper clippings.

Most Ghanaians did not even know that he had been in Germany before travelling to Botswana since he got no real mention in the German Press. The 4.5 million daily tabloid, DE BILD, published by the giant Axel Springer conglomerate, featured him in a not so complimentary terms, according to Dusseldorfers who had seen the report.

The most respectable FRANKFURTER ALGEMEINE, the highest circulating at 500,000 a day did not mention him at all. Mrs. Rawlings continued to London and picked up her children to seek audience with the Otumfuo, who was a speaker at an International Cocoa Seminar. Chronicle is investigating reports that she got one minute, and had to speak through a linguist.