Rawlings "misbehaves" again

Only three days after President J.A. Kufuor had described his behaviour as not in tandem with a statesman Jerry Rawlings, the former President, has confirmed that he is an embodiment of lawlessness. The former President last Saturday defied the state of emergency in Dagbon and rode in a motorcade through the principal streets of Tamale receiving cheers from NDC sympathisers.

Rawlings who was on his way to Walewale to attend the funeral of Alhaji Mumuni Bawumia, the immediate past Chairman of the Council of State, stopped for a visit to the Gulkpe-Na. The Chief was out of town.

But instead of entering and leaving quietly, “The Statesman” has learnt, Rawlings sent an advance team to Tamale to mobilise support for him, knowing fully well that any gathering or procession would be in breach of the state of emergency, which had been slapped on the area, following the murder of the Ya-Na in March.

Rawlings’ deliberate lawlessness left security agencies apparently confused about how to handle the situation and left him and his bunch of lawless entourage to do their own thing.

Rawlings who enjoys media spotlight, for good or bad has constantly flouted the law since he left office 21 months ago. But in almost all cases the NDC spin-doctors has risen to his defence, saying he had been misunderstood.

Recently, when he addressed an NDC gathering in Kumasi and called for the Kufuor government to be confronted with “positive defiance,” John Mahama, the NDC’s Director of Communication, said he had been misunderstood.

But even at Tamale, where an important national programme such as the District Assembly election had to be put off because of a ban on processions, Rawlings, a former Head of State who was expected to know better, chose to break the law with impunity.

To make matters worse, instead of exercising restraint in the volatile atmosphere in Dagbon, Mr Rawlings chose to use the visit to the Tamale Chief’s Palace to deepen the already wounds suffered by the Abudus and the Andanis.

Throwing caution to the winds, Rawlings constantly referred to the Abudus as the enemies of the Andanis, choosing to ignore the fact that they are from the same family.