"We chose Konadu for him" - Boakye-Djan

A spokesman for the erstwhile Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC), now living in exile in London has given a graphic narration of how former President Rawlings settled for his wife, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings instead of a Swiss girl.

According to Boakye Djan, Rawlings? marriage to Nana Konadu had tribal and political undertones. He said it was he and others who persuaded Rawlings to choose Nana Konadu as his wife.

Major Djan told the New African Magazine that when Flt Lt Jerry John Rawlings was asked why he was going to marry a Swiss girl, the reason he gave was that his mother, Alice Agbotui had advised him to keep his white blood.

''But we told him he couldn?t marry the Swiss girl. In the first place he was a half caste, said Boakye Djan. ''To marry a white girl on top of that meant Flt Lt Rawlings was ruling himself out of any serious political office in future. People were going to use his white blood to beat his back''.

''At the time, I knew he was chasing Nana Konadu Agyeman at Achimota School. So we told Rawlings to make a pick. He liked the Swiss Girl but we ruled her out. In other words, we chose Konadu for him.''

Major Djan explained that it was necessary to choose Konadu for Rawlings because a group in the army which he founded, the Free Africa Movement (FAM) needed Nana Konadu?s connection as an Ashanti to dilute the traditional animosity between the Ewes and the Ashantis. Thus Rawlings was admitted into FAM upon the recommendations of Major Djan. It was the FAM that later launched the June 4 Uprising after Rawlings? own coup d?etat had failed on May 15, 1979.