Go to Antoa Nyama - JJ to JAK

FORMER PRESIDENT Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings has stated that he would have voted for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the forthcoming general elections if President J. A. Kufuor and his NPP government officials had not killed the overlord of Dagbon the Ya-Na and 40 others.

The NDC founder also said he would have advised his party's flagbearer, Prof. John Evans Atta Mills, to step down if President Kufuor had not stolen state money. These declarations were to emphasize his position that members of the NPP were liars, thieves and murderers, who lied to Ghanaians by promising them heaven and paradise to convince them to wrongly vote for the NPP.

As usual and very characteristic of the former President, he dared President Kufuor to swear by the Bible, Quran, Offin River and Antoa Nyama if he insists that he and his party people had no hands in killing of the Ya-Na. Mr. Rawlings said he knew these deities could strike those who falsely invoked them to prove their innocence or otherwise, hence the challenge to President Kufuor and his men to accept and take up the challenge.

Ex-President Rawlings was addressing a rally of the NDC at Denkyira Obuasi, a farming community in the newly created Denkyira East constituency in the Upper Denkyira District of the Central Region last Thursday.

Mr. Rawlings who also visited Diaso, Anyinawusu, Domenase in the same constituency and Ayanfuri in the Denkyira West constituency under tight state security drawn from Assin Fosu, Adansi Obuasi and Dunkwa charged Ghanaians not to be afraid of Prez Kufuor and point it out to him that he is a liar, thief and a murderer.

"My brothers and sisters, this is an opportunity to vote the NDC, described as the truly democratic party, back to power," he said. Former President Rawlings also stated that the NDC abhorred violence but would not hesitate to advice themselves if the NPP did not stop using secret forces to brutalize NDC members.

At Kyekyewere, Mr. Rawlings predicted a landslide victory for the party in the December 7 polls because the rural folk in particular had lost faith in the NPP government, saying the majority of the people who voted massively for the NPP were fed up with the policies of the NPP. "It is only the NDC that can salvage the country from the economic woes," he declared. Mr. Rawlings used the occasion to formally introduce Messrs Kwaku Oduro-Bonsu and Kojo Agyapong Afrifa as the NDC parliamentary candidates for the Denkyira East and West constituencies respectively and called on the electorate to vote massively for the PCs and the Party during the elections.

The GNA also reports that former President Jerry John Rawlings on Sunday expressed concern about the incidence of "mass corruption and injustices" in the Ghanaian society. He said evidence of corruption prevailing in the country was worse than any one he had ever seen and that it was an insult to the integrity and dignity of Ghanaians. The former President expressed this when he joined the members and supporters of the Cape Coast constituency branch of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in a keep fit exercise in Cape Coast.

All businesses came to a stand still when a cross section of the public, including party supporters, lined-up the streets of the Cape Coast municipality to catch a glimpse of the former President who paraded some of the streets amidst brass band music and wonderful displays by motor and bicycle riders.

He said the truth, freedom and justice, the media, the judicial service and the security agencies were being transformed into "tools of oppression" and if this was not checked, it would worsen the corruption situation and injustice in the country. Rawlings said there was a "peaceful revolution" going on in the country and that the government should listen to the voice of the people who were crying for the restoration of their dignity. He expressed his disappointment in the current dispensation of democracy in the country and urged the party supporters and Ghanaians to use the December elections to resist the 'oppression' they were going through by voting the NDC back to power and that until this was done, freedom would elude them forever.

The former President thanked the people for the massive support they still had for the party and asked them to transform it into votes, come December. Dr Ato Quarshie, the Regional Chairman of the party, urged the people not to repeat the mistakes they made in the 2000 elections. "You should come out in your numbers to vote for Prof John Atta Mills.

The region has never produced a president and this year is for you to produce one." He said Prof Mills was the only saviour for the region and would help change its fortunes if elected president and called for peace and unity among the party's rank and file. Mr Burton Oduro, parliamentary candidate for Cape Coast, asked the people to appreciate the good things the NDC did for them and vote it back to power. He said others would like to use money to deceive them for their votes but they should consider their living conditions and vote wisely.