In the art of life, everybody must be a self starter

We cannot wait for lucky breaks

We cannot demand our cheers in advance

T o sit down and wait for the propitious moment

When fate will smile on us

Is to court personal disaster.

The NDC, since its inception, which arose out of the illusion of an ex Flight Lieutenant who saw himself as leader of the entire continent of Africa, has made violence, intimidation, abduction and peddling of false and unsubstantiated allegations against the Noble Peoples Party/ Nnipa Pa Party the official strategy of their party.

It is no wonder that Rawlings and some chosen cronies watched with glee the execution of Halidu Giwah, Malik, Sarkodee, Bismarck Owusu Boamah, Adongba and Djaba just as Abacha enjoyed watching the hanging of Ken Saro- Wiwa and the 8 Ogoni Chiefs in Nigeria. We learnt that Rawlings and his cronies popped bottles of Champaign, thumped their chests and shouted, “hurray, the infidels are finished!”

Aye Kumi, Nkrumah’s one time financial adviser died a wretched man. His three-storey house in the Ringway Estate, The Caprice Hotel and a Housing Estate in Sekondi were all taken away from him by Rawlings. Rawlings and his NDC took away the house that was built for Madam Fathia Nkrumah, wife of late President Nkrumah and gave it to the late Justice D.F.Annan. When Dr Hilla Liman, late President of Ghana’s Third Republic was ill, Rawlings and his NDC did nothing for him and allowed him to die a wretched person. We have realized that it was done on purpose. He did that so that he and he only would remain the only ex-President alive in the country. But did all these acts reveal traits of somebody who loves Dr Nkrumah and what he stood for? Absolutely not!

The NDC, a party which traces its antecedent from the AFRC/PNDC era has been condemning people without any justifiable cause and proof. But when it involves one of its own members, then the Government is being unfair, is vindictive and indulging in selective justice. My brothers and sisters, analyze this scenario. Francis Donkor was MD of Ghana Motor Company [GHAMOT], formerly Fattal Motors. Agyei Mantey was Chief Internal Auditor; Fred Asante was Spare parts Manager whilst one Nanor was Senior Checker. In the early 80’s soldiers went to Mr. Asante’s house to arrest him at 2.00am but were refused entry. They jumped the first gate but found the second iron door impregnable. They left and Mr. Asante took advantage to escape to a friend’s house. The soldiers returned early in the morning and when they couldn’t find their target, they arrested the wife who was then nursing her eight month old baby. They left the baby in the care of the 5 year old daughter of the Asantes. On hearing that his wife had been arrested, Mr. Asante gave himself up. The other members of the management were equally arrested.

Their offence? They were accused of self aggrandizement and enrichment. They were arraigned before the Peoples Tribunal on charges of illegal acquisition of wealth. The Tribunal could not find any evidence to convict them, but the WDC Executives insisted they were guilty. The Tribunal finally came to the conclusion that the State had not lost any money. However, since they could not have sold those tires without benefiting financially from the transactions, they had to be jailed. Fred Asante was later released because he did not personally handle the sale of tires.

Okatakyie Akwasi Amankwaa Afrifah had appeared before an Asset Probing Committee made up of prominent citizens in the country but no adverse findings were made against him. Yet, Rawlings and his gang of murderers tied him to the stake and had him executed. Was it fair?

But when CHRAJ made adverse findings against some serving members of Rawlings and Mills regime, the then Attorney General, on Rawlings’ instructions, came out to say that there was not enough evidence to merit prosecution of those ministers. My Brothers and sisters: That was not the only instance where Rawlings and his people had interfered in the administration of justice. In the mid eighties, the late W/O Salifu Amankwaa willfully tortured and murdered a middle age man. He was abducted from his room at Labadi and taken to the then “Holy Gardens” at Nkrumah Circle. Salifu Amankwaa appeared before the law Court and was sentenced to death. But what did Rawlings do? He, in his “Solomonian”. Set aside the verdict of the duly-constituted court. As if those were not enough, when the Special Investigative Panel indicted Kojo Tsikata, Alorga Akata-Pore, Amartey Kwei, Johnny Dzandu, Michael Senya and Samuel Amedeka [in absentia] for the murder of the three High Court Judges and the retired Army Officer, Rawlings once more came up with his executive fiat – There was no evidence to link both Tsikata and Akata-Pore to the murders. Even the execution of the convicted persons hand a twist of mockery in it. Michael Senyah, a close friend and confidant of the Rawlingses, who had at one time lived in the boys’ quarters of the latter, was not among those executed. Today he is walking down the streets of some foreign country a free person

Now these very people who, when the going was good for them had interfered in the affairs of the judiciary and made life very unbearable for the generality of the masses have turned round and are accusing the President of interfering in the dispensation of justice. They allege that President Kufuor had a hand in the imprisonment of Tsatsu Tsikata. But why? Everybody , unless any person with a mind for mischief, would agree with me that Tsatsu Tsikata had a fair trial and was convicted and sentenced by a court of competent jurisdiction. There are even opportunities for appeal which the man the NDC refers to as the whiz kid and legal luminary is pursuing, just like what Dan Abodakpi was doing before he was pardoned by the Presidency. Countrymen, do you sincerely believe that the NPP administration wanted to dismember the NDC as is being alleged? If it wanted to do that, why were some former Ministers who served under the NDC Administration and were accused of causing financial loss to the state be freed? The NPP Administration under President Kufuor is not vindictive like Rawlings who has vowed to expand Nsawam prisons so that top notches of the NPP and those who served in the Government could be imprisoned for thirty years and more. How do we place our collective destiny into the hands of such people who act arbitrary without recourse to the rule of law?

But we should not be surprised because when the “He, who must be obeyed” speaks, no one can contradict him.. It Mills and Rawlings were to be in President Kufuor’s shoes that would have been the way, they would treat their political opponents.

Even with sufficient evidence, NDC members are refusing to see reason and are crying foul. If that is their mindset, why should they refuse to accept the innocence of Chief Kufuor, son of President Kufuor that the so called ‘Hotel de waa waa’ belongs to him and not his father? Where is the evidence to the contrary? These people, led by the greatest bully of uncouth disposition, J.J.Rawlings, are accusing the president of chopping money”waa waa”. Where is the evidence to prove that he has embezzled state money? Should we not be grateful that for the almost eight years that he has used his own house as his official residence he has not collected a pesewa as rent on the property?

But are you surprised? For me, I am not because it is the stock in trade of members of the nefarious contraption. The party thrives on lies, fabrications, distortions, intimidation, confusion and violence. The party is out to destroy good people because they cannot stand the sight of virtuous and decent-minded people. Asiedu Nketiah and Rawlings allege that after Kufuor had won the elections and visited Rawlings at the Castle, Kufuor’s car could not start and Rawlings had to come to his rescue. This is the greatest lie of the century.

Please, let us do some comparism. Between Rawlings and Kufuor, who is corrupt? Which of them has amassed wealth which cannot be accounted for? Rawlings himself confessed to having stolen a seat from some parked Air Force plane. He also stated that he was ‘crediting’ yoke garri before he became the Head of State. At the time he made these confessions, they were plusses for him for he wanted to align himself with the common people. But now, these bunch of nation wreckers want to rewrite history by stating that such assertions were never made at all by Rawlings.

Where did Rawlings get the money to educate all his children abroad including the one who attended Ghana International School in Accra, where fees are paid in foreign currency? What about all the exotic cars and horses? Buildings and mansions both at home and abroad? Why should Rawlings declare that he is incorruptible but Kufuor is corrupt? Why should we believe Rawlings but not Kufuor? What do Ghanaians have to say about the allegations by the late Wadas Nas, General Abacha’s Minister for Special Duties that the late Head of State had doled out a whopping $6million to Rawlings to shore up the late dictator’s waning popularity amongst fellow African and Commonwealth Leaders? At that time, Nigeria had become a pariah nation. Logically, I am inclined to believe that Rawlings indeed collected the money. The scenario: Nigeria was just about to be suspended from the Commonwealth and she needed the support of sister African countries. At the special summit, conveyed for that purpose, it was only Rawlings, the Ghanaian Leader who advocated for restraint with the excuse that Nigeria’s situation was different from the ordinary.

Any reasonable human being with the fear of God will agree with me that indeed, Rawlings collected the money from the late General Sanni Abacha. Let Rawlings make an open declaration of his accounts and tell us who and who own those buildings he is alleged to have constructed or been built for him. These should include the exotic cars, motor cycles and many other things too numerous to mention. Then let the State document those properties in the alleged owners’ names so that in future, none of Rawlings’ family members nor himself or his wife could lay claim to any of such properties.

When those of us who lived through the atrocities perpetrated by Rawlings and his brigands say that the NDC was borne out of violence, we know what we are saying. Ghanaians have not forgotten what those Azorka boys did to Frances Essiam and Obed Asamoah. Even their parliamentarians and other party executives who were tagged “Obed boys” did not escape the venom of their leader and founder whose kingdom has shrunk to that of only the founder. Albert Babgin, Haruna Iddrissu and Baba Jamal easily come to mind. Why were they not at the scene of the swearing in ceremony of the new Executives under Kwabena Agyei? They took the tactical decision not to be present to save their skin. But nobody contradicts Rawlings and gets away with it. The opportunity to deal with Babgin came when at the instigation of their master, the hawks in the party moved to relieve him of his position as Minority leader, but providence intervened and his job was saved. Rawlings then took his armoury into Akwatia Township where Baba Jamal was seeking re-election as the NDC parliamentary candidate. He raved, raged and gave many reasons why Baba Jamal should not be made the party’s parliamentary candidate. He wanted to foist his own candidate on the constituency, but his choice did not go down well with the constituents. The stooge of Rawlings was soundly thrashed. Earlier on, he had attempted to do a similar thing to Haruna Iddrissu, but it backfired.

My brothers and sisters, both from our party and the other side of the political divide; the above scenario epitomizes the person Rawlings. He is vindictive and rarely forgives. Do we need to give power to the party this man founded and imposed his own candidate as the flag bearer at the time we are trying to heal the wounds brought about by years of misrule, misadventure, misdirection, negative propaganda and impoverisation?. Do not forget that Atta Mills is not sound in health and this fact has been attested to by the Running mate, John Mahama with the statement that he, Mahama, is much stronger than Mills and that is why the former has overshadowed the latter. Do we need an ailing president at this time of our nation building? Definitely not! What this means is that, in the unlikely situation of the NDC winning power, Mills will be shoved aside to pave way for Betty Mould as Vice President whilst John Mahama becomes President. This is the simple truth. Shikina!

The “katakata” at Gushiegu was sponsored by the NDC. Let people be objective and call a spade a spade. NPP members would not fire at people attending their own rally. It would be illogical to do so. About the reprisals. I am making a case that, the burning down of the NDC party’s office was done by NDC members to create the erroneous impression that it was done by the NPP. Infact, the building that was burnt was an old disused and obscure party office. If the party had wanted to carry out a reprisal attack, wouldn’t it be logical to burn the present party office? It is similar to an accident which took place during the late Abacha’s regime.

Buba Marwa was Governor of Lagos state. NADECO, whose membership included Chief Enahoro, who had moved the motion for the independence of Nigeria, was making things very difficult for Abacha’s regime. They therefore needed to do something drastic to put the pro-democracy movement in check. Two bombs were detonated at intervals of 20 minutes. The first occurred very close to Ojo Military Barracks at Ojuelegba and the 2nd occurred a few minutes after the Lagos State Governor’s convoy had passed. Knowing how Abacha’s security network worked, it would be humanely impossible for any person to detonate a bomb in broad daylight. They were done to create the impression that it was the work of NADECO. Such arguments could convince others, not me!

I have many untold stories of victims who suffered under the repressive regime of Rawlings and Mills. I have a close friend, who was arrested in the early days of the AFRC by Alan Cash and taken to Gondarr Barracks for writing a letter to Rawlings to do better things and stop unnecessary executions. He was advised by some detainees to feign madness. He did just that and that was how he escaped with his life. This friend is alive today and can be contacted for corroboration. In addition, the soldier who took the letter from this friend and sent it to Burma camp is also alive. This aside, let any one take a trip to my home town and ask any person who was old enough at the time Rawlings seized power the first time and that person will readily tell you the story. What does Mills have to say about all those atrocities which took place during the AFRC/PNDC periods? Doesn’t he have to apologize on behalf of Rawlings and the perpetrators just as we are asking the Europeans to do for what they did against our continent? Don’t they have to pay reparations to their victims?

My brothers and sisters, ladies and gentlemen, just go to the Ghanaweb and read comments by so called supporters of Rawlings and you would be shocked at the insults they hurl on their opponents.

Somebody even had the temerity to warn the webmaster not to paste articles critical of the NDC and their master Rawlings on the web. “And Francis Akoto calls himself an-NDC man” another wrote. Back home in Ghana, the Lens has gained notoriety for peddling fake news and using vulgar language on their opponents. I wonder why the paper which has lost all sense of decency and whose owners behave like people without home training (sorry for doing a similar thing that I am condemning but I am finding it extremely difficult to restrain myself) should be among papers which are reviewed in the mornings by various media houses. One thing I know is that fire cannot quench water. Let the NDC come with their fire at anytime and we shall meet them with water. We shall quench them. The NPP is for peace and Kufuor’s Government has exhibited its tolerance and respect for human dignity and freedom. Could anybody go about inciting the Security Agencies against the Government (a treasonable felony) during Rawlings regime and get away with it? No, but this is exactly what Rawlings and his men are doing. Fellow Ghanaians, it takes two people to make a fight. The NDC, having gone into political oblivion wants cheap popularity by making nasty comments so as to bring them into the limelight. But we shall neglect and overlook their antics.

Surely, we are moving forward.

Kufuor has done his best and is leaving behind a legacy of achievements. When his name is mentioned, the National Health Insurance Scheme, Free Compulsory Basic Education, Capitation Grant, School Feeding Programme, Metro Mass Transport System, Computerized Selective System, Debt Forgiveness, Free Treatment For Pregnant Women, Freedom of Speech and from Harassment and Intimidation, Good Stadia, Qualification of the Black Stars for the World Cup for the first time easily come to mind.

My brothers and sisters, how long did it take you to travel from Mallam Junction to Kasoa? Hours! But now it is only a matter of minutes. What about traveling form Accra to the Mountains [Akuapim]? Then comes the mother of all innovations… The use of E-Zwich card enables the holder to transact business without cash. It is operated by the use of the thumb and so if you lose it no other person can access it, apart from the owner. It is easier and simpler to use. The illiterate, the villager and anybody can use it. You need not carry cash on you and so the risk of having your money stolen is eliminated. The card can be used to transact business anywhere including the market. This is an innovation in the banking sector, all thanks to the NPP Administration

To relieve parents of their financial burden, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has promised to make Secondary Education free for all. Knowing the sort of person Nana is, I have no doubts in my mind that he will fulfill his promise. He has also promised to increase the amount that has been earmarked for the Northern Region Development Fund. The fact that some have complained that the amount is not sufficient is not enough grounds for the programme not to be implemented. What did Rawlings and the [P] NDC do for the three Northern Regions during the entire twenty one years they were in power? If they had started something, even on a smaller scale, the seed money would have snowballed by now.

Ladies and Gentlemen: we know that things are not easy but it is a worldwide phenomenon and not peculiar to Ghana alone.

The patient dog eats the fattest bone. It is equally true that tough times require tough leadership. But the question is “Are we voting for John Mahama Dramani or Evans John Fiifi Atta Mills? Is the contest between Mills and Rawlings? Here we are with three different campaign teams charting different courses and agenda. The gulf between the three campaign teams, especially that of Mills and Rawlings is like what exists between the North and the South Poles. When are they going to come out with one unified agenda? Is it after the elections have been fought and lost or won?

Well, the difference between the New Patriotic Party and the National Democratic Congress is clear. On one hand, we have a divided NDC hurling darts at one another but united in their resolve of bringing fire and brimstone upon the nation. By the way, where are the children of Rawlings? Outside the country! On the other side is the harmonious New Patriotic Party, whose flag-bearer has been at the vanguard of the crusade against oppression, dictatorship and denial of fundamental Human Rights. Nana can be flexible when the situation warrants it. For example, when the National Reconciliation

Bill was being discussed in Parliament and the opposition decided to walk out on account of a remark which they alleged Nana had made, he withdrew it with apologies to ensure the passage of the Bill which was his brain-child. This is a sigh of maturity and good leadership. When the occasion warrants that he leads the flock into battle, he does nor shirks away from that responsibility. He does not stay behind, but personally shows the way.

In conclusion, beloved Ghanaians:

Here we are with two choices – Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the man who treads where angels at times fear to go, the leader of the oppressed who takes one steps backwards in order to move two steps forward and John Evans Fiifi Atta Mills – the man who has been dogged by one form of illness or the other, the devotee, who sneaks in and out of the country to seek spiritual help from the shrine of Joshua Temitope at Ikotun-Egbe, Lagos, Nigeria, the candidate, whose running mate says he is stronger than his flag-bearer and therefore insinuates that he deserves the flagbeareship more than the candidate. Please know that a house divided against itself cannot stand.

May the Almighty God bless you as you make a wise and informed choice. For Peace, Progress, Probity, Accountability, Continuity and Better Life for all, vote Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and Mahmoud Bawumia joint ticket.

Daniel Danquah Damptey.
Kwame_dennis@yahoo.com

0243715297.