Buy Mills Get Rawlings Free - Part II

In my first treatise, Oh discerning reader I referred to the farce at Legon in 2006 that returned Prof Mills as the presidential candidate of the NDC. I also referred to the fact that NDC have travelled a long journey from Swedru to Swedru. Not long after the Congress the VOA carried a news item that the NDC were secretly planning to hold another Congress now that the seriousness of the Prof’s health had come to light. This was quickly denied by the NDC as untrue. Well, untrue we believed it was. However one thing that the sharp NDC political propaganda has not been able to shift is the fact that Prof Mills is not his own man, and that he Professor Mills himself is increasingly frustrated about the fact that Rawlings continues to overshadow his campaign. Prof Mills still receives written instructions about his campaign strategy from Ex President Rawlings’ office and that the Ex President feels Prof is not doing much to endear himself to the Ghanaian electorate. Simply put, Atta-Mills is not in control of his own campaign strategy. There is also the well sourced rumour that the NDC strategy is to use their most marketed individual, Atta Mills, only for the first term to win and consolidate power, and later dump him for a more youthful candidate hand-picked by Rawlings for 2012.

At a recent secret meeting at The Coco Beach Resort Mr Rawlings reportedly went into one of his usual rant and rage and said Mills should be seen to prove his worth during this crucial time in his campaigning, and to tell Ghanaians that the NPP is made up of thieves and robbers. He also allegedly accused the NDC MPs as being bought by the NPP, especially Hon. Francis Poku, the National Security Minister. It all points to the fact that all is not well with Prof Mills. Within the NDC there is a group who have a strong sense of foreboding that unless Professor Mills stands up to Rawlings in public, the NDC would lose the elections. But can he do that? The simple answer is no, he cannot. The reasons why I say this are clear and simple. When the law moguls in NDC head-hunted Prof. Mills for Rawlings as a running mate, they were looking for someone who could be manipulated by Rawlings. Even as law students we all wanted to take the Commercial Law option, which Prof taught very well, because he was kind and nice and offered A or B grades generously. Prof. Mills’ mantra of “mepe asomdwee” may be true for him, because he is a peaceful man, but the trouble is he is not his own man. The person inside him so long as he leads the NDC will be Rawlings. When Vice President Arkaah tried to rid himself of the spirit of Rawlings it was not a good reading for him and for all of us as Ghanaians who respected and loved him. Even the likes of PV Obeng and Dr. Kwesi Botchwey who single-handedly masterminded some of the success stories of the PNDC era ended up in the largo. Amartey Kwei was loved and dumped and killed all for doing his master’s will. Kojo Tsikata, the mastermind of PNDC security has found a quiet retirement home in South Africa after an alleged disagreement with you-know-who. “OUR Father who art in heaven…. Thy will be done!”

What is the advantage in the NDC returning Mills as a flag bearer apart from singing their master’s voice? This is a man who has been rejected by Ghanaians on three occasions-twice in 2000 (main election and run off) and in 2004. Are the NDC insulting Ghanaians or belittling our intelligence? This is a man who has been rejected by his own kith and kin. He was defeated in his own region, district and hometown. This is a man who has been attacked by his own Party as being indisposed.

The NDC elected Prof. Mills nearly a year ago and up to now he has not been able to pick his running mate. The question is, why? The answer is simple. The Rawlingses are anxiously waiting for the outcome of the court case against Nana Konadu Rawlings. This is not unconnected. Nana Konadu Rawlings is a businesswoman, a leader of 31st December Movement and a former first lady. The 31st December Movement was a quasi women’s world in Ghana from 1982 and Mrs Rawlings led this group to appeal to the conscience of a certain group of women who became the fan club of NDC. She has almost certainly placed herself in a position to lead Ghana and on whose comfortable back to use than that of Asomdwee man Prof. Mills. Rawlings openly crowned Prof. at Swedru, openly supported him in 2004 and tacitly bullied the leadership of NDC to return him in 2006. One good turn [well now 3 good turns] deserves another. The agenda is clear and obvious – Buy Mill, Get Rawlings free. Are Ghanaians going to fall for this Buy One Get One Free (BOGOF) idea?

Let me repeat what I wrote in my first treatise at the risk of sounding repetitive. It will be wrong for Ghanaians to accept the NDC gamble because

• We have come too far with democracy to return.

• We have come too far with macro-stability to return.

• We have come too far with freedom of speech to return.

• We have come too close to meeting the Millennium Development Goals of 2015 to return.

• We have come too far to achieving a perfect health insurance policy to return.

• We have come too far to micro financing to return.

• We have come too far to youth employment programme to return.

• We have come too far to infrastructural development to return.

• We have come too far to Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education to return. • We have come too far to free feeding for school children to return

• We have come too far to achieving freedom and justice, the ideal of our forebears when they gained us our independence to return.

WE HAVE SIMPLY COME TOO FAR, WE WILL NOT CROSS THE RUBICON AND FALL ON OUR OWN SWORDS

If Prof Mills ends up as the President of Ghana with a certain Rawlings remote controlling his brains, this will be my message-I AM LEAVING TOWN AND WILL THE LAST PERSON TO LEAVE GHANA PLEASE SWITCH OFF THE LIGHTS

I know however that, come 2008, I will not leave town [Insha Allah] because I trust the good and discerning people of Ghana to exercise their new found freedom from fear and violence and not go back to Mills or his master, Rawlings [Tofeakwa].

God bless our homeland Ghana

Kwesi Atta-Krufi Hayford
Email: hattakrufi@hotmail.com