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Opinions of Tuesday, 24 November 2009

Columnist: Sayibu, Akilu

Ex-President Rawlings Must Relocate To Scotland

OR LEAVE PRESIDENT MILLS ALONE!

The current mounting pressure on President Mills by his own party; the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in general but Ex-President Rawlings in particular is just but the consequences innate in accepting to be imposed on the people!

If I rewind this article to Swedru where now President Mills was anointed by Jerry Rawlings as his automatic successor after ruling Ghana for 19years; 11 of which was a criminal and an illegality, readers will have an idea the source of the current pressure Chairman Rawlings is mounting on President Mills.

There is no denying the fact that, it is Chairman Rawlings who “made” Attah Mills politically. Even before he “Swedru declared” Mills as his successor, it must be recalled that, he first plucked him out when he was then a tax commissioner with the Internal Revenue Service(IRS) to be his Vice-President in 1996.

President Mills, then candidate Mills made things worse for himself when in the past he made statements that sought to imply that he was mortgaging his independence to Chairman Rawlings through his famous or infamous “I will consult him 24hours a day, 7days a week and 30days a month” ostensibly referring to the Man who brought him to the political limelight.

The truth is that, current realities would not and can never permit President Mills to consult Jerry Rawlings 24/7 and this is simply what is frustrating the Man.

It is at times so irritating listening to some unrealistic comments and demands of Chairman Rawlings. He wants President Mills; a democratically elected president of a sovereign republic call Ghana to do things which he Rawlings could not even do when he ruled Ghana after over-throwing democratically elected President Limann without a constitution!

Chairman Rawlings greatest beef is that, he wants perceived corrupt ex-government officials to be jailed by all means! He sees the current constitutional processes that those perceived corrupt officials are going through to be slow even though some of those processes carry big question marks.

Jerry Rawlings must be told that, in this time and age no human being can be pulled away from his bed in the middle of the night and brutally killed when he was illegally in charge of affairs of mother Ghana for over a decade. (1981-1992)

My honourable and honest advice to Jerry Rawlings is that, if he can’t tolerate the pace, at which President Mills “Better Ghana tortoise” is moving, then he can relocate to his paternal homeland, Scotland or he must leave the elected President alone. At least he is lucky to be biologically related to two countries!

Some of us are only biologically related to Ghana and have no place to go that is the reason we think Jerry Rawlings must be called to order before he incites Ghanaians to mayhem.

Ex-president Rawlings and the NDC party must be told that, then candidate Mills graduated to President Mills of the republic of Ghana! Every Ghanaian including yours sincerely is looking forward to the promised better Ghana agenda by the Mills administration.

There is no doubt at all that President Mills performance for now is under- whelming! Infact he has for now set up more tea and “chinchinga” committees to investigate allegations of perceived corruption than he has set up to provide employment for the teaming unemployed Ghanaians to alleviate our poverty and hardships!

This not withstanding, it is not the unnecessary effusions of Jerry Rawlings that is needed to get things done well. He had the fortune of ruling Ghana for 19years. If he had created employment for all Ghanaians and ended poverty in Ghana he wouldn’t have being pouring out these nasty insults all over the place now.

The ex-President can go about insulting ministers of his Party as bastards, mediocre, criminals, silly etc what he shouldn’t dare do is to try to repeat the “acrobatics” he staged in 1979, and 1981. If he dares he will be the first casualty!!

It must be put on record that, by the open insults that ex-president Rawlings is throwing at President Mills and the NDC, he is effectively campaigning for the other politically parties and it is my hope that, when the electorate vote out NDC in 2012, they (NDC) will not cry foul or want to do something funny!

Akilu Sayibu, UK

Email: Akilu.sayibu@live.uwe.ac.uk