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Opinions of Saturday, 13 June 2015

Columnist: Sarpong, Justice

President Mahama Is Rawlings Lapdog

What is a lapdog? The Oxford dictionary defines lapdog as


1.A small pampered pet dog.

2.A person or organization which is influenced or controlled by another:

Folks before you aim your projectiles with its deadly chemicals at me for insulting the President, give me a few seconds to plead my case. I will never call even the mad man on the street eating from the REFUSE DUMP a dog let alone the President of our dear country so let's discard the first definition of a lapdog, it does not apply to any human being let alone our humble President Mahama but let's see if the second definition applies to him by using this example here.


"Narrating what happened, Rawlings said while waiting for the start of the programme, he asked Vanderpuije "how soon is the president coming? He said 'no the president was not coming' and that he has delegated the Foreign Minister to come. So I said to my brother [Oko Vanderpuije] he can't do that. We have a vice president here. The protocol is such that if he can't do it he should ask his vice to do it and not his Foreign Minister, Rawlings recalled."



"I tried to call the president and his aides, but he called back and I said we have a vice president on the ground and you can't send your foreign minister. I told him we'll wait, he should go and collect the speech and go through it. "The Foreign Minister turned up and said we should start the conference. But the mayor said 'sorry, the president says you should give your speech to the vice president'... Fortunately and thankfully, the mayor stuck to his grounds and made sure we waited for the vice-president."

Definitely the second definition fits our President's to a "T" when he tucked his tail like a kicked dog between his hind legs and allowed Narcissistic Rawlings to dictate to him what to do. Where in the constitution is it written that it is only the Vice President who can represent the President at a function? Is Mahama a proxy President under the thumb of callous Rawlings? Let's go through Rawlings at the spur of the moment spastic ranting at the function where Mayors around the world were meeting in Accra.

First, the constitution only stipulates that, the Vice President will act as the President when the President travels outside the country or is incapacitated. The President as the Chief Executive of Ghana can delegate anybody to represent him at any function taking into account the importance of such a meeting.

A meeting of Mayors is not above the caliber of a Foreign Minister to deliver a speech on behalf of the President .What protocol was Rawlings talking about? This is a President who at the age of 49,6"3 weighing more than 250 pounds pounced on a 69 year old frail 5"8 Vice President Arkaa all of his one hundred and sixty pounds and beat him to a pulp and this man is talking about protocol? Is Rawlings telling us during his eight years democratic rule he did not delegate anybody apart from the Vice President to represent him at a function?

Second, what does Rawlings mean when he said "we have a vice president on the ground"? The Vice President was not at this function but was at home when he Rawlings bullied the "humble" President to call him to come to the function and this was later revealed in the above quote. "Fortunately and thankfully, the mayor stuck to his grounds and made sure we waited for the vice-president." Yes, Rawlings caused the function to be delayed so that the Vice President can be hurried from home to come to the function but I blame President Mahama for lack of cojones and not telling Rawlings to take a walk and mind his own business and leave the running of the country to him as the voters of Ghana have entrusted him to do.

Rawlings is a control freak and this is the reason why he did not get along with Presidents Kufuor and Atta Mills. He tried to dictate to these two gentlemen who refused to do his bidding and that caused the enmity between him and the two gentlemen.

According to President Kufuor, when he became President, Rawlings on two occasions told him to make two decisions which he took to advice and accepted but when he refused the third time to accept his advice, that is when Rawlings made him his enemy. We don't even have to go through the pressure he put on President Mills whom he thought was a 'SOFTIE' and will do everything he told him and that is when he Atta Mills won the 2008 Presidential elections, Rawlings jubilated and told his friends and staff he is back. President Mills might not have been a good President but he had morals which Rawlings family whatever was left of it did not inculcate in him and as a Professor refused to take orders from an "O" level graduate like Rawlings.


"I told him we'll wait, he should go and collect the speech and go through it."
-------Rawlings------

I am really at a loss how President Mahama, who before he became President had shown Rawlings he was not somebody to be pushed around when Rawlings one time showed up at his house without prior notice and he refused to allow him inside his house will all of a sudden has turned into a patsy and allowed Rawlings to run his administration.

Rawlings is having his way with Mahama's administration and that is why he Rawlings rates Mahama high as a "humble" and likable" person, but is afraid those "around him" are problematic. One of those Rawlings is calling problematic is Hanah Tetteh who has attracted Rawlings wrath because she was one of those people he Rawlings was counting on to defect to his wife camp when she Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings challenged President Mills for the Ndc Presidential candidate in 2012. Hannah Tetteh who used to be a Rawlings family friend has become a persona non grata.

Justice Sarpong

(CARDINAL of TRUTH)