The Tragedy Of Rawlings' Leadership

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“Those who the gods want to destroy first make them mad” writes Ola Rotimi. This description aptly fits the circumstances of our former President J. J. Rawlings. Over the period spanning the pre Offinso bye election and today, 30/10/06 statements and comments have flown from Rawlings and the sitting President.

Before any attempt is made to analyze the current situation, it would be appropriate to put the issues into the right perspective. During the NDC’s ill-fated attempt to capture the Offinso-South Parliamentary seat in the bye election occasioned by the death of Hon. K. Safo, Mr. Dr. Flt (Rt), J. J. Rawlings is alleged to have said at a rally of the NDC at Abofuor that “It is shameful and disgraceful to belong to the NPP; that the bad policies of the current government have made life unbearable for the average Ghanaian that the NPP government is involved in stealing, corruption and nepotism”. (emphasis mine)

Following the allegation made against his government and party, the President, Mr. Kufuor, seized the opportunity to reply as follows:

“That Mr. Rawlings cannot be a Tarzan in our National Life, that if he attempts to stage a coup as his intelligence informs him, he will smell pepper. That he is soliciting funds from an oil rich country for the purposes of staging a coup d’etat” (emphasis mine)

At this stage, the platform was set for the verbal salvoes from Rawlings ably supported by intellectuals who we had held in high esteem in the political life of the country. Every perceived supporter or sympathizer of the government is not spared the acidic tongue lashing of Mr. Rawlings.

The President does not owe anybody an explanation as to where he got his information from if our history is to guide us.

Is Dr. Dr. Rawlings of 1992-2000 different from Flt Lt J. J. Rawlings of 1979-1992 in thought, psyche, philosophy and resentment towards multi-party democracy? The answer is a big No. As a student of history, there was a warning, or should I say sanction when Rawlings said “Limann’s government is under probation”. Mr. Odjidja informed the then President Limann (now of blessed memory) about the coup inspired activities of Rawlings and his long time mentor K. Tsikata which demands putting the telescope of surveillance on them. Mr. Rawlings and Tsikata went to court taking advantage of a Constitution and the prevalence of the rule of Law that their fundamental rights to free movement was being infringed upon. Subsequently the court ruled in their favour and the Military Police and Intelligence Service were unstopped from monitoring Rawlings and Captain Tsikata. He had free access to the Military barracks. Lo and behold, we woke up to the reality of his diabolic agenda on 31/12/81 to the effect that

1. Parliament has been abolished. 2. Party political activity has been proscribed. 3. The Constitution has been suspended. As is normal when a tiny group of buccaneers take over the affairs of the State through radio announcement with accompanying mi Then began our woes and its attendant flagrant human rights abuses. State manipulation of the media, executions of unprecedented proportions, jailing of journalists creation of parallel security agencies, flagrant disregard for established law and order, and so many uncountable misdeeds which warrants condemnation by all right thinking Ghanaians.

If the President has received any intelligence information about a coup d’etat where Rawlings is involved, it would be fool-heady on his part to keep mute and pretend all is well. Our former President is such an unreliable person that you believe him at your own risk. Two years into the administration of this government, Mr. Rawlings stated that he knew 15 of the 19 member Cabinet of his Government who were involved in the serial killings of women during the latter part of the year 2000. Coming from an elder statesman, with a penchant for disturbing the political landscape, it is a statement that the Police CID took very serious and “invited” the former President to assist them with information.

When the Police visited him, he said he won’t talk unless a lie detector is installed to determine who was lying. This infantile psychopathic logic was even supported by Intellectuals. Are the legal advisors of the man Rawlings, doing their job?. Have they soon forgotten about the legal maxim? “He who alleges must prove” which every 1st year law student is aware of. You would recall that the then NDC General Secretary (A law lecturer) even said that “the dead bodies found on the streets and alleys of Accra were brought from morgues in Togo and Burkina Faso to discredit the NDC government”. This statement to say the least is the most ridiculous explanation ever proffered by an intellectual of the rank of a Senior Lecturer. That is why Rawlings is encouraged and enthused about the ranting and ravings he churns about to disturb our peaceful political equilibrium because those who should know better and caution him, applaud with the loudest decibels of praise singing.

A transcript of what Rawlings said at the Ridge Press Conference was so disturbing that, I felt ashamed and cursed the day Ghanaians voted for this man as our President. He is a disgrace to the office he once occupied against our will. He was incoherent, inconsistent and lacked any sense newsworthy. We know this man so well that we won’t allow ourselves to be hoodwinked by his rhetoric and populist propaganda. I am very sure that if power can be bought with money, Mr. Rawlings will not hesitate to mortgage his properties which he gladly exposes to the camera lenses of the Ovation magazine to buy it outright. I wonder whether he thinks he is better/wiser than any Ghanaian here and abroad. Perhaps he has forgotten that he is an ambassador of this Nation, which warrants Circumspection, tactfulness and use of refined language.

The man confesses that he has been making uncomplimentary comments about this country. Without his ascension to the seat of government who would have invited him to any of these International Fora to speak? I am sure that if he had listened to his colleague former Heads of Government, he would have realized that he is becoming an embarrassment not only to himself but to the entire nation. Knowing very well that Kofi Annan, would not descend into the arena of politics, he fabricated and attributed a statement to him in his fertile imagination. If Kofi Annan wanted to make complaints about the Judiciary, is Rawlings the person to contact knowing very well that, he (Rawlings) cannot do anything about it? That clearly exposes the lies of this man who has abused and misused the word “INTEGRITY”. If Mr. Kofi Annan has a complaint he can call on the Chief Justice or the President I have noticed that this deliberate attack on the Judiciary is made whenever his wife “Mrs. Konadu Agyemang Rawlings is to go to Court” or is it because judgment is to be passed on the Tsatsu Tsikata Trial?. My inference is that in case any of them is found guilty, then he would say “Ah we said it”.

I am extremely happy about the statement made by the Ghana Armed Forces asking Rawlings to decouple the GAF from his political utterances. I believe if Rawlings had the chance, he would have preferred Coup d’etat. The man makes unsubstantiated statements and expects that we would buy his antics. If you talk about the professionalism of the GAF, it is very high than it was during the NDC era where all service commanders at a time belong to only one ethnic group. All said and done, with Dr. Kwabena Adjei, Mr. Victor Gbeho and that Chain-smoking lawyer I respect so much prompting him, he can only be pardoned for he knows not what he is doing. Indeed the man is making the counseling job of the men so difficult but for patronage they have to keep quiet.

The dark days of Revolutionary madness is buried in the antiquities of history. Let those dreaming keep on doing so for Ghana shall be ruled only by descent minded people ingrained in humanity according to the rule of law.

After all the President and his brother, Dr. Kwame Addo-Kufuor who Rawlings readily attacks are achievers in life who burnt the midnight oil to get their degrees, which Mr. Rawlings cannot ever obtain. Even more so, they are full blooded Ghanaians whose citizenship cannot be challenged by anybody. Stop your childish rants and behave like an elder statesman.