We want to say at this point that all that Jerry John Rawlings has been doing since he left office and within the context of his being banned by the 1992 Constitution from returning to that office is nothing to be proud of. It is simply steeped in a misplaced agenda by him and his wife, (Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings) to create the stinking impression that without them Ghana cannot be.
They are deceived. Gradually, age is telling on them. And for Rawlings particularly, health issues matter. He has already disclosed that he has heart problems even as he pursues a legal case against Africa Watch for saying that he has the Parkinson’s disease. That is his own cup of tea.
Now, let us be more blunt. Whatever is happening at the NDC front is only an exercise in jaw-jawing, which is good for the party. I can infer from the mood and tone of the Rawlings critics that they mean business to cut Rawlings to size. I support them as I have no doubt they will succeed in proving to Rawlings that the NDC is bigger than he is.
No matter how he sees things, the NDC is a political party that is made up of people who know what politicking in our time entails. They may be quick to disagree with the draconian measures used by Rawlings to attempt solving problems for a good reason. After all, despite all those measures, what is Ghana today?
What exactly did those draconian measures put in place to prevent recurrence of such vices, especially bribery and corruption (for which Rawlings presided over the execution of former military leaders and others)? Or about sanitation (for which Rawlings is now Akufo-Addo’s ambassador)? Horrible!! Nothing has changed. No lesson has been learnt from all that Rawlings sought to do to clean the stables. So, why should he still remain what he was in the late 1970s as if time is hung on a hook? Or as if nothing good can happen in Ghana unless Rawlings and his wife wish it so?
Folks, I insist that happenings in the NDC are only mere scratches that will not turn the party upside down. At most, it will energize more open and vociferous exchanges, which I expect to be the rule rather than the exception. It appears to be a means for venting pent-up feelings and to confront Rawlings in open public discourse. For far too long, he has had too much sway and stranglehold on affairs. Now that he is being boldly confronted, I hope what has been hidden all these years will be spilt for us to see what is what.
That is why I like what Dr. Valerie Sawyer (a former Deputy Chief of Staff under Rawlings) has spilt about Rawlings—accusing him of being corrupt and being a mosquito buzzing all over the place to bite those it targets. Such a mosquito has its 10 days to exist.
And also what has come from Dr. Obed Asamoah that suggests that Rawlings sees himself as “a saint” and all others as devils. That’s a powerful characterization, particularly, if we recognize Dr. Asamoah as one of the early adherents of the Rawlings movement that shunned their traditional political allegiances to move forward whatever Rawlings brought about. Such people have hordes of ideas to tap into.
Where are we now? We are where we want to say that whatever is happening in the NDC is natural and shouldn’t be portrayed as disastrous for the party. I see it as a good opportunity for ventilation. After all, once the NDC knows that it can do without being strangled by the Rawlingses, it should move ahead. And it still enjoys massive support. Whatever made it weak at Election 2016 should provide the opportunity for rebuilding for the future, not for succumbing to petty bad-mouthing by those already known as doomsday prophets.
Folks, there is much on the table; but I will end it here, hoping that we can move on from whatever we have been given to know now about the exchanges.
Probably, we may want to think more deeply about Dr. Valerie Sawyer’s huge allegation against Rawlings that he is corrupt. If that allegation is anything to go by, we must view it against the background that Dr. Sawyer was a Deputy Chief of Staff under Mills/Mahama. What does she know that she can spill for us to add to the Abacha largesse for no work done to Nigeria or the divesting of the Nsawam Cannery to Nana Konadu Agyemang-Rawlings? Anything more to be revealed?
Those now speaking pointedly against Rawlings and whatever else there is are right to do so just as Rawlings is in taking his personal attacks wherever he has done all this while. I see nothing wrong about happenings. All I see is the atmosphere in which those with pent-up feelings are letting everything “flow”. What is wrong about that? In any case, who am I to attempt making peace among those who have one grudge or the other against each other? In any case, I am no part of their “grudge business”.
Let them talk and talk more about what they have been harbouring all along. Then, we (outsiders/onlookers) can get to know more than we do now. Eventually, those talking now should be the first to position themselves for peace-making. Are they willing to do so?
Truly, the NDC can survive without such nail-biting moments given it by the Rawlingses. And the more the party can stand on its own without the attempt by the Rawlingses to strangulate it, the better chances are that it can purge itself of the past that has empowered its opponents to continue painting it black. Let the exchanges continue; we are enjoying them!!
I shall return.
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