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20.05.2016 Editorial

Mrs. Rawlings Has A Right To Point Out The Ills Of Society

By Ghanaian Chronicle
Mrs. Rawlings Has A Right To Point Out The Ills Of Society
20.05.2016 LISTEN

Former First Lady, Mrs. Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, has of late been ruffling a few feathers in the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), with her criticism of government economic policies.

The wife of the founder of the ruling party has parted ways with the political party founded by her husband and is now campaigning as Presidential Candidate of the National Democratic Party, the political edifice she has built herself.

On the campaign trail, Mrs. Rawlings has been very vocal in her criticism of President John Dramani Mahama and his administration.

Interviewed on Radio Ghana last week, Mrs. Rawlings complained about rampant corruption eating away state resources at the expense of the people's welfare and incompetence on the part of the administration and its officials. It is painful, she complained, that the NDC was running the vehicle of state into a ditch.

The former First lady charged the Government to stop sole sourcing in the award of contracts, in order to arrest the high spate of corruption and asked political leaders of society to stop bribing the media to “keep quiet about issues that are happening” in society.

These are issues of concern to the ordinary man on the street, for which this society should applaud the former First Lady. However, officials of the NDC are up in arms with her for articulating the concerns of the people.

The Eastern Regional Chairman of the NDC has even gone further to suggest that Mrs. Rawlings, who is campaigning to be elected president of this country, is doing the bidding of the Presidential Candidate of the opposition New Patriotic Party.

“Nana Konadu's aim is to ensure that Akufo-Addo wins the elections. That is why she has been heaping praises on him wherever she goes. Her aim is to make the NDC, a party she once served as Vice-Chairman unpopular, so that we will lose the elections,” Mr. Boateng charged.

In what amounts to an admission of corrupt dealings by the party while in power during the Rawlings era, Mr. Boateng said: “If She (Mrs. Rawlings) says this government is corrupt, I challenge her to tell how she was able to find money to run the 31st December Women's Movement. She shouldn't dare tag this government as corrupt, because she did worst things when her husband was President.”

The interesting revelation about this outburst is that it confirms the general perception that the NDC was corrupt when in power in the Rawlings era. It also gives several broad hints about the performance of this regime which has often been accused of corrupt dealings.

The Akans would tell you that when the goat rubs its body against the wall, it might think that it is destroying the house. Invariably, it turns out that the animal is hurting itself.

The Chronicle believes one does not need to be a sage to appreciate the Eastern Regional Chairman's outburst in its proper contest. The party in power is feeling the pinch. But if party apparatchiks believe they can wish people's perception of corruption away, by descending on Mrs. Rawlings, then that is their cup of tea.

This society is not sitting pretty at all. The exposure of various deals has created an image problem for the government and the political party that props it up. There aren't many in this society who are comfortable with the conduct of this administration, especially in the way the public purse has been used.

The Chronicle has never been a friend of Mrs. Rawlings, especially during those days when her husband sat at the Castle and she behaved as 'She who must be obeyed.'   But that does not mean that if the former President of the 31st December Women's Movement, who is campaigning in her own right to become the President of this republic, cannot point out the ills of society.

The Chronicle is ill at ease with the wanton dissipation of public funds, under the watch of the NDC administration.

Sole sourcing, for instance, has been turned into one of the main vehicles for siphoning public funds. That is why, in our view, Mrs. Rawlings should be applauded for making it a campaign issue in the run-up to the November 7 vote.

The wife of the founder of the party has never been the darling of this newspaper. Of late, however, the Presidential Candidate of the NDP is making all the right noises. We urge Mrs. Konadu Agyeman Rawlings to continue to expose the rot.

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