Oh no! Rawlings

I was sad and shocked when ex-President Rawlings criticised President John Atta Mills for asking the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) to remain in office until further notice.

When President Mills paid a courtesy call on him, media men wanted to talk to him, and he rightly told them that he (Rawlings) was NOT their President, and referred them to follow President Mills for whatever interview they wanted to engage with him, we were all very happy, but to turn round and criticise him only eight days after being sworn in as President, is very unpalatable, and NOT the best. Comrade Rawlings must stop it forever – IF ANYTHING, please do it on the quiet, without any media coverage from NOW – ON. Do you hear me well?

I am planning to book an appointment with you at your residence that would last for 30 minutes. We all acknowledge the immense positive role you played in the electoral victory of President Mills, so please, allow him to deliver, and do not muddy the waters for all NDC members in the country.

Yes, you spoke as an NDC member, but most people, including our political opponents, have read several negative meanings into it, and they are RIGHT in arriving at such conclusions, because you are a former military head of state, a former civilian President, as well as the founder of the NDC, so your attacks on the newly-elected President speaks volumes.

Are you aware that the Kufour-led NPP, and their biased FM stations and print media have being saying that the NDC party is your bonafide property? If I were at your residence with the national leadership of the NDC, when they came to thank you, I would have advised you NEVER to say such things in public, because you taught me NOT to fear governments in power, and I quote, “Ghanaians have been sleeping for far too long, closing their eyes to a multiple of evil perpetrated against the state by the people of the helms of affairs, Ghanaians MUST BE BOLD enough to point out the mistakes of their leaders when they were still at post, and NOT the UNPARDONABLE MISTAKE of being able to say what went wrong when the SINNER was out of the scene.” J.J. Rawlings – June 22nd and 23rd 1979, see “Daily Graphic.”

This writer is a June 4th member, a former Committee for the Defence of the Revolution (CDR) cadre, and presently an executive member of the great NDC – Obuasi Constituency, so I know what I am saying very well, and will NEVER go back on my word.

Comrade Rawlings must know that President Mills is NOT interested in ruling Ghana by hasty decisions, so you must allow him to remove the tag put around his neck by the NPP government, as being a poodle to you, so that the President will really be his own man, and shame those fire-eating vicious politicians parading as democrats.

On this note, the President should still stick by his decision to let the NPP DCEs and MCE's stay in office until further notice, period! WHAT RAWLINGS SHOULD BE DOING No one should now tell you that the revolutionary organs, namely former (June 4 members, CDR's, CDO's, Commandos, 31st December Women's Movement are still around, they are weary, they are penniless, they have no assets, but they have children – several members died and were buried as paupers along the revolutionary journey 1982-1992, and from NDC 1992 to NDC 2009.

You should lobby for committed eadres from this group to also get 5% appointments from the government of President Mills, and never criticise the President, is that clear?

This is NOT a warning to you, but revolutionary language, so pardon me.

NEW NDC AND OLD GUARDS?
Some of us are NOT comfortable with the above vocabulary. What do people mean by referring to some cadres, former Provisionsl National Defence Council (PNDC) members, and former ministers of state, as old guards in the new NDC?

How new is the NDC? Is it now a crime for the above category of people to belong to the so-called new NDC? Well, wonders will never end in the new NDC. Comrade Rawlings, fight quietly for cadres.

If old guards were to be thrown away, ex-President Kufuor could have never been elected as Ghana's President, as well as Nana Akuffo Addo, Osafo Maafo, Hackman Owusu Agyeman, Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, Odoi Sykes, B. J. Da Rocha, Harona Esseku, Mr. Owusu Fordjour etc. Aluta continua!

Clement Sangaparee, NDC member, Obuasi