RAWLINGS AND HIS RANTINGS…

Former President Rawlings says Ghanaians should vote massively in the coming December election to ensure massive victory for the NDC in the election. The former President was speaking at a news conference held in Accra by a section of his party to mark this year's republic day. The speech, made amidst innuendoes and instigation, referred to what he described as greed and corruption and bad leadership by the NPP.

Coming from a leader who gained power through a military coup and hung on to power for twelve long years, through intimidation and widespread corruption, the speech could only be described as hypocritical. Having gained republican status almost fifty years ago, Ghana's democracy would have developed much faster had it not been for the various interventions that were made by military elements, some of which were not only unnecessary but also rather stupid leading to the deaths of innocent Ghanaians whose blood were shed for no apparent reason.

The former President's speech is not only unnecessary but also smacks of mischief by a man rendered useless by the people who he needs most, having been publicly snubbed by the same people he handpicked and forced others to accept. One cannot help but feel that the speech is that of a man trying to clutch at straws in a situation in which he is entirely useless, seeing that he has no role to play in his party in the coming elections.

Why the President thinks that he and his cohorts can behave like ostriches is a source of wonderment for most right thinking people; Ghanaians having ditched them in the 2000 and 2004 elections, one would have thought they would have learnt their lesson. But they think we are fools and so they can tell the rest of what to do. It is little wonder that those he handpicked for his party have now left him in a lurch having come to the realization that he is nothing but a loser.

It is a pity that he will refer to massive recruitment of the police and the changes that have gone on in the army, and while at it, play the tribal card. His analysis of the development in the police is as usual, shallow given the high spate of crime and the need to improve the force. Is he saying that Ghana was better off in 2000 when he left office and Ghana police had only one hundred cars to operate with only fifteen thousand men as compared to the current twenty two thousand men with thousands of vehicles and new equipment.

Not only was his speech incoherent, his thought flow was disjointed and one had to strain to make sense of what he had to say. His reference to Nana Addo's campaign promises were out of place and being the rubble rouser that he is, he tries to incite the crowd by playing the tribal card. But we were all in this country when the people of a particular tribe were found in almost all spheres of this country's MDAs. When he draws the crowd's attention to the fact that they do not own air conditioned cars and wear suits as those in the NPP, one wonders whether he has forgotten about his jaguar and other luxurious cars. What about his children who are attending expensive schools and leading expensive lives.

Unfortunately for the ex-president, his sense of the concept of justice which he claimed had been assaulted is nothing to write home about. He burst on the political scene in Ghana on 15th May 1979. On that occasion, the speech that he was supposed to read carried the words, “we must go the Ethiopian way,” a reference to the blood-soaked regime of colonel Mengistu of Ethiopia. When he got the full reins of power later on June 4th the same year he lined up eight generals, including three former heads of state and shot them at the stakes.

In 1982, Rawlings invited himself once again into power through violent means and under his leadership, three High Court Judges and a retired army office were kidnapped and murdered. In addition over 230 persons disappeared totally without trace when he superintended affairs in the PNDC.

And as if that was not enough, long after he had blissfully left office, and his long time friend, Tsatsu Tsikata, had been jailed by a properly constitutional court of competent jurisdiction, he and his supporters make noises that encourage others to threaten judges. For the ex-president, his concept of justice is shedding the blood of innocent Ghanaians to satisfy his inordinate bloodlust.

His reference to the Dagbon crisis is rather insensitive given that there is mayhem still happening in Dagbon and other areas in the Northern part of Ghana. It was just to score cheap political points for which he really has no use.

The fact that Rawlings refers to the incarceration of some political actors and former ministers makes one wonder where he was when he and his men were jailing people without the benefit of any kind of trial. If he claims that he is a champion of the fight against corruption why then does he make so much noise about someone tried and convicted by the justice system who still has right to seek redress within the same system. This is absurd, coming from someone who killed people without trial presumably for corruption. When he calls on those in other regions not to wait for word from Accra before acting, is he saying that they should take the laws into their hands? Tufiakwa! This country has come too far to be misled again by such nonsense!

In any case will it not have been more appropriate if the flagbearer had spoken instead of the former president who has two coup de'etats and two lost elections under his belt. Does a person not know when they have outlived their usefulness? Na waaoooo!

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