I told you so - JJ

THE FORMER President, Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings (Rtd) has stated that Ghanaians never believed him when he stated that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) was corruptible in nature. According to him, the NPP, which takes its descent from the UP tradition, was born out of persecution, lies and corruption and that the recent revelation by the party's National Chairman is only a tip of the iceberg. The NDC founder and leader believes corruption in the NPP government transcends money and morals to judicial and institutional corruption and mentioned the Ghana Armed Forces in particular, as the most tainted institution. Addressing supporters and members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Ashanti region at the weekend in Kumasi, Mr. Rawlings said he had been vindicated by current developments in the country, adding that the NPP government is also a liar and a thief who burgled the 2004 elections. "NPP did not win the 2004 election, but rigged it, because of lack of vigilance on the part of our party agents. Even the international community knew Kufuor would lose the election and therefore devised ways for him to rig", he alleged. Ex-President Rawlings continued that the NPP was able to outwit their polling agents and subsequently changed the ballot boxes, which saw the party emerge victorious. "They rigged the election through changing of the ballot boxes because of lack of vigilance on our part. Can the NDC protect its ballot boxes?" he furiously asked. The controversial ex-President contradicted himself however, when he admitted in the same breadth that the ruling party won the 2000 elections, but on the basis of lies used to 'poison' the minds of Ghanaians. "The NPP beat us with lies. We allowed them to use their propaganda machinery to poison the minds of Ghanaians, hence NDC went out of Ghanaians' favour, thereby giving them chance" According to him, Ashanti Region was one of the greatest supporters of the AFRC aversion that gave birth to the (P)NDC, he, Rawlings headed, and that the sudden disavowal of the party by Asantes was because of the way NDC was portrayed as Zongo-Ewe party in the country. Mr. Rawlings, who is battling for the insertion of his name in the NDC constitution as the founder and leader, told the gathering that he worked with the Spirit of God and for that matter, what he was saying had nothing to do with tribalism, but the truth. He also took a swipe at bad nuts in the NDC and derided them on what he considered to be their selfishness and greed. Ex-President Rawlings, even though did not mention names except that of Mr. Bede Ziendeng, whom he alleged had projected himself at the expense of other candidates at Koforidua, it was however clear to the gathering those he was referring to.