The meddling Ex President

Dear Mr. Rawlings, I have always seen in you a strong leader for personal reasons, I do not want to share in this article.

It appears that you have magically found all the solutions to the problems ailing our dear nation and have the conviction to advise leaders when your expiration date was years ago. It is honorable that you seem to have the best interest of the nation at heart but at what expense to peace and stability? Your actions are not only distracting but destructive to the unity of your party.

Could it be that you feel the current president won on your account and you therefore have the ultimate right to publicly chastise him? Ghanaians voted for President Mills in a quest for change, definitely not Rawlings Jnr. or a puppet. You expect people to pay you heed when you hardly listened to others during you presidency, pieces of advice are like bath water and can be thrown out anytime.

Whatever your stand is, we have a president who was voted for and thus given the mandate to rule, you may not like his style but that is it, his style. You should in no way expect him to jump when you bark, because he is his own man. If you prudently advise him in chambers I am sure he will pay heed, but barking every now and then and publicly condemning him will only cause division in the party, and polarize the nation.

Ghana as a country has come a long way from independence till now and we prefer to have moderate people in our politics and not radicals. The days of 1979 are over and we wish to build a country based on freedom of speech, which you so much love, but denied others, rule of law and good governance. These are strong pillars and will not be achieved in a day and occasionally we will stumble but eventually we will get there with perseverance and a will to succeed.

You recently made threats to leave the party if your advice, orders, I dare say, are not followed, but have you ever considered the fact that you may be the unattractive element in the party and your absence might urge people to join the NDC? The party may get stronger after you have left, because in a way, you are causing more damage with your persistent public rants. Any party where one man alone seems to have so much say and power have very little in terms of structure, others should equally be given the chance to make decisions and have a shared interest. The party is bigger than any one person and it is about time you realize that. I am under the impression that you seem to think that you are the best thing that ever happened to Ghana.

Your time is past and it is the dawn of a new age in Ghanaian politics. Kindly allow the new faces to run affairs with transparent democratic credentials and stop barging in anytime you are upset and throwing temper-tantrums like a spoilt child. You are no longer the president, for that we thank God and we have a very qualified president whose mandate is four years. Allow him to rule. Three years from now he will have to account to us the voting public, if we find him wanting, we will be sure to boot him out.

Kwame Mepeasem
Development / Accra / Ghana / Africa / Modernghana.com