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Commentary
We invite commentaries from writers all over. The subject is about
Ghana and the world. We reserve the right to accept or reject
submissions, but we are not necessarily responsible for the opinions
expressed in articles we publish......MORE
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Why will the
Rawlingses embrace Akufo-Addo and not ex-President
Kufuor? (Part II)
By Dr.
Michael J.K. Bokor
Monday, May 16, 2016
How did Rawlings react to all that had happened to him?
Many ways. He chose to disrespect Kufuor openly by
insulting him as a thief and corrupt man. Can we ever
forget Rawlings’ hoarse song (what my friend calls a
“cacophony of music”): Ata Ayi niee… Kufuor niee…? (Of
course, Ata Ayi is a notorious armed robber now serving
prison term in Nsawam. For a former President to label a
sitting President that way isn’t a slight issue. In
effect, Rawlings reduced Kufuor’s image to rubble and
stood his grounds.
He went further to accuse the
Kufuor government of planning to assassinate him
(reference to an incident near the Kpone barrier) or
Rawlings’ allegation that foreign mercenaries had been
positioned near his Ridge residence for that purpose.
Again, Rawlings alleged that the Kufuor government had
secretly deposited over 600 million Cedis in his Ghana
Commercial Bank account to corrupt him; but the
government explained that the money was part of his
gratuities and others due him as a former head of state.
(When Rawlings withdrew that money, he didn’t tell
us!!). Yet, he continued to ratchet up his anti-Kufuor
rhetoric.
At ceremonies bringing both together,
they would shake hands and exchange pleasantries for the
camera because as Rawlings put it thereafter, all that
public show was “fan fool”. He still nurses serious
bitterness. What for, we already know. Once the stage
has been set and consolidated all these years, it is
clear that dismantling it to bring the Rawlingses and
Kufuor together is more than Herculean. Yet, both claim
to be Catholics. Unless anything happens, we can only
leave it to death the leveler to settle for them. A very
good example of very bad old men and women setting a
very bad record not to be emulated anywhere!!
For
the Rawlingses and Akufo-Addo, the level of enmity was
equally high before the inexplicable change of
circumstances for them to be rubbing each other’s back
today. A few instances to explain why that enmity arose.
Akufo-Addo had been a thorn in the flesh of the
Rawlingses, using every means to team up with others to
confront the PNDC. The street demonstrations organized
by the Alliance for Change movement—beginning with the
“Kume Preko”) and ending with the “Sie me Preko”
versions—spoke volumes to set the Rawlingses against
Akufo-Addo.
The Rawlingses had a poor opinion of
Akufo-Addo with Rawlings particularly bad-mouthing him
in a public event as a “wee smoker”. His wife would
later tear Akufo-Addo apart in two ways: accusing him of
not being a trained lawyer (or not being certified as a
lawyer) and that the children with Rebecca that he
boasted of were not his biological children. I needn’t
unpack these claims, still contentious though they are.
In many other ways, Akufo-Addo was perceived as the
brain behind the denial of protocol services to
Rawlings. He hasn’t so far distanced himself from it nor
has he openly told us why he has now snuggled to the
Rawlings to mend fences. We note that it wasn’t the
Rawlingses who initiated the thawing of relationships.
They didn’t go visiting Akufo-Addo at his Nima
residence. It was Akufo-Addo who went to the Rawlingses
to eat back his own vomit, now hailing Rawlings as a
good man and leader. Today, we hear Rawlingses also
praising Akufo-Addo. The sordid past between them seems
to have been buried, all happening at a time that
Rawlings and his wife are pushing the agenda of the NPP
through their anti-NDC political rhetoric and the
activities of Nana Konadu’s NDP.
There is every
indication that the Rawlingses and Akufo-Addo now share
a common vision for Election 2016. The outcome will tell
us whether by embracing Akufo-Addo and going in this
direction, the Rawlingses will have a price to pay or
not. For Akufo-Addo, he has already paid the price at
Elections 2008 and 2012. What awaits him at Election
2016 is in the offing.
From our perspective, we can
easily conclude that the main motivation for
Akufo-Addo’s mending of fences with the Rawlings is to
use them for political capital; but beneath that may be
others that only time will reveal. Will the Rawlingses
be smart enough to read between the lines? Or carried
away by their miscalculation, will they fail to do so
and end up more miserable than they think they have been
since they left office?
I am impatiently waiting to
see then whether the net will be widened to bring in
Kufuor for the frosty relationship to be thawed or
toughened further. Whether Kufuor will take advantage of
the situation or not, nobody can tell for now. After
all, he has played his part and will be better off
reclining in the shadows to enjoy his last days on
earth. But the truth is that in terms of political
weight and integrity, Rawlings and Kufuor can stand
shoulder-to-shoulder as former Presidents. It isn’t so
for Akufo-Addo who is not of the same stature. So, what
can’t Rawlings and Kufuor gain as former Presidents if
they put the past behind them? Or what is forcing the
Rawlingses to stoop toward a Presidential Candidate
known for losing elections while shunning the high
circle above them?
Unlike Kufuor, the Rawlingses
are still bubbling with anger, widening the scope of
their alienation, and doing things as if they have no
tomorrow to live for. Together with Akufo-Addo, they are
on a route march through the political wilderness that
has changed since Rawlings left office. What made his
day isn’t what will make anybody’s day today. That is
the lesson they won’t learn and will continue to lead
themselves astray. When the bell tolls, those for him it
is meant might not even have the time to apologize to
those on whose toes they have been stepping all this
while. And the bell will surely toll.
I shall
return…
• E-mail: mjbokor@yahoo.com
• Join me on
Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/mjkbokor to
continue the conversation.
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Yellow fever: World on brink of global emergency
over deadly outbreak, academics warn
IndependentUK, May 10, Ghanadot -
Urgent action is needed to combat a yellow fever
epidemic in Africa amid signs it is turning into
a global health emergency and a severe shortage
of the vaccine, academics have warned
...More
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Diversion Of US $250m..Ato Ahwoi To Sue Top NPP
Lawyer For Defamation
PeaceFM, May 14, Ghanadot - The issue
regarding government’s decision to divert 250
million dollars of the total proceeds from the
$1 billion Eurobond issued in 2015 to the UBA is
sure not to die anytime soon.
......More
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Only mad
60-year olds fault Kwame Nkrumah for Ghana's
development quagmire
Commentary, May
16, Ghanadot
- (T)hat... Kwame Nkrumah is responsible
for Ghana's development quagmire, are bunkum
theses. They are theses without facts and data
They are the concoctions of lazy minds whose
only beneficial attribute, if we can find one,
is their love affair with Cold War-era newspaper
headlines.....More
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David Cameron
calls Nigeria and Afghanistan 'fantastically corrupt'
BBC, May 11, Ghanadot
- David Cameron has described Nigeria and
Afghanistan as "fantastically corrupt" in a
conversation with the Queen....The PM was
talking about this week's anti-corruption summit
in London.....We got some leaders of some
fantastically corrupt countries coming to
Britain... Nigeria and Afghanistan, possibly the
two most corrupt countries in the world," Mr
Cameron said....
.More
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