What happened under Rawlings’ rule that didn’t happen under Mahama’s?
Except the ruthlessness, intimidation, and the murder of people all over the place in the name of “probity and accountability”, all that Rawlings used political power to do (in the 4th Republic, excluding the era of the AFRC and the PNDC), happened under Mahama and has persisted [ads1]under Akufo-Addo. Nothing new!
Talk about emphasis on infrastructure and many others for which Rawlings and Mahama are recalled in public discourse, there is no difference.
While Rawlings used the apparatus of state to establish a personality cult, Mahama used it to improve our democracy.
The instances of corruption in Rawlings’ government for which the CHRAJ damned it, are known.
His own wife’s abuse of power to enrich the Rawlings’ family is unbeatable. The chiefs and people of Nsawam-Adoagyiri will get her throat soon.
How about the rot in the Divestiture Implementation Committee for which Rawlings’ trusted operatives (including his wife) were put before court, dome jailed and others saved Kufuor’s unexpected intervention?
What did Kufuor inherit from Rawlings, anyway?
In any case, why is Rawlings speaking for Akufo-Addo? I can see here a veiled attempt to snuggle in the bid to shift the searchlight away from himself.
Folks, let’s be clear in our minds that by this time in Kufuor’s rule, his government had pinned down operatives of the Rawlings government for trial in cases of corruption. How many of the Mahama operatives has the Akufo-Addo government put before the courts? None!!
What is happening in the Opuni case has nothing to do with Mahama’s government.
Akufo-Addo’s diversionary move to create the Office of Special Prosecutor to show that he is bent on fighting corruption has backfired already. No commitment to that cause, which explains why resources haven’t been given to that office or why the government’s spokespersons are at odds with the NPP’s foot soldiers clamoring for the prosecution of Mahama’s operatives. No basis exists for that, according to the Attorney-General and others.
So, what the heck is Rawlings maddened about?
I urge Mahama to remain calm, to sustain the spirit with which he is campaigning for the flagbearership of the NDC to return the party to power at the 2020 polls.
In the same spirit, I urge the non-performing Parliament to rise by its own bootstraps so it can amend the moribund 1992 Constitution, especially the “Transitional Provisions” so steps will be taken to prove to Rawlings that he isn’t holier than anybody. A lot happened under him that shouldn’t be let to pass under bridge.
Why would Rawlings use the occasion to attack Mahama instead of saying what would help the visiting Sierra-Leonean delegation to look into their own kind of politics to right the wrong(s) that hasn’t moved the country forward?
This Rawlings has been an albatross all along, deceiving himself that he is a paragon of infallibility. He has deceived himself that none can take him on. At 71 years now, he still hasn’t outgrown the zealousness that shot him into political power but evaporated when his political sun set.
No matter what he does or says, there is no way for him to return to the limelight. That is the naked truth that hurts him. The day will come for him to run around, naked!!