JJ Rawlings and Prof. Attah Mills: A Marriage of Convenience

Professor Attah Mills has been the heir apparent to, and the embodiment of, Rawlings’ truculent philosophy ever since the latter reluctantly relinquished power to the ruling party in 2001. Naysayers may have predicted that Mills wouldn’t last this long to be anointed the NDC presidential candidate for the umpteenth time; Rawlings proved them wrong. The rapport between Rawlings and Mills in the past 11 years, I must admit, has been picturesquely exceptional. Mills is eternally indebted to Rawlings for picking him to lead the NDC party for the past two elections and this year’s; and Rawlings is grateful to Mills for his servitude. Such mutual reciprocity of respect may partly explain why Mills is the apple of Rawlings’ eye. The paramount question on most peoples’ mind is: did Rawlings choose Prof. Mills to lead the NDC party because he has an impressive resume with the requisite experience to lead Ghana? The answer is an emphatic No! However, Rawlings sees in Mills the ideal candidate through whom he (Rawlings) can rule the country again, and to this end, he is working twice as hard as Mills on the campaign trail to salvage what’s left of his party. The embattled Mills is rarely seen on the campaign trail, and the NDC party appears to be on life support. Apparently, Rawlings has concocted the best potion for his political suicide; his well-deserved comeuppance, for using “tribal politics” heuristically to mislead the good people of Ghana.

Rawlings did not choose Mills, an Akan, to lead his party for the third consecutive time because he loves Akans. In fact, when he secured the presidency 27 years ago, he made sure wealthy Akans were rendered impotent by stripping them of their wealth, literally. It is an uncomfortable subject to broach, but the real beneficiaries of Rawlings’ presidency, as many would attest, were the Ewes. If there was anytime in our history when any Akan wished he/she were an Ewe, it would be during Rawlings’ 20-year reign (no offense intended). I quite remember when my father, an ex-military personnel, returned from abroad in 1984 and walked into one Mr. Delor, an Ewe and a former colleague and asked him if he was still in the military. Mr. Delor retorted, “Where do you want me to go? Our government is in power [sic] and we must protect it [sic].” My father, who couldn’t decipher what had triggered this unwarranted anger in his friend, apologized to the man and walked away. This was not an isolated incident. Truth is, while a small segment of the population enjoyed under Rawlings 20-year reign, the rest of Ghana was chained in the proverbial bowels of hell until the NPP came into power.

Unquestionably, Rawlings had many Akans in his administration, and he has Akans in his inner-circle; coupled with the fact that he is married to an Akan. This hybrid of factors may give credence to the notion that he is not “tribalistic.” However, by surrounding himself with Akans, Rawlings was only emulating his predecessors. Lieutenant General Emmanuel Kwasi Kotoka of Ewe descent, for instant, was the first person to stage a successful coup d’état in Ghana in 1966 to overthrow Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. He used the then Lieutenant General Akwasi Amankwaa Afrifa, an Akan, to help him succeed because he wanted to win the confidence of the Akans who were and still are the majority. Using the same modus operandi, Majors Salomey, Agbo, and Quarshie (all of them Ewes) staged a successful coup d’état to overthrow Dr. Kofi Busia. For them to succeed, they enlisted Colonel Ignatius Kutu Acheampong, an Akan, and made him their leader in order to win the support of Akans. A few days after the coup, a detachment of troops was sent to relieve the troops who were on duty at Acheampong’s residence. As it turned out, all the troops sent there were of Ewe descent, with the intention, as some postulated, to overthrow Colonel Acheampong. Fortunately, the officer who was in charge of security alerted Acheampong to his suspicion. Acheampong contacted the army HQ only to be told that the whole incident was a mistake. The next day, Mr. Acheampong changed his entire security makeup.

In the continuum of the historicity of our country’s dark past, Rawlings staged his first coup-- abortive coup, this is-- in 1979 to overthrow the then President Edward Akufo-Addo, an Akan. This attempt was unsuccessful, probably due to the fact that he did not follow the blue-print of his predecessors, which would have necessitated the use of Akans. In spite of his failures, the recalcitrant Rawlings never gave up. He was jailed for his efforts, but later rescued by Boakye Gyan and others. Rawlings staged another coup-- this time successful—by enlisting the help of Akatapore, a “Northerner”, to help him overthrow Liman, another “Northerner”. With the presidency in his firm grasp, Rawlings planned to execute Boakye Gyan, Akatapore and other who had helped him, which prompted some of them to seek refuge overseas.

Rawlings has never parted ways with his ideology to use Akans and other tribes to gain access to the presidency; his selection of Mills to lead the NDC for the third time is a case in point. In a true democratic fashion, the NPP selects its candidates via election. While most NPP candidates are Akans, it should be noted that they were not handpicked. Rawlings, on the other hand, HANDPICKED Mills, not once but three times, to lead his party. It is noteworthy to point out that, at the time of Mills’ appointment, the NDC had a lot of qualified people who were (and are) capable of leading the country, probably even better than President Kufour. Mills stood out of these applicants because his resume had two additional pieces of info that were critical to his selection: One, he is an Akan and presents Rawlings with a good opportunity to win the presidency, since Akans are the majority. Two, Mills is gullible and can be easily manipulated by Rawlings to carry out his ulterior motives. The latter was consummated in Mills’ statement to his boss (Rawlings), “As president, I will consult you for advice 24/7.” By picking Mills, Rawlings eliminated highly qualified Ewes and other candidates considered to be among the political Think Tanks of our country. In all fairness, this should be insulting to every Ghanaian. Does Rawlings want to convey to Ghana that in the past 8 years that he had handpicked Mills to represent the NDC, there is no Ewe in the country who is qualified to run our country? So far, Mills has failed to deliver the presidency to Rawlings, and I suspect this marriage of convenience will be heading to the divorce court after this election.

In recapitulation, I would state explicitly that Ghana is not for Ashantis alone; Ghana is not for Ewes alone; Ghana is for all tribes that constitute our country. Mother Ghana needs the help of every Ewe, every Ashanti, every Ga, every Fanti and every tribe to make our country a better place for all. It is time for all of us to do away with “tribal politics” and help our country elect officials who will serve the interest of every tribe, not the interest of select tribes. It is time for elected Akan presidents/officials to invest some level of trust in other tribes and make their government/cabinet inclusive of other tribes in Ghana. It is time for Rawlings to officially express his remorse for all his atrocities and genuinely help any elected president for the betterment of the country. Furthermore, Rawlings should distance himself from the NDC party and allow the party to use the democratic process to select individuals with strong minds and good vision for the country; this will help to provide a clear alternative to the NPP party, which some, myself included, are yearning for. In all seriousness, I wouldn’t hesitate to vote for an NDC candidate, regardless of his or her tribe, if he/she can actually help with all the problems plaguing our country. As much as I appreciate some of the things that the current NPP administration has done, I am not impressed with some of its policies. Given the choice between the NPP and the NDC, it is obvious that the country has fared “better” under the NPP. Our future, as grim as it may look, will be better in the hands of Akufo Addo given the other presidential aspirants.

The author aka TROUBLEMAKER can be reached via [email protected]