Opinions of Thursday, 14 March 2002
Columnist: Ellison, Kofi
The late Reggae King, Bob Marley used to chant this way in one of his songs: "Here comes the Con Man; coming out with his Con Plan..."!
Listening to Jerry John Rawlings proclaim his ‘revolutionary' credentials in Bimbila the other day reminded me of King Marley's advise. Jerry Rawlings is a Con Man thinking he can con Ghanaians for a third time! But today, our eyes are wide open and we sing once again with Bob Marley when he advises us in another song to "chase those crazy bald-heads out of the yard"!
Let it be known by all and sundry that Jerry Rawlings committed a daylight robbery on Ghanaians when he overthrew the democratic government of Dr. Hilla Liman in 1981. He did so not because he was motivated by any altruistic love for Ghana as he claims. Rather, Rawlings simply hit Ghana the way an armed robber would, and made away with the loot. Now, a grown man who in his own words used tattered seats from an airplane as his house decoration, is (today) able to educate his children in the best schools abroad (after destroying Ghana's!), and enjoy the trappings of a nouveau-riche.
Jerry Rawlings, you fooled us once; you fooled us twice; you cannot presume to be able to fool us a third time! Ghanaians know your number now. What you said at Bimbila was pure hogwash. From an emaciated soldier, you remind me of what Chadian president Francois Tombalbaye said of Muamar Gadaffi: "a half-starved soldier has now become a demon for gold"! Your hypocrisy has been detected. Your lies have been unearthed. Your supercilious claims to be the champion of the poor is reprehensible. You have betrayed any zany claims you may have had in that department. Enjoy your mansions. Enjoy your fast cars. And leave Ghana to sort through the utter mess that your corruption and misrule you left behind.
And with God's guidance we shall succeed.
Folks, Jerry Rawlings and his GANG OF THIEVES have whipped us and prevented us from crying! These daylight armed robbers who espoused socialism to mask their innate inability to produce anything to advance their personal growth and wealth have taken Ghana to the cleaners.
Jerry Rawlings suffered an identity crisis relative to his poverty and birth. Any roadside psychiatrist will notice that: As a mulatto, Jerry Rawlings thought he had it made like the other children of Lebanese and other Ghana/European middle class children! Sadly, Jerry's dad left for Scotland and left him penniless. This greatly made Jerry utterly abhorrent of those who were wealthy and successful in society. He thought society (not his father) had dealt him a blow that ought not be his! This was compounded by the refusal of his father to acknowledge him when he went to seek him out in Scotland. That is exactly what Jerry told an American TV program called "60 Minutes" on CBS-TV in the 1980's.
Jerry therefore developed a psychotic mentality that made him averse to and hateful of all successful individuals regardless of color. Thus, when he launched his so-called revolution, aptly described as daylight armed robbery on Ghana, Rawlings was actually playing out his hate-filled mentality. Who were the presumed enemies of this psychotic behaviour by Rawlings?
Well:
1. the successful businessmen such as Anim Addo, J.K. Siaw, B.A Mensah and other entrepreneurs; these people had their business seized and later given to local and foreign supporters under the guise of 'divestiture'.
2. the successful military officers who had passed their exams and gained promotion such as Odartey Wellington, Utuka, Yaw Boakye, Robert Kotei, and Joy Amedume. Rawlings could not be promoted beyond Flight-Lieutenant because he did not have the mental wherewithal to pass the exams. Therefore, Air Force officers such as Yaw Boakye were demonized as the officers who had held down the psychotic Rawlings down. Yaw Boakye was killed as were the others to assuage this hate-filled Rawlings.
3. then Rawlings turned his ire against the Lebanese and Syrians because unlike Mr. John of Scotland, these "foreigners" took great care of the children they had, and these children followed in their Lebanese fathers' footsteps to become great businessmen. Those who attended the Great Labone Sec. can recall several of these children who became successful such as Todd and Frank Sidawi popularly called Lobito (don't add Akokora to it, he hates that!) So Rawlings turned against the Lebanese and confiscated their businesses, and exiled them from Ghana.
Once Rawlings and his gang of thieves had stolen enough money from the public coffers to enrich themselves, they abandoned their so-called socialism and fraternized with all the groups that they had hitherto hated. Thus, the Lebanese and Malaysians were encouraged, and in the case of Malaysians joined with Rawlings to rape the country of Ghana.
Now that he is out of power, and as the elders say "Aponkyereni Wu a, Na Yehu ne Tenten", i.e. "It is only after the death of a frog that one can really measure its length"! The fraud that this psychotic individual visited on Ghana is now only becoming apparent. Kojo Tsikata made away with enough money to enjoy a tranquil exile in South Africa; Tsatsu Tsikata stole enough money to have several mansions like the one in Houston where his wife is now residing; the Ahwois came from operating one taxicab to operating the largest produce buying agency in Ghana called CASHPRO which was set up with funds from the public treasury, and now monopolizes the buying of Cocoa and other stuff in Ghana at the expense of the CMB. These guys actually came to destroy Ghana. Totobi Quarchie, Kofi Awoonor, PV Obeng, Kwame Peprah (he who held a 50million cedi birthday party , when the cedi was 2300 to the dollar), Obed Asamoa (he who stashed 100 million cedis under his bed, the way our grandm! others saved their money in pre-colonial era!), and numerous other so-called revolutionaries have bled your great country dry, my fellow Ghanaians.
Now that a new administration has assumed office, these guys are doing everything to frustrate the governance of the country. The numerous armaments that were given to individuals during the 20 years of P/NDC predatory rule has now been employed in armed robberies in Ghana. There are dozens of such armed robberies occurring daily in Accra alone. This is not an isolated burglary by thieves. It is an orchestrated attempt by supporters of the fallen P/NDC to make the country sink into fear, to make investors wary of the security situation, and to make the country descend into anarchy.
History is my guide. In 1969 after Dr. Busia came to power, there was, all of a sudden; an upsurge of armed robberies. I recall an MP who said in parliament at that time that, armed robbers must be shot. The MP had his home armed robbed that very day. It showed the impudence of the armed robbers.
Now a similar scenario is being played out in Ghana. Wake up people! The GANG OF THIEVES who stole your money, will stop at nothing short of destabilizing your country in order to return to power. Your Oman Ghana is flat broke. Your Oman Ghana has sunk into moral decay. And the criminals have left the crime scene to enjoy the loot; some in foreign lands.
GOD Bless Ghana.