What At All Does The NPP Want From Rawlings

• While in opposition the then leader of the NPP went he named his dog after Rawlings. Could he have gone any lower?

• Centre spread of the Daily Graphic was used many a time to compare academic laurels of the sitting president with the former with the finishing the ex-president could not pass his ‘O’ levels

• KUMIPREKO in our recent past was a complete incitement of the masses against the then regime

• Elizabeth Ohene could refer to a then sitting president as a bastard and get away with it as though bastards do not deserve a place in our society

• Akuffo-Addo could go on air and threaten: ‘if the NPP doesn’t win the election, the country will be ungovernable’. What was more treasonable than this?

• Today, ‘baboon head’, ‘mad dog’ and ‘sh*t’ from high ranking members of the ruling government are the evidences they could produce in support of their claim of a purported coup

Contrary to what the NPP wants Ghanaians to believe was highly inflammatory speech by the former president, Ghanaians can see between the lines that they failed to touch on the issues adequately but rather used the platform to showcase a new dimension of ‘concert party’

• They failed to produce evidence to support their claim

• They failed address the issue of the missing parcels of COCAINE

• They could not address the nation on issues of alleged corruption in high places-Hotel wawawa, Bambagate, rigging of election 2004, Anane, Edumadze, BINTIM and the 2 billion cedis account, 10% kickback to the castle alleged by Esseku, etc

• Have they been able to arrest a single soul for the mass murder of the Ya-Na and his kinsmen?

What are they claiming credit for?
Did they not fight against every government policy by the NDC when they were in opposition?

• The National Health Insurance Scheme was a brain child of the previous regime

• Did they not fight against VAT and even the GETFund?

• Were they not against rural electrification?

• Were they not against privatization of state properties? Think of GHANA AIRWAYS, the disappearance of the GULF STREAM, GHANA COMMERCIAL BANK, GHANA GOVERNMENT BUNGALOWS AT CANTOMENTS, intended sales of TOR, etc. Do you know what the Englishman call sour grapes?

Well, we have witnessed too much altercation across AFRICA especially West Africa and would not allow the NPP’s beating of war to stop us from taking actions to safeguard the peace

We should not be deluded that we can intimidate Rawlings into submission by our so-called ‘close marking’. Nobody, I mean no Ghanaian, will be a winner in any situation that will disturb the peace. The examples surround us and we can learn priceless lessons from them

The current state of events clearly demonstrate that the man Rawlings is the most tolerant president our country has ever had

He relinquished power when he could have clinched to power as is the case across the continent. Even in Nigeria what did Babaginda not do to Abioloa when he could not sustain himself in power? Do you remember even at the very height of the rivalry he invited the then opposition leader, J.A. Kufour to share the presidential dais with him? Can Kufour do that?

Truly, the National Reconciliation Committee or Commission (not sure of what it was) could not heal the nation as we all would as happened in South Africa and elsewhere. Do you think the NRC was any good to our society and body politics?

For Ghanaians we love our peace. If the NPP government cannot focus on issues and find answers to our teething development issues, they should stop using the ex-president as a scapegoat. They should also stop beating the war drums and rather wait till 2008 to account to Ghanaians for their 8 years stewardship. They should understand criticism is one of the pillars of the DEMOCRAZY they purport to uphold and learn to live with it.

The opposition NDC should not relent in its efforts to push this incompetent government out of power. They have nothing to show for the 8 years; and the magic cannot happen in the next two years. They will certainly spend the rest of their time in office in fighting scandals and clearing their names, so we need a more credible politics of engagement on important developmental issues.

Thank you all.

Sincerely Yours,
Bernard Otto
Canning Town East London