Former President Jerry John Rawlings has rejoiced over the death of Mr. Justice Dixon Kwame Afreh, the Supreme Court Judge, whose death he described as ?a punishment from God.?

According to him the late judge allowed himself to be manipulated by government in dishing out harsh punishment to National Democratic Congress (NDC) members when he was alive, an action which he (Rawlings) described as a contravention of the norms of the legal profession. He stated that in spite of all these ?harassments? by the ruling government on our people, ?the NDC will be returning to power in January 2005.?

The former President was addressing party faithful at the Osu Presbyterian School hall yesterday as apart of a pre-election conference to canvas for votes, during which he stated that he has directed the party?s flagbearer to organise a massive demonstration against what he termed ?the unbearable human rights abuses? inflicted on certain members of his erstwhile government citing also the case of Nii Lante Vanderpuye and Alhaji Said Sinare both NDC parliamentary candidates for the Odododiodio and Ayawaso Central Constituencies respectively in Accra. The late Mr Justice Afreh who passed away recently was the trial judge in the case of some former NDC government officials who were jailed for causing financial loss of $2 million to the state in the Quality Grain case.

According to the former president, the human rights abuses, killings and kidnapping under the NPP government are just too unbearable and it is about time the NDC rejected and exposed such treatment by Kufour and his government, so that Ghanaians can compare the misdeeds (if any) of the NDC government with this present one? he roared to members of the NDC and former cadres who had assembled at the Presby hall.

Rawlings disclosed for the umpteenth time that the Kufour administration has imported arms and ammunition into the country to be used by the NPP Party Police adding also that the party members have recruited their relatives into the military to fight their cause.

He assured the cadres that he would periodically inform them about the areas where such arms are being sent to.

The NPP, Rawlings went on, is bent on creating an insecure situation so that come election period, they can capitalize on such a fake security situation and cling on to power. ?As you sit here now, the distribution of the arms is seriously taking place over the country to members of the ?party police? just to destabilize the relative peace in the country.

He therefore called on the cadres to be on the alert to the arms distribution moves and counter them urging them also to be ready to defend the cause of the nation in case of any eventuality. ?You must be prepared to die a little for this country and its vulnerable group who are being exploited,? he stressed. He said members of the NPP party police are relatives of government officials and that they are being recruited through district chief executives who screen them.

?The most incompetent and inaccurate government the country has ever had is the NPP. They just told lies to turn the seat of power to themselves and have since not been able to prove themselves up to the task. All they know is to brag and say ugly things about Rawlings and the NDC, to other African heads of state. You know why they can?t deliver? It is because the NEC set a high qualitative standard which they found too hard to follow in terms of accountability.?