The fiftieth Independence anniversary celebration to be climaxed tomorrow will suffer a major setback following the decision of the immediate past president of the nation, Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings, to boycott the anniversary.

After weeks of keeping Ghanaians in suspense as to whether he would participate in the anniversary celebration or not, the only surviving former President of the nation officially declared on Saturday that he would not be involved in the celebration.

The announcement by the former leader, just like his initial silence on the invitation extended to him by the government, is attracting mixed reactions from social commentators, politicians, and the ordinary people on the streets.

For supporters and sympathizers of the Jerry Rawlings-founded opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), the Ex- President has taken the right decision, but the contrary is the view shared by members and supporters of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP).

In a two-page statement issued by Flt. Lt. Rawlings on Saturday, he saluted Ghanaians and foreign dignitaries who would be joining the nation for the celebration, thanked God for bringing the nation to 50 years of independence and acknowledged the roles played by Dr. Kwame Nkrumah and all those who participated in the Independence struggles of the nation.

The former president observed, "Ghana is faced with pervasive corruption at all levels, missed opportunities for genuine progress, nepotism, tribalism and known cases of political torture and killings."

After pointing out that there is "decay of local industry, breakdown of the educational system, and an empty façade of 'good governance' which earns the applause of those who seek to control us," he noted, "I deeply regret that I cannot therefore join Kufuor's government for this anniversary. My conscience and my principles will not permit me. I cannot share the same platform with the same people who have taken every opportunity to denigrate us for the last seven years and see no good in what we did for this country. And I cannot be part of a cover up for the defilement and violations of the principles of self respect, pride and hope that underlie 6th March 1957."

Mr. Rawlings repeated his statement questioning what was being celebrated, stressing that, "I am not alone in asking this question. Many people have already asked these questions. Dr. Kwame Nkrumah achieved independence for us 50 years ago by winning freedom and justice from white colonial rule. Many traumatic events have occurred after that culminating in the spontaneous uprising in June 4, 1979, which attempted to wrestle freedom and justice this time from Black Neo-colonial rule."

NDC's contradiction In an unprecedented and dramatic political contradiction of modern Ghanaian politics, the leadership of the NDC announced at a press conference yesterday that there was the need for every Ghanaian citizen to take part in the celebrations, a position totally opposed to the boycott decision taken by the party's Founder.

In an eleven-page statement captioned: "Statement on NDC's participation in the 50th anniversary celebration of Ghana's Independence," the party noted, "Ghana's 50th anniversary is an occasion that most Ghanaians irrespective of their political persuasion, creed, ethnic origin, social or economic standing must look forward to participating, with a demonstrable sense of accomplishment, patriotic pride and joy."

Chairman of the party, Dr. Kwabena Adjei, who read the statement, went on to assign five main reasons why every Ghanaian needed to be involved in the anniversary celebrations.

The chairman outlined the reasons as first; the occasion provides the opportunity for the nation to remember and honour her past heroes such as Dr. Kwame Nkrumah among others.

"The second reason why Ghanaians must freely and proudly participate in the Ghana @50 anniversary celebration without reservations is the need to demonstrate our collective respect for what signifies Ghana as a sovereign nation.

We believe that no patriotic Ghanaian would refuse to honour the Ghana National flag, refuse to be upstanding in reverence for the Ghana National Anthem and refuse to venerate Ghana's Coat of Arms," the Chairman stressed.

He further noted that the Ghana @50 anniversary celebration gives Ghanaians the opportunity to mass up at the parade to demonstrate their respect and patriotism for Ghana and recognize the important contributions of those who created the national symbols.

The party Chairman said the NDC reveres the national symbols as invariable components of, "our national consciousness because they tend to reinforce our history and identity as a people, socialize us politically, strengthen our collective resolve, to be bound in unity, common fate and destiny, remind us of the moral and legal bases of our very existence, gear our leaders towards good governance and give guidance to our daily civil lives."

The third reason assigned by the party to justify why all its members must participate fully in the anniversary is that, out of the 50 years of the nation's independence, 19 years had been under the leadership of Mr. Rawlings, during which period, according to the Chairman, appointees of the PNDC and the NDC suffered through the difficult periods of the nation to rebuild it.

"We are fully aware that our innocent children and dedicated security personnel have had to undergo strenuous rehearsals for the Ghana@50 parade. While we salute them, we hasten to admit that mere salutation is not enough. We show a physical presence as our recognition of their patriotic efforts," Dr. Adjei stated as the fourth reason why all should attend the anniversary celebration.

The fifth consideration that compels the NDC to participate in the golden jubilee parade relates to the high respect it needs to accord the invited heads of states, representatives of diplomatic missions as well as representatives of multilateral and bilateral institutions with whom Ghana has had long-standing and fruitful relations."

" The NDC is also very conscious of the role it played, while in power, in getting an illustrious son of Ghana, His Excellency Kofi Annan to the prestigious post of UN Secretary General. We respect the immediate past Secretary General of the UN; we are very proud of his distinguished international career. As result the NDC does not see how such a great man- respected all over the world- should be embarrassed by its non-participation in a celebration where all eyes will be on him," the party maintained at the press conference.

To this end, the party said its Flagbearer for the 2008 polls, Prof. John Evan Atta Mills will be leading its delegation to the Independence Square venue of the anniversary celebration tomorrow. It stressed, the party however expects the national security and state protocol to ensure the safety of the delegation.

Despite these thought provoking reasons assigned to justify its participation and thus, raising questions of how and why the party could not counsel its founder to attend, the Chairman and his lieutenants tried to justify Mr. Rawlings' boycott.

Dr. Adjei re-echoed the reasons assigned by the former president for his decision and emphasized that in a democratic dispensation people were entitled to take personal decisions in so long as those decisions were within the confines of the law.

Deputy General Secretary of the party, Mr. Elvis Afriyie Ankrah in response to a question stated that, the incumbent president, Mr. J. A. Kufuor had absented himself from the country during an independence day and asked that if the sitting president had decided not to be present for an independence day celebration then why should there be a problem with an ex president absenting himself this time round.

When contacted yesterday for his views on the decision of the Ex-president, Mr. Peter Mac Manu, Chairman of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) urged Mr. Rawlings to consider the supremacy of the nation and rescind his decision not to take part in the celebration emphasizing that the celebration was a national affair.

Mr. Mac Manu, who is currently in the Nkoranza North Constituency strategizing on how the NPP could retain that parliamentary seat in the up coming by-elections there, however insisted that Mr. Rawlings was an ordinary citizen and therefore had the right to boycott the event.

He continued that the people of Ghana were the right people to do a judgment on his boycott decision maintaining that it was unfortunate for the Ex-President to adopt such an action since according to the NPP chairman, the event was non-partisan.

"One would have expected that he would have treated the celebration as a national event and would have participated," he emphasized.

The Chairman maintained that the event needed the attention of every person just like the ones that were observed in 1950, 1960 and 1997.