The founder of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Flt Lt. Jerry John Rawlings has said calls for unity in the party can only work if there is a commitment to truthfulness, integrity and sincerity instead of a “monkey dey work, baboon dey chop approach”.

He was critical of how the political strength of the party had been undermined and wondered how that potency had been squandered.

“I am beginning to hear about unity, unity, unity. It’s a beautiful sound and I like it very much. But unity comes at a price. It’s not asking for money.

It’s only asking for truthfulness, it’s only asking for integrity, sincerity. “How many times have we not gone through this stage? Smiling and shaking hands but stabbing in the back? I say if we are serious, we are genuine, we are sincere, that unity can work,” the former President told a teeming crowd at a rally organized by the NDC to mark the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the party at Ashaiman on Saturday.

The former President who was welcomed on the podium with a happy birthday song in recognition of his 70th birthday which falls later this month, told the packed audience that the ball was in their court to prevent the process of unity from being hijacked.

“I don’t think you people (supporters) know how strong you are. I know how strong we are and I did nothing to undermine it. I served for ten years, went to election twice and served another eight years. I know our political strength and did nothing to and never wanted to undermine it in any way. If I had done so the ten years of the revolution would have been the end. What ever happened? How did we squander it this way?” the former President wondered.

Flt Lt Rawlings said the NDC appeared unable to hold onto its consistency despite its potential to win every election. “Power corrupts us too quickly, too easily. We need to re-examine ourselves. We need some serious education. The younger generation knows very little about who we are and where we are coming from. If we do not do accountability, how can we correct the mistakes we made,” the NDC founder questioned.

Former President Rawlings earlier in his address charged the citizenry to be responsible enough to protect wooden electric poles by employing a community effort to weed the shrubbery around such poles so they are not affected by bush fires with the attendant effect of collapsing the poles and disrupting power distribution.

He also called for the embracement of family planning values as the lack of it seriously affects our development. He said the ability to cater for children’s education, feeding and clothing is all affected by the lack of family planning which is then transmitted to the community and to the nation as a whole.

He expressed disquiet about seeing children hawking wares in the street to survive and called for the adoption of family planning methods and values to prevent such situations.