Opinions of Tuesday, 22 March 2011

Columnist: Sangaparee, Clement

Jerry Rawlings And The Emergence Of The NDC In 1992

The NDC was born out of a very popular Revolution in 1979 and created out of a BOOM against corruption and injustice Rawlings once slept in May 1979 and woke up thinking about the suffering people and how to help enhance their status, and NOT how much to make for HIMSELF. The eggs that Rawlings laid on June 4, 1979 have now hatched and there are thousands of Junior Rawlingses all over the country now, so whether one likes it or NOT, Rawlings is a REAL PATRIOT, a TRUE HERO and a man who will forever remain in the hearts of the people in Ghana. The dire socio-economic and political conditions that gave rise to the emergence of J.J Rawlings in 1979 was historic. There was nothing to be proud of as there was NO good roads, no telecommunication, hospitals without drugs, no electricity, the country’s industries collapsed and the export sector was nothing to write home about. There was no respectability for Ghanaians at all. In the rural areas, no one could afford a cake of soap to bath and wash his dirty clothes in Ghana. Even in the Top Hotels in Accra, Kumasi, Takoradi and Tema, it was very common for pieces of soap and small portions of toilet roll to be distributed to clients.

GOVERNMENT DESIGNATED SUPERMARKETS

What I am actually writing about our dear country Ghana began in the year 1977 under Col. I.K Acheampong’s military regime that overthrew Dr. K.A Busia on 13th January 1972 until 1978 when he too was overthrown by General Akuffo in a palace coup in July 1978. The National Redemption Council (NRC) military junta with Col. Acheampong as the Head of State who renamed it to the Supreme Military Council. From then on, a select few individuals mostly beautiful young women became FILTHY and FABULOUSLY rich through “KALABULE” which means corruption as these women resorted to a phenomenon known as the “Bottom Power” in order to get import licenses because Col. Acheampong who later promoted himself to a 4 star General before his removal from office was also the Commissioner of Finance. General Acheampong who was a womanizer just like the way some women also used their Bottom Power to get juicy appointments from Ex-Prez. Kufuor’s NPP government leading to an Iraqi woman given birth to twins fathered by J.A Kufuor-apologies to Maxwell Kofi Juma NPP MP for Asokwa in Kumasi.

As I stated earlier, the trend then was for people to make use of their privileged positions in office to make their families and cronies very rich amidst the suffering of the masses like it happened under Ex-President Kufour’s government from Jan. 2001 to Jan. 2009- when that phenomenon resurfaced again but the difference was that the shops were full of goods and everything was abundant but only the RICH COULD AFFORD to buy them. After peacefully handing over power, Rawlings was the MAIN TARGET for the setting up of the so-called National Reconciliation Commission by Kufuor’s NPP government and their aim was to DESTROY RAWLINGS and the NDC and govern the country as a defacto one party state forever. What they (NPP) want and have never been able to say so publicly is that they (NPP) must always be in office and not the NDC or any other political party in Ghana and since the NPP is an AKAN PARTY, they FALSELY believe that Ghana belong to them more than any other tribe or political party –apologizes to Judas Nana Akuffo Addo, the self Imposed King of Akans in Ghana. Make no mistake, Jerry Rawlings is God sent and he is a HUGE mountain and you CAN NOT take a hammer to chip away a mountain as the NPP tried unsuccessfully to do under Ex-President Kufuor from 2001-2008. Rawlings is a leader par excellence and not just a former Head of State, he is a GEM, and he must be preserved. Nobody in Ghana can take the affection the people have for him out of their hearts, because 98% of Ghanaians always vote for the NDC became of him. Take away Rawlings by destroying him in the party and it will be a back lash in the NDC in this country.

The eggs hatched by Rawlings have now hatched and the chickens are fully grown into cocks and fowls nationwide. The people flock NATURALLY towards him because of an un-explained bond that exists between Him as a leader and the ordinary people who are always NEGLECTED when the NDC comes to power as we have been WITNESSING from 2009 to 2011 where so many cadres are Targeted as Rawlings Boys that must be destroyed and left jobless. Nonsense, where they when the PNDC wanted STRONG men and women to STICK THEIR NECKS OUT to be counted as PDC’S and WDC’S in 1982? The bond has accounted for the emergence of very may people who have the same passion for HONESTY and DEDICATION to the nation. The NDC was created from a revolutionary BOOM just as the world was created out of a BOOM against injustice and corruption. The real mission of Rawlings was to unleash the REAL POWER latent in the masses of our people in Ghana.

Democracy is NOT the preserve of ANY particular society, it is human values. We do not have to do what the Westerners are doing in order to be adjudged as good democrats. Democracy is essentially about justice because where there is TRUE JUSTICE, there is also TRUE DEMOCRACY. The NDC is for the masses, the ordinary people, the truck pushers, the “waakye sellers” the plantain sellers, the tailors and seamstresses, the farmers and fishermen, the drivers and their mates, the masons and filters, the pito brewers and palm wine tappers who WERE NOT respected and recognized by the ELITE in Ghana before the June 4 UPRISING in 1979. The NDC really belong to the masses including Nurses, Teachers and Market women. The party does not belong to a few people it really belongs to the Ghanaian masses including “chop bar keepers”. It will be recalled that in early 2001, Jake Obetsebi Lamptey National Campaign Manager of the NPP took the PRESS to the place where Jerry Rawlings was living in the Castle Osu and asked whether that was the habitation of a HUMAN BEING or that of an ANIMAL? The answer to Jake’s question is this, the man Rawlings is a man of the people who fully knew that his personal comfort should be secondary to the welfare of the people. Rawlings used the same couch for 17 solid years. Now we must compare that with the millions of U.S dollars they have spend to build mansions and palaces, as well as the renovation of several government Bungalows for the comfort of NPP ministers and their numerous Special Assistants when extreme poverty was RIFE during the NPP era from 2001-2008? Jake Obetsebi Lamptey, a stark illiterate who is NOT even qualified enough to polish the shoes of Rawlings or his wife had the impudence to ask such a SILLY QUESTION whether J.J was a Human being or an Animal- The answer is that he was simply J.J Rawlings, the man of the ordinary people whom Ex-President Kufuor’s NPP government treated with contempt by stripping all courtesies given to him by Ghana’s Constitution and attempted several times to EVEN KILL HIM between 2001 and 2007. Will Kufour and his ex-ministers be very happy today if they are treated like that now that the NDC in power?

The NPP must learn from President Mills’good example. The NDC, as a Social Democratic Party believes that the messenger who dispatches letters, the cleaner who cleans the theatre are as IMPORTANT as the DOCTOR WHO OPERATES PEOPLE IN THE HOSPITAL or the LAWYER WHO defends people in the Courts of Ghana, and that is what the NDC’s Social Democracy is really about, it is a quest for Real Social Justice.

The Higher we go, the more we are to serve, and not to be served. That is the example Rawlings gave the nation in 1979 and 1981 up to the year 2001. He once slept and woke up thinking about the suffering masses, and how to help enhance their status and not how much wealth to make for himself. That is the man Rawlings for you, on the other hand others organized day and night from 1992 to 2000 and destroyed him throughout those years until he peacefully handed over power to the NPP in 2000, and from 2001-2008 they set Mr. Francis Poku’s National Security on him with instructions to completely eliminate Rawlings but they failed and if they had succeeded in killing him or even wounding Rawlings, Ghana’s bloody civil war would have started from there and Ex-Prez. Kufuor and his entire cabinet ministers would have been WIPED OUT first before we descend on their ACID tongued tribal bigots in the Regions and party constituencies nationwide let them try it in this country and see what happens since Judas Nana Akuffo Addo’s Akan warriors are currently training seriously in a Neighbouring West African country and also in Israel in order to start war in the 2012 general elections. They will be most welcomed by the great NDC in the general elections. All those who hate Rawlings and his wife in the NDC must leave the party and form their own political parties- We are fed up with the infighting , suspicions and mistrust in the NDC that can never be solved even though we are approaching an election year in 2012. This article is written in order to educate Ghana Youth and the later day saints in the NDC who have hijacked the NDC and are behaving as if the party belong to them MORE than anybody especially their Hatred for the Cadres of the United Cadres Front who are the foundation of the NDC PARTY in Ghana. All those who profited immensely through Rawlings are now his worst enemies including Mr. Sam Jonah the former C.E.O of A.G.C Ltd in Obuasi.

The Cadres in the NDC are NOT moving an INCH away from the NDC party. Is anybody listening?

CONCLUSION

Frankly speaking, the NPP government of President Kufuor PRACTICED AN ALIEN DEMOCRACY WITH VENGEANCE which was doubled “Property Owning Democracy” throughout his 8 years in office form Jan 2001-Jan 6th 2009 where he announced HIGH SALARY INCREASES FOR WORKERS BEFORE HANDING OVER POWER TO PROFESSOR MILLS. He had wanted the workers to demonstrate against Mills for High wages but it failed. As a moderate democrat and a man of peace, President Mills ONLY INVITED Ex-President Kufuor rather to TEACH HIM that Democracy Does Not Mean War. Democracy Does Not Mean that Opposition Members’ Businesses should be destroyed and Opposition Contractors DENIED Contracts in order to compel them to join the ruling party.

Democracy does not mean Political intolerance and murder. He again educated Mr.Kufuor that Tribal Politics as practiced OPENLY by the NPP can one day plunge the COUNTRY INTO A VERY BLOODY CIVIL WAR IN FUTURE. President Mills has nothing to LEARN from Kufuor who cannot even teach him. Finally, Democracy does NOT MEAN that the President of a ruling government must use its National Security Operatives to trail a former President or any opposition member in order to KILL THEM like President Kufour did while in office for 8 years in Ghana.

I owe NO APOLOGY to ANY member of the NPP including J.A Kufuor who is very greedy, wicked, ungrateful and vicious like Mr. Sam Jonah the former CEO of AGC. He forgot that it pays to be NICE to people on your way UP for it is the same people you will meet on your way DOWN, Now Kufuor has met the same people including this writer on his shameful way DOWN and he is now CRYING TO BE A MESSENGER in a RULING PARTY than being an Executive member of an opposition party. Was he not the one who started it all? He is very Lucky to have Prof.Mills as the President of Ghana or else he would have been paid in his own coin because Tit For Tat is no sin. As for Sam Jonah, it was the C.D.R’S of AGC who projected him to fame and he became the CEO of the same Company in 1984 but when he REFUSED to become a Vice President to Rawlings in 1992, there was BAD BLOOD between the two men. Rawlings was a POOR HEAD of state and Sam Jonah was a fabulously RICH CEO of a multinational company and therefore he was very influential in business circles than Rawlings. Despite that, Rawlings again approached him to be his Vice President in 1996 once again, he readily agreed but fled to South Africa thinking that the NDC will lose the elections that year, Rawlings then chose the then Vice President Mills and went ahead to win the 1996 general elections. Feeling ashamed, Sam Jonah returned to Ghana and DISMISSED all known CDR Cadres and NDC members in the MINE and refused to promote several miners numbering over 160 to senior staff positions including this writer and they remained in ACTING POSITIONS from 8 to 11 years after passing their examinations instead of the usual 6 months probation period, until their retirements. Most of them were laid off through a redundancy exercise. Why should Jonah punish innocent workers because of his quarrel with Rawlings? ONLY GOD KNOWS. I am writing this article for the general public and the Ghana Youth between the ages of 16 years and 50 years to know the facts since most of them were NOT born or if they were born at all, they did NOT know the DIRTY POLITICS of Ghana especially that of Ex-Prez. Kufuor’s NPP who used his position as the President of Ghana to travel over 300 times outside Ghana at the expense of the Tax payer and also destroyed the jobs of several businessmen and women suspected to be NDC members. From Obuasi, this has been Clement Sangaparee taking Mr. J.A Kufuor to the cleaners and giving him a perpetual heart beat. So Dear reader, this is only a tip of the iceberg, you keep your fingers crossed, I shall return with more atrocities that the NPP meted out to all NDC members from 2001 to 2008.

I am done. ALUTA CONTINUA!

CLEMENT SANGAPAREE MUNICIPAL ORGANIZER UNITED CADRES FRONT OBUASI E-MAIL: clementsang@yahoo.com

DISTRIBTUTION: ALL MEDIA HOUSES ACCRA