Ladies and Gentlemen, the Former president of Ghana has done it again. Speaking to NDC party youth in Ho on Saturday March 20, 2010 Rawlings said some of the District Chief Executives (DCEs) appointed by President Mills are useless. In Rawlings’ opinion, 40% or 68 of the DCEs are useless. I am very sure the former president went through the entire list of District Chief Executives to arrive at that assessment because we all know Jerry John Rawlings would have done his research before drawing such a conclusion. So you ask yourself, has Jerry John Rawlings provided those 68 names to President Mills. Better yet, why does he not call a press conference and provide us with the names of these so-called useless executives?

If you are a member of Jake Obetsebi Lamptey’s newly elected team, Rawlings statements just make your job easier in 2012. For NPP, Rawlings is the gift that keeps on giving. If you are a supporter of Rawlings, you are excited that your firebrand founder is criticizing President Mills because he has the interest of the masses at heart. If you support the NDC, you should be worried about Rawlings’ utterances because perception can soon become reality. Come 2012, if all of NPP and the ‘Almighty Jerry’ are of the view that Atta Mills did not do such a great job in delegating responsibility, I think the independent voter will agree with them.

Rawlings is acting like an elder brother who comes to visit regularly and always criticizes everything about you and your family. He criticizes your wife, your wife’s cooking, and your kids but because he is family, you cannot just totally cut him off. So these days, when he comes to visit, you turn of the lights and the radio and act like no one is home. Like Haruna Iddrisu pointed out on Metro TV’s ‘Good Morning Ghana’ program on March 18, 2010, it is in Rawlings best interest that the NDC remains in power past 2012. It is about time someone else in the NDC speaks out against Rawlings’ constant criticism. I do not know what gag order President Mills has placed on current members of Government with respect to ‘The Rawlings factor’ but I challenge all member of the Mills government to defend their boss. This includes the DCEs. Rawlings is saying your boss made the wrong decision in appointing 68 of you!

You ask yourself, why Rawlings would be making these statements to the NDC youth. Instead of telling the youth to stay in school and become professionals to help move Ghana to middle income status he goes off on a tangent and talks about DCEs, the persecution that took place in the armed forces and ‘the state of emergency on our hands’. He wants the youth to let the government know the reality on the ground. Well, since Rawlings does not wish to acknowledge the reality on the ground, let me tell you: the JSS/SSS system he put in place needs deliverance. Secondly, most of our national budget is made of loans, grants and aid from developed countries. Thirdly, most of the developed world is going through a recession. Finally, this issue of swift justice that he advocates will not lead Ghana anywhere, if anything it is a recipe for injustice and mistakes. Rawlings needs to let the government do things in a measured and fair manner. Join the Facebook page ‘Rawlings Stop Hogging the Mic’. Rawlings needs to focus on helping to fix the school system. If Ghana is going to ever move to middle income status, it will take a lot of educated youth.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rawlings-Stop-Hogging-the-Mic/384425427712?ref=mf