By Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D.
We intentionally decided not to comment on it when, recently, Mr. Rawlings and his wife traveled to La Côte d’Ivoire, reportedly, at the official invitation of President Laurent Gbagbo, on the occasion of the Golden anniversary celebration of the Ivorian National Bar Association. It is also interesting to recall that just about the same time, the Ghanaian media reported the credible sighting of Lance Corporal Amedeka, a wanted fugitive, in the Ivory Coast, reportedly, in the jolly company of some kin and kith. A sheer coincidence here? One can only suppose, of course.
It is also rather intriguing that on the 27th anniversary commemoration of the state-sponsored abduction and brutal assassination of the three Ghanaian Supreme Court judges and the retired Army officer, coming only days after his Ivorian fiesta, the very man whose government sponsored this atrocious crime against humanity made absolutely no public statement, or even a passing comment, about this heinous crime, although the former Ghana Air Force pilot who dominated our national political landscape for two protracted decades has continued to vehemently proclaim his innocence in the dastardly killings that traumatized many a well-meaning Ghanaian citizen and utterly shocked the international community.
Needless to say, one would have naturally expected that President Gbagbo would invite either Ghana’s incumbent Chief Justice or the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, or even both of these legal lights, to attend the 50th anniversary celebration of the Ivorian Bar Association. And while, of course, we cannot second-guess the Ivorian premier, nevertheless, it is almost certain that President Gbagbo’s invitation to Mr. Rawlings had figurative undertones, especially when the systematic attempt of the former Ghanaian strongman to thoroughly undermine the credibility of our country’s judicial system is taken into account.
In other words, our contention here is that by inviting the Rawlingses to attend the half-century anniversary celebration of the Ivorian Bar Association, President Gbagbo was speaking to Monsieur Macbeth and Lady Macbeth in proverbs. Ironically, though, this poignant message appears to have gotten totally lost on the bloody, aging couple.
In essence, our firm contention here is that it is more likely that Mr. Rawlings is smack-dab behind the recent spate of armed robberies and murders across some parts of our land. We base the foregoing observation squarely on the fact that not only did Mr. Rawlings shoot and rob his way to power and wealth but, even more significantly, both Mr. Rawlings and his P/NDC governments have an unenviable record of terrorizing Ghanaians as well as shamelessly wreaking havoc and other forms of mayhem on our people.
Consequently, when former New Patriotic Party (NPP) Information Minister Mr. Dan Botwe asserts that Mr. Rawlings’ recent claim that the latter is privy to the criminal masterminds behind the raging incidents of theft, terror and murder in some parts of the country is squarely aimed at deftly deflecting unsavory public attention from the gross managerial incompetence of the Atta-Mills government, the parliamentary member for the Akuapem-Okere constituency could not be more accurate in his assessment.
Still, Mr. Botwe’s spot-on observation would have been even more poignant if he had added the unmistakable fact that Mr. Rawlings was, by his bizarre pronouncement, mischievously attempting to deflect plausible suspicion from himself. After all, has the founding-proprietor of the NDC not gone on record for urging some of the Tamale-resident members of the NDC to settle scores among themselves via the savage use of the machete?
One thing, however, is certain: were the Atta-Mills government not grossly dysfunctional, Oguaa Kofi would not have had Chief Dzelukope shamelessly and capriciously parading himself as the nerve center of the government’s intelligence apparatus. The point of such erratic posturing, on the part of Togbui Dzelukope, of course, has far less to do with leadership credibility than raw intimidation; for it goes without saying that intimidating Ghanaians into a deafeningly daft and morbid state of submission constitutes the unrivaled genius of the so-called National Democratic Congress (NDC). Fortunately, those politically defenseless days of self-righteous AK-47-cradling thugs and demagogues are fast receding into ancient Ghanaian history.
If, indeed, Mr. Rawlings has any forensic evidence indicative of NPP culpability in the recent rash of violence and mayhem across the country, by all means, let him publicly present such evidence to the appropriate security agencies and judicial authorities. If, on the other hand, such strident claims turn out to be patently without any foundation or basis in veracity, and we have absolutely no reason to believe otherwise, then, by all means, let him shut up or be prepared to defend himself in a legitimately constituted court of law against the plausible charge of criminal defamation.
