Opinions of Wednesday, 9 September 2009

Columnist: The Royal Enoch

Rawlings's Greatest Mistake

Surely, he must have regrets just like any other man. The pain that he feels deep down inside, he rarely shows. Some people choose to forget that he was just a young man when he took up the gun. Nobody knows exactly what compelled his actions. Was it the revolutionary spirit, which seems to characterize most of our youth? Or was it an epiphany, a realization that man made rules could be broken, if indeed change wills it so? Undeniably, a father's true son rebels against the rules of his father in other to find his own manhood. Of course, the pit-falls of youth and inexperience will not escape him. For he will make some pretty bad decisions as well as some good ones. But in the end, he would be judged on what he stood for. And his worth would be measured on how well he did take care of himself, his country and his country's people.

It's no secret that Rawlings is a communist. Then again, why wouldn't he be? As a matter of fact, why wouldn't any Black person be? America, the mother of our modern day democracy was exploiting people of African descent, whilst preaching democracy to the world. For years now, America has been working unrelentingly behind scenes to keep Africa down. And all because, White-supremacist America hates Black people. Therefore, America could never love the continent, which all Black people originated, period. Africa is the richest continent on this planet, but also the world's most cheated upon. And why is that, you ask? It's because, White-supremacist America, and her Western counter-parts determine the purchasing prices of our commodities and not us. Now tell me, under which market setting in this world does a buyer tells a seller, how much he/she wants to pay for the seller's commodities?

Back in the early sixties when Dr Nkrumah was still the president, Ghana was on course to become an industrialized nation. Nevertheless, the country needed money, but most importantly electricity. And the income generated from our cocoa trade was indispensable. In fact, the country needed her cocoa money, if she was ever going to become an industrialized nation. But then what happened? Well, Ghana did borrow for the construction of the Akosombo dam. So most naturally, the country had debt to pay. However, the country had its cocoa market, which was still profitable for the country. But somehow immediately after the construction of the dam, the price of cocoa on the world market was sent crushing to the ground. Mind you, this action was deliberately set in motion by the United States government. Thus shattering Ghana's major source of income, our economy and our aspiration to become an industrialized nation. We have remained crippled and bankrupt ever since.

Rawlings was so determined to put Ghana back on the map. His intentions were good and noble. But like Dr Nkrumah who went before, he too was betrayed by the powers seeking multipartyism in Ghana. Rawlings was ill-advised on how to handle the economy by the economists, who served in his P/NDC government. Notably, some of the economists who went on to form the NPP Party, the New Patriotic Party. They convinced Rawlings that Ghana needed the IMF, and the World Bank to bail the country out, when of course other options were available. Concisely, Rawlings was more or less cornered to accept the dictates of democracy, when he went to the World Bank and the IMF asking them for loan. Because mind you, both the World Bank and the IMF fall under the supervision of the United States government. The same United States government, which deliberately crippled and bankrupted our beloved Ghana.

In fact, the simple acceptance of democracy is America's way of dictating to you as a country.

Moreover, there is no democracy without division. Division as you and I know, leaves no room for understanding. And a lack of understanding equals to confusion. Therefore, it should be safe to say that democracy is confusion in and of itself, period. Democracy simply means confusion, but the untrained mind wouldn't understand this. Interestingly, Dr Kwame Nkrumah knew this. Therefore, the question is, why didn't Rawlings weigh the other options available, instead of opting for the IMF? He had the chance to keep Ghana free from this evil ideology called democracy. Because really, who needs confusion?

In my opinion, he should've just followed Moammar al-Qadhafi of Libya, but he didn't. And this I fear was his greatest mistake.