So you are 18 to 29 years old and you are a member of a large voting block in Ghana today. You hear so much talk about Rawlings and how he makes Saddam Hussein look like a Saint, and you wonder if we are talking about the same Rawlings who parades around the country identifying with the common man. You wonder if we are talking about the same NDC that claims it would do better than the NPP, but which was born out of a military dictatorship that took Ghana through its worse periods. You were either not born, or you were too young to know what was going on. If you do not know, now you know because here are the top ten of a multitude of atrocities that they committed, which, when voted back to power, you will undoubtedly get to experience.

Number 10 – The Barber Shop at The Castle. An innocent Ghanaian young man meets a Ghanaian young lady in London, talks to her and begins dating her. They had a good relationship until things turned sour. The young man decides to break the relationship. The young lady gets so upset over it that she phones her father and cry to him about how a certain young man has broken her heart. I guess it’s good to have a dictator for a father. The young man returns home on a holiday, and before he knows it, he is whisked from the airport to the Castle. A bottle is broken, and the pieces are used to shave his head. His crime? Dumping the First Daughter. And guess what? Atta Mills was right there as Vice President while Rawlings’ goons shaved the young man’s head. He did not say a word.

Number 9 – Barbequed Judges. A custom-made Ford SUV, as identified by eye-witnesses, makes the rounds picking up three judges from their homes in the cover of the night. At this point in our history, the records showed that there is only one of such vehicle in Ghana delivered to Captain Kojo Tsikata, Rawling’s right-hand man. These judges are never seen again until a passer-by daring the rain accidentally bumps into three burnt bodies later determined to be those of the three judges that were abducted. But for the rain that night, the bodies would have been burnt beyond recognition, which was the intended purpose. Their crime? They were assigned to look into the unconstitutionality of Rawlings’ leadership of Ghana. And guess what? One of the judges was a new mother nursing a young baby at the time of her abduction..

Number 8 – Your Brother Will Do. Back in 1979, the young officers grouped themselves into three coup-plotters. They agreed to make three successive attempts at overthrowing the then General Akufo military administration with the understanding that the one to leads the first group would ultimately be the Head of State. Flt Lt Rawlings led the first coup and failed. Capt Boakye-Gyan led the second group within days and succeeded. He adhered to the agreement by freeing the then tortured Rawlings to become the head of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) with Boakye-Gyan as the number two man. After they handed over power to President Hilla Limann, Boakye-Gyan went to England to pursue his studies. Rawlings wandered around Ghana and overthrew a democratically elected government of Limann two years later. Boaky-Gyan was angry, and became very critical of Rawlings to the latter’s dismay. In response, an angry Rawlings had Kyreme-Gyan, a student at KNUST in Kumasi picked up and killed on a fabricated story that he was planning a coup. Kyreme-Gyan’s crime? Being the brother of Boakye-Gyan.

Number 7 – War on Successful People. Having convinced himself that no one could be successful in Ghana without having engaged in one illegal activity or another, Rawlings began to confiscate businesses and properties of innocent Ghanaians. The rule quickly became guilty until proven innocent. Thus, those who had their businesses and properties confiscated were made to prove their innocent before their businesses were returned to them, and the ultimate decision regarding innocence was not of a legal court; it was of a military tribunal. When he saw that he could not reach every successful person, he decided that the fifty cedi note was too large, and thus facilitated illegal transactions. He abolished that denomination and set a deadline of two weeks within which everyone must return their fifty cedi note to the bank or it would cease to be a legal tender. After people trampled over others to ensure that they met the deadline, they were given a receipt that the government owed them the amount they returned. To this day, an overwhelming majority of Ghanaians are still looking forward to cashing in on that receipt.

Number 6 – Shut up or Else… When you hear Rawlings bitterly criticize the government for just about everything it does, it is hard to believe that the same Rawlings killed people just for speaking their minds. During the Provisional National Defense Council (PNDC) days, if you had an opinion, you were free to express them only if they were in agreement with those of the government. In fact, there was more freedom in Russia, Cuba, and Lybia than in Ghana. When Rawlings dropped his military uniform to become a civilian head of state, he quickly had his NDC dominated Parliament enact a Libel Law that essentially allowed government officials to throw people in jail for saying negative things about them. You only got out if you were able to prove your assertions. Said one cab driver in January 2002: “My friend, today even though I am not yet rich, under this Kufuor government, I don’t have to look over my shoulders when I speak.”

Number 5 – Roadblock for Agege Returnees. When Nigeria discovered oil in the late 1970s, Ghanaians began migrating there for greener pastures. After Rawlings’ so-called second coming and the resulting economic disaster that hit Ghana, the influx of Ghanaians to Nigeria was so massive that the Nigerian government became concerned. Thus, in January of 1983, the Shagari administration in Nigeria issued an Alliens’ Quit Order, which meant that all foreign nationals in Nigeria illegally must leave the country within one month. The Nigerian public saw the order as payback for a similar order issued by Ghana’s Busia administration back in 1970. Ghanaians were literally butchered in Nigeria. Some were stranded at Muritala Mohammed airport for days with boarding passes for Nigeria Airways flights back to Accra, but no planes were assigned to fly them home. Those who traveled by road to return to Ghana, most of them with only the clothes on their back were stranded at the Aflao border creating a massive humanitarian disaster. The reason? Rawlings closed the boarder because he feared there were dissidents coming in to overthrow his government. It took the intervention of the Otumfuo for him to open the boarder after nearly three weeks.

Number 4 – It Gets Physical. This is no knock on high school graduates, but it is hard to know enough to have what it takes to run a country when you could not pass the test to become Flight Lieutenant in the Air Force after seven tries. Ironically Colonel Boakye, who felt sorry for Rawlings and promoted him nonetheless, would eventually be killed by Rawlings. It comes as no surprise that at meetings in the Castle, Rawlings’ positions on some issues are not well thought out. That means those with higher education felt compelled to chime in with their opinions to help the government make better decisions. It was with such noble and patriotic intention that Vice President Akar voiced his opinion on an issue. Only this time, he felt so strongly that he was more forceful than normal. After a barrage of slaps from an angry Rawlings, our VP was on the floor marking the first time ever that a sitting president had physically attacked his sitting vice president. Well, when Akar left the administration, guess who was pulling all punches to replace him? Your “Asomdwiehene Atta Mills. If anyone who makes such a morally bankrupt choice is fit to be president, you can vote for him.

Number 3 – Corruption as an Art. Rawlings administration buys a presidential jet at the cost to the nation of $36 million. Actual market value is $13.5 million. Rawlings administration, with Atta Mills as vice president awards a no-bid contract of $20 million to an Atlanta, Georgia woman to grow rice. No rice was ever grown or imported, and no recourse was pursued because the woman is an insider. A ship loaded with crude oil belonging to Ghana vanishes in the high seas and no questions are asked. In 1996 when some NDC MPs were voted out of Parliament, and when some NDC ministers left office, no one asked them to vacate their government owned premises or the government-owner vehicles they were driving. And the media dared ask no questions.

Number 2 – Barbaric Intimidations. In case you thought these are historic behavior, get this. At the recent National Congress of the NDC, those who failed to tow the Rawlings line were physically assaulted. When Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah’s daughter Samia Christina Nkrumah decided to run against the NDC parliamentary candidate in the Jomoro Constituency in the Western Region, her offices were plastered with human feces, an NDC’s most notorious tactic designed to intimidate opponents. In Parliament, when one NDC MP felt offended because one of his colleagues sat on his chair, he decided to implement yet another one of NDC’s know corporal punishment introduced by Rawlings – a slap on the face followed by an all-out assault. Folks, That is how the NDC work out their differences.

Number 1 – Rawlings is NDC period. In a truly democratic Party, the leader can face opposition. In a democracy, healthy dissention is embraced, not shunned. NPP’s leader President Kufuor supported Ntim for Party Chairman, but McManu won; although he denies it, the president was also known to favor Alan Kyermateng to lead the party in 2008, but Nana Akufo-Addo won. In contrast, Rawlings’ dictatorial domination of the NDC is so complete that anyone opposing him is either beaten up, intimidated, or sent packing. That is why Obed Asamoah left to form the Democratic Freedom Party, which has now formally endorsed NPP’s Nana Akufo-Addo. Ambassador Ekow Spio Garbrah who is known for is intellect and for having a mind of his own mustered a pitiful 15% of the party’s delegates votes when he tried to lead the NDC in 2008. Furthermore, to date, Atta Mills has never been able to muster the courage to say anything in public opposing or contradicting a position held by Rawlings. Combine these developments and Rawlings’ penchant for resorting to physical violence when opposed and you see why many believe an Atta Mills administration will in fact be run by Rawlings who has shown no signs of change from his brutal days in government.

A word to the wise..