Some leading members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) have called for a controversial book which chronicled events of the PNDC and NDC regimes under ex-President Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings to be withdrawn, because they say it is damaging the party’s reputation.
The Volta Caucus, which is a group of powerful individuals of the party who come from the Volta Region where Mr. Rawlings hails from, said the book must be withdrawn in the interest of the NDC at the instance of the upcoming general election.
Titled ‘Working With Rawlings’, the book which was written by Prof. Kwamena Ahwoi makes damning allegations against the former President, his wife former First Lady Nana Konadu Agyemang-Rawlings and some top NDC gurus.
Rawlings Allegations
Prof. Ahwoi, who was appointed Local Government Minister during Mr. Rawlings NDC administration because of his expertise in the area, has been going to town on the former President, making all sorts of allegations against him in the book.
Prof. Kwamena Ahwoi’s book appeared to describe former President Mr. Rawlings as somebody who did not know some of the things he was doing as a leader of Ghana, saying his former boss did not appear very deep “philosophically and ideologically.”
“In my encounters with him (Rawlings) at PNDC meetings, I could tell that he did not understand many of the very technical issues that used to be debated. Often times, he would feign disinterest and be looking through the window or playing with his toy planes,” Prof. Ahwoi ‘fired’ on page 232 of the book.
Power Obsession
He described Mr. Rawlings as somebody who had an obsessive desire for power and went to talk about how the former President did not even want to let go of the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC), a military junta which metamorphosed into NDC during the transition into constitutional rule culminating in the formation of the Fourth Republic.
“It was not easy convincing Jerry Rawlings to return the country to civilian constitutional rule. He seemed bent on continuing the revolution, while some of us, his advisers, were convinced that in that period of the late 1980s and early 1990s, both the internal and the international situations argued for a return to constitutional rule.
“Internally, the agitation for constitutional rule had reached a crescendo and a coalition of the middle classes and professional groups was agitating for a return to constitutional rule. The pressure on the PNDC was huge and intense,” the book disclosed.
Prof. Ahwoi said that the former President at one point grabbed the testicles of an NDC bigwig, Bede Zedeng, and when he (Ahwoi) enquired, the former President appeared to justify the cruel action by saying “I should have squeezed them harder.”
He also said in the book that Mr. Rawlings saw him, former National Security Advisor Captain (Rtd) Kojo Tsikata, former Chairman of the National Development Planning Commission P. V Obeng, Prof. Ahwoi’s brother, Ato Ahwoi, former Finance Minister Kwame Peprah and former Information Minister Kofi Totobi-Quakyi as ‘greedy bastards’.
He revealed in the book that Mr. Rawlings “wanted me and my brother, Ato Ahwoi, to betray Prof. Mills and constantly criticized the late President. Mills was going to resign on an account of the way Jerry Rawlings was treating him.”
He also claimed that Mrs. Rawlings wanted to succeed her husband as president in 2000.
Volta Caucus
The Volta Caucus is uncomfortable with Prof. Ahowi’s decision to release the book at this time of electioneering activities and asked for “cool heads to prevail.”
According to them, “Various inaccuracies” in the book have become a source of raging controversy between the author and Mr. Rawlings, who is the founder of the party.
“We as a group feel saddened that this issue will come up in such a crucial time as this when Ghanaians are crying for an electoral rescue from the maladministration and misrule of the Nana Akufo-Addo led government,” the group in a statement said.
The group noted that this year’s election is so crucial that it requires “all energy and hands on deck because it is this election which defines Ghana’s destiny.”
The statement indicated that former President Rawlings, as a leader of Ghana, toiled and made sacrifices that culminated in the country a beacon of hope for Africa.
“It is an ungrudging suggestion of the Volta Caucus group that Prof. Kwamena Ahwoi humbly withdraws the book since the claimed inaccuracies have now become the source of the raging controversy,” the group said, adding, “It is in the greater interest of the NDC and Ghana that we are seeking this and anticipating peace to prevail.”
Some of the members of the caucus include Erasmus Asamoah, Dzifa Aku Attivor, Lucy Norshie, George Abofra, Lydia Nutakor, Basil Ahiable, Simon Adom Boafo, James Basavi Agbolosu, Richard Nortey, Joseph A. Amewuga, Kujo Anoga and Frank. K. Gunu.
By Ernest Kofi Adu