Jerry John Rawlings
Former President Jerry John Rawlings has waded into the brouhaha generated by the remarks made by the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, during his UN General Assembly meeting recently, asking for cool heads.
The Otumfuo explained how but for his intervention in having former President John Mahama concede defeat in the 2016 elections the country could have been plunged into chaos.
The response by the former Chief of Staff, Julius Debrah, virtually saying the King did not speak the truth has sparked a flurry of polemics.
The Founder of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Jerry John Rawlings, has in the midst of the confusion over the veracity of the King’s remarks asked for calmness in a tweet which attracted the attention of many on social media.
“There’s enough tension. Let’s cool it and cool off,” he said on social media, adding that the whole argument is ‘unnecessary’ and ‘unwarranted’.
Turning to the quality of the Asantehene’s delivery at the UN programme, he said, “The Asantehene has made us proud with a highly educative address to the UN on the subject of peace. Comments by former President Mahama on an aspect of the address shouldn’t elicit or provoke edict sounding threats. It is unwarranted and unnecessary.”
It is yet to be seen whether the former President’s call will yield the desired results of cool head and perhaps the dropping of the subject. Politicians will feast on the ensuing polemics to expose the insincerity or otherwise of their opponents.
Asanteman Youth
Already, a group calling itself ‘Asanteman Youth Association’ has condemned the NDC for what they described as attempts to use their ‘political gains’ to destroy the Asante Kingdom.
The Director of Operations for the association, Nana Oppong Boadu, called on former President Mahama to dissociate himself from the press statement released by Mr. Debrah.
He warned that failure to retract the statement and apologize within 48 hours would have dire consequences for Mr. Mahama and the NDC in the Ashanti Region.
“We are giving John Mahama 48 hours to come and retract that he didn’t instruct Julius Debrah to issue that statement. Other than that we are going to make the Asante Kingdom a hostile place for himself and his party,” Nana Oppong Boadu stated.
“It is very sad that the King has raised the bar and the flag of Ghana and Asanteman and this is how we are paying back. Even if the King erred, this is not the way the NDC should have responded because we have all seen the role the Asantehene has played in our elections; we have seen it. The King has played so many roles in our democratic dispensation; we cannot allow the NPP or the NDC to use their political gains to destroy our kingdom,” he added.
By A.R. Gomda