Anita Desoso kneeling before JJ Rawlings yesterday
Former President Jerry John Rawlings has cautioned the vice chairperson of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Anita Desooso to stay away from bleaching soaps and creams.
According to him, Ms Desooso is becoming too fair, and this could be as a result of the soap she is using on her skin.
The former President, who acknowledged the decision of the former Women’s Organiser of the NDC to call him her father, said she must watch the soap she uses if he was to advise her father.
Mr. Rawlings made the comments at the 39th anniversary of the June 4 Revolution held at the Madina Social Welfare Centre in Accra yesterday.
Anita Desooso, who had represented the NDC executives, had mounted the stage where she referred to the former President as her father and begged for forgiveness on behalf of the NDC for the maltreatment they had inflicted on him.
The NDC founder soon took his turn to address the gathering and the first observation he made was the bleached skin of Anita Desooso.
“Hmm! Hmm! But she is getting too fair. Let us stop this kind of things. The use of these kind of soaps (bleaching soaps) is not good. She said she is my daughter so allow me to say it. Let it serve as a lesson. Tomorrow too come and stand here and say that I am your father. Anita! Anita!” Mr. Rawlings mocked.
The former President did not end there, as somewhere in between his address, he went back to the topic, throwing the crowd into laughter and jeers.
Touching on the NDC’s treatment of Martin Amidu and his subsequent appointment as the Special Prosecutor by the NPP government, Mr. Rawlings demanded some answers from Ms. Desooso.
“Anita what does that make of us? Anita, I am calling your name, won’t you mind me”. Anita says I am her father,” the former President teased.
The former president urged party members to put aside their differences and work towards rebuilding the party.
“In spite of all these issues let us, as a party, not overlook the challenges plaguing our party. Let’s work to improve conditions and go back to our values.
He noted that the NDC is going through identity crisis and if it realizes it the better.
“Our party has almost become a clone of what the other side used to be. Elitism and gross display of affluence have almost engulfed us and as I stated in 2017, we are still at the crossroads.”
Mr. Rawlings said persons within the NDC are now distorting the essence of the party.
“Unfortunately, we have consistently distorted the history of June 4 and 31st December mainly for parochial reasons… a great deal of the distortion of facts concerning the history that eventually gave birth to our party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), has come from our own, from within.”
He said persons with “deeply malicious motives within our party have over the past 12 years especially, consistently spewed falsehood about our own history and attempted to downplay the story of June 4.”
Mr. Rawlings also said the persons, whom he declined to name, “have shamelessly dissociated themselves from our history in a bid to create the impression that it is a blot on the image of the party.
“Ironically the party that was seen as elitist and detached from the grassroots rather associated itself with the grassroots to win the last elections while we chose the elitist route and lost miserably.”
He described this as “suicidal” and the cause of the NDC’s woes.
Begging
Anita went on her knees to beg Mr. Rawlings to forgive them their sins.
“Now to my father – founder, I know as your children, we have erred and I also know that you are a human being and you have also done something, maybe, it is not right.
“And I was so happy when I heard you say that; when you brought a statement out, rendering an apology. You are a hero. You are a hero. This shows that what you have taught me is still within me. If you are a leader, be prepared to say that I am sorry.
“If you are a child, be prepared to say that daddy I’m sorry. So, I will take this opportunity on behalf of the party to kneel down before my dad – please forgive us. Let us come together to build this country”, Desooso pleaded with the former President.
This, however, did not move Rawlings who would not even look in her direction.
By Gibril Abdul Razak