POLITICS CORNER

Listening to Rawlings’ speech
on June 4th 2010, I’m really
reminded as to why Barack
Obama in his speech to
Parliament said Africa does
not need strong leaders but
strong institutions. All over
the continent, whether it is Hosni
Mubarak in Egypt, Colonel Gaddafi in
Libya, Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe,
or Jerry Rawlings in Ghana, we have
created these legends that can do no
wrong. These leaders have always
found themselves in the limelight
and are so used to being worshipped,
that they cannot live without it.
Rawlings seems to have
misunderstood Matthew 21: 12-13.
The Bible says “Jesus was angry and
drove the seller and the gambler out.”
It did not say he crucified them.
Granted in 1979, Ghanaians were
calling for the blood to flow and that
it did however it did go overboard.
We were yearning for Rawlings in
1979 because we were taking giants
steps backwards, but taking two
steps forward when you had the
potential to leap forward is no reason
for us to continue to hear the same
stale message of justice and
accountability. It has been 31 years
since June 4, 1979, and the masses
are still not very far ahead. Young
men and women are still trooping
into Accra to sell dog chains, our
education system thanks to the JSS/
SSS system is probably worse off than
it was, food is still stuck in the
hinterland because of the poor state
of our roads, our cocoa and lumber
are still exported without any
processing and we are still so
dependent on the IMF/World Bank.
So in 2010, to remind a kid who had
to grow up without his father
because his dad took out a loan of
GHC50, 000 is rather harsh and
uncalled for. Imagine what would
occur today we if used that same
threshold of justice. Just like Mugabe
did with the land redistribution in
Zimbabwe, we all witnessed what
happened with most of Ghana ’s state
owned enterprises that were divested
during the Economic Recovery
Program. The Mabey & Johnson case
has also shed more light on how
companies won contracts or did
business during the Rawlings
administration. The NDC was not
voted out of power in 2000 because
Atta Mills was not ‘half-cast’,
uncharismatic and did not speak with
a locally acquired foreign accent, it
was voted out because Ghanaians
were tired of the same old, same old.
I believe Rawlings perception of
justice is for Mills to investigate and
prosecute every official in the Kuffour
administration including Kuffour.
What Rawlings more than anyone in
Ghana should know is that the
Attorney General’s office has a finite
amount of resources at its disposal
and it would not be proper for the
Mills government to use resources
earmarked for other developmental
projects to satisfy his party founder .
The dilemma here is: Does Ghana
need to spend a significant amount
of human and financial resources
prosecuting former officials or should
we have a genuine dialogue about
curtailing the spending powers of
future government? Rawlings was
quick to reference the U.S. justice
system and Obama. I would ask
Rawlings to confer with the prisoners
being held in Guantanamo Bay how
they feel about the U.S. justice system
or better yet ask Mexican Americans
how they feel about SB 1070. In a
recent interview, Obama was asked
how angry he was about the BP oil
spill. His response was even though
he was angry, he was channeling that
anger towards finding solutions for
the oil spill.
Rawlings needs to channel his anger
towards making the executive branch
of government in Ghana less corrupt
and less powerful. He could make
himself relevant again by speaking
on the need for a total independent
legislature instead of harping on the
tired slogan of justice and
accountability. Even the guy selling
dog chains in the streets can talk
about injustice and corruption in
Ghana but for someone who has
been head of state for 19 years, we
expect concrete solutions to these
problems. Suggest check and
balances that we could put in place
to ensure the injustice and
accountability of past administrations
do not occur in the future. Start
dialogue about some much needed
constitutional reform. Propose ideas
so the excess of Ghana @ 50 does
not happen again. If Rawlings is
really concerned about the masses,
he needs to talk about how
presidents and former presidents
should have their compensation
taxed. If A.M.A. is able to tax the petty
traders, then surely presidents and
former presidents with more disposal
income should be taxed. He needs to
talk about how in 50 years Ghana
cannot sustain the current
compensation packages given to
former presidents and former MPs.
It is interesting to note that out of all
the soldiers who took part in the
June 4th revolution, none of them
was present to mark the anniversary
with the Rawlings. Whether it is June
4th, 31st December or NDC 1, it
seems like most of the member of
the AFRC, PNDC or NDC have fallen
out of favor with Rawlings. It can
mean one of two things: It is either
they disagree with the Rawlings way
of doing things or Junior Jesus is the
only one who knows what is right for
Ghana. You might not like Atta Mills,
or you might believe the perception
that he is too slow but you cannot
deny the fact that he is the right
person after two polarizing leaders
such as Rawlings and Kuffour.
Whether it was banning his ministers
from going to South Africa for the
World Cup or making sure Ghana
benefits from the sale of the Kosmos
stake in the Jubilee oil field or
something as simple as giving the
directive to civil servants to turn the
televisions off during office hours.
Finally, no past head of state had the
guts to take the very unpopular
decision to increase the tariff on
utilities even though the utility
companies were being heavily
subsidized by the government.
Leading up to the 2012 general
elections, you are going to hear more
from Jerry Rawlings about justice and
accountability. You are also going to
hear the same stale message from
Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings
and I want you to think of Hillary
Clinton: First she bought a house in
Chappaqua, N.Y., then she ran and
won a senate seat and finally she
decided to cement the Clinton legacy
by becoming president. We have seen
the re-emergence of the 31st
December movement, and then we
saw Nana Konadu become the Vice
Chairman of the NDC. It is clear what
she needs to do to further cement
the legacy of the Rawlings ’.
Remember Obama’s words!