Arrest Rawlings At Own Risk: Aidoo Warns NRC

A former Deputy Defense Minister, Dr. Tony “ Aluta” Aidoo, has warned the National Reconciliation Commission ( NRC) against any attempt to arrest former President Jerry John Rawlings should he fail to respond to the NRC’s subpoena on him to appear before it.

In Dr. Aidoo’s words: ”You can subpoena him, but make sure you don’t arrest him because for twenty years that Rawlings ruled Ghana, he has friends who would not sit down fir him to be humiliated”.

The former NDC Deputy minister who commented on the NRC’s subpoena on the ex-president at a public forum by the Democratic Movement for Social Change (DMFSC) last Friday, quoted from Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice but to buttress his point :” Just like Shylock the Jew, who demanded his pound of flesh , they the NRC can do so but not with a single blood dropping.”

According to Dr. Aidoo, Dr. Rawlings is in a class of his own because “what Rawlings has done for this country in 20 years, I don’t think any Ghanaian has done the same thing for this country yet”.

On his part the NDC member of for Lawra /Nandom, Dr. Ben Kumbour, stated that the subpoena of the former president would “defeat the purpose for which the NRC was set up”. All the speakers at the forum lambasted the NPP administration for allegedly harassing and intimidating people who express view contrary to those of the NPP.

Ironically, when the speakers’ and the gatherings’ tolerance for contrary views was tested by a known serial caller into radio phone – ins, they failed woefully, forcing proceeding to be halted. The serial caller into radio phone ins known as Yahyah mounted the platform when, questions and comments were invited from the audience and gave his name as A.Y Kogah.

However, when he started rebutting the allegations against the NPP, people in the audience identified him and started shouting: “ He is a liar his name is Yahyah.”The commotion brought proceedings to a halt for a while as the Chairman for the occasion, Alhaji A. B A. Fuseini, a journalist / social commentator shouted Silent! Silent ! at those heckling Yahyah .

When the situation normalized Yahyah was escorted out of the Bediako hall of the teachers Hall, the venue of the programme for the programme to continue. A former Attorney General and NDC 2000 running mate Mr. Martin Amidu , in his address alleged that the rule of law today is “ protection for the NPP only.”

He said: “People who express their views on matters today are harassed and made pay dearly for doing so and this is the reason for which innocent people are in jail and some being prosecuted.” In this view, the NPP seems to be sending message, which at your peril.”

Mr. Amidu also claimed that “ the rate of change in state media is so high”, but was hopeful that a “ robust civil society and media” is in the offing. On his part, a lecturer at the university of Ghana, Dr. Adam Nasser, alleged that corruption is easily becoming a “ National Sport”, and called on then Kufuor administration to fight corruption with all truth.

He believed the Kufuor administration has failed because it has no innovation for the economic situation of the country. Dr. Adam Nasser also decried the growing number of sign boards with the inscription “ HIPC benefit” on public places like toilets and school blocks and wondered if the inscription were “ beneficial to the poor?” Dr. Adam Nasser advised: “Instead of the glorification of HIPC, we need to inculcate in Ghanaians the idea of ‘ what a white man can do, a black man can do the same.”