Ex-president Jerry John Rawlings has asked members of the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) to be wary of false prophets who are being sponsored by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to infiltrate and divide in ranks.
“They will come with their sugar-coated words and pretend to be our comrades and friends but we will always be able to identify them as the traitors they have always been,” he said.
Mr. Rawlings who was speaking in a four and a half hour interview with “The Insight” refused to elaborate saying only that “we all know them by their history and deeds”.
He spoke passionately about his commitment to the building of the NDC and said, “let nobody think that I am about to turn my back on my party. I really want to see this party grow and grow”.
On his recent invitation to the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) following his ‘controversial’ speech in Kumasi, he said it was unnecessary and a complete waste of everybody’s time. “I still believe that the NPP is the worse government we have had since independence and I will say that over and over again.
If they don’t like what I say that is their problem. I will never allow anybody to gag me,” he said. “All I wanted to say was that nobody should obey illegal orders. Positive defiance is something about which I have spoken for many years. I spoke about it even when I was in power. If we were to adopt the attitude of positive defiance there would be less corruption in the society”.
“Positive defiance is a good thing. It is meant to bring out all that is positive in our people and to ensure that they do the right thing all the time. I was really surprised when the security apparatus managed to misunderstand the concept of positive defiance. It was really strange,” he said.
On the allegation that he might be plotting a coup, Mr. Rawlings said, “I am not interested in a coup. We are all tired of coups and I want the democratic experiment, which I started to succeed. I am a democrat and have always worked for democracy. What I cannot accept is the kind of multi-party democracy; we practice in our part of the world. There is not much difference between the rule of the bullet and this kind of multi-party politics in which money is used as bullets to shoot down the interests and aspirations of the masses”.
On the National Reconciliation Commission, he said he welcome whatever will heal the divisions of the past and create favourably conditions for meeting the needs of the people.
He hoped that the Commission’s work would focus on the primary national responsibility of healing wounds and facilitating broader national unity.
“For those who think that the work of the Commission will embarrass me and the governments I led, I would advise them to be patient. Some of what will come out at the Commission will shock everybody. Many people will know for the very first time how some prominent people in all governments did terrible things under the guise of democracy”, he said.
