Boakye Djan Warns Rawlings

Former spokesperson of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC), Major Osahene Boakye Djan, has reminded ex-President Jerry John Rawlings, to try as much as possible to distinguish between a military regime and a constitutionally elected government.

“Rawlings should know the difference between a military rule and a constitutional rule; perhaps I should remind him that we are not in a military rule where he and I used to sit under the tree and dream up a decree within two hours and start implementing it.

…Now you need an Act of Parliament passed, and a minimum of six months cooling-off period before you can begin to act on it. So Rawlings is either being mischievous or still doesn’t understand that there is a hell of a difference between the two,” he stressed.

He made this observation in an interview with the Africawatch Magazine on the intriguing political dynamics in Ghana in the September 2010 edition of the magazine.

Major Boakye Djan said Mr. Rawlings had employed all kinds of tactics to remove President Atta Mills from office in an attempt to fix somebody he can easily handle and manipulate.

He said the main reason why Rawlings and his supporters are very desperate is that they want someone they can handle to be in power- presumably, his wife Nana Konadu Agyeman- Rawlings.

Major Boakye Djan stated that the Rawlingses are worried about their illegal past and they think that when it comes to the crunch, President John Atta Mills will not cover them.

He attributed the reason why the country was experiencing paralysis in all sectors of governance to the kind of camp politics ex-President Rawlings by his current conduct has engaged in ever since President Atta Mills assumed power.

The former AFRC spokesman challenged ex-President Rawlings that if, for example, there was to be a strong movement now to hold to account all those who have overthrown constitutionally elected governments, Mills never took part in any of them so he could give him up under pressure.

He further indicated that another reason why Rawlings and his group are desperate is the oil money.

“What is going on in the oil sector is not by accident, people want to put their hands on the lever of the black gold and the best arrangement for this will be if your wife is in charge: to keep it in the family,” Osahene Boakye Djan underscored.

According to him, “ruling a country is not a personality thing, it’s a whole culture. If there is something going wrong it doesn’t start and end with Mills, it starts with the whole crop of people together to assist him to do the job,” adding that “the real danger to me is that the country is running down to a halt because of camp politics.”

…And speaks against politics of camps

In the same interview with the magazine, Major Osahene Boakye Djan, has cautioned against what he described as ‘Camp Politics’ which is raising its ugly head in the various political parties.

“It is this creeping if you like, camp politics, that has run the country into the ground, to a halt, almost a virtual paralysis,” the veteran politician argued.

According to him, politics in Ghana has now become nothing short of inter-party and extra-party factional infighting.

“For a better word I call it Camp Politics. There is hardly a political party in the current dispensation, which is not drifted apart by camps led by personalities in it,” Osahene Boakye Djan emphasised.

He said when you take the New Patriotic Party (NPP) for instance Ghanaians just witnessed the end of the spectacle between Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo camp and the Alan John Kwadwo Kyerematen camp.

He indicated that when you go to the ruling NDC party, the story is not different.

“Go to the NDC, you have the Rawlings camp and President Atta Mills camp. The NDC and the NPP are the major players,” Osahene Boakye Djan pointed out.

“You try to arrange a meeting at the Castle to see the president, before you get there; they would have assessed you to find out whether you are a pro- Rawlings or pro- Mills. And if the person who does the assessment is pro-Mills, then you will not see the president.

…I have investors coming to me to complain that to reach a point of action in government, you have to choose your steps carefully because the first question they (in government) ask themselves is: ‘is he in the Rawlings camp or is he in the Mills camp? If somebody has introduced you to the government from the Rawlings camp, that’s a good reason why you won’t be listened to; it doesn’t matter what you are coming with. Now, if you happen to be sympathetic to Mills and the executive officer in charge of the particular request you are making is a Rawlings supporter then you are in trouble. No matter how Mills professes or wants action to be taken, nothing will happen.

I have got a lot of investors coming to me, complaining that they have to bribe their way into the two camps in order to have things looked at. You don’t rule a country like that and get things going,” he lamented.

Osahene Boakye Djan made it clear that unless we as a people change our politics from this irrational calculation of interests to a rational calculation of interests that will benefit everybody, the country is going nowhere.

He maintained that even in the smaller political parties like the Convention People’s Party (CPP) you have the Kwesi Nduom camp and the Aggudey camp.

“In the wings, you have the Samia Nkrumah and Professor Akosa camps developing. Go to the people’s National Convention (PNC), it is one of the parties that have presence in Parliament; we have the same problem there. The Edward Mahama camp and the camp led by the PNC MPs who are now working within the NDC,” Osahene Boakye Djan stressed.

When asked whether he thinks President Atta Mills hails from a minority ethnic group that people have problems with, he responded that the Asantes, Ewes, Dagombas- is the kind of triangle that has dominated and controlled Ghana positively and negatively.

“The Asantes, Ewes and Dagombas- that triangle has dominated and controlled Ghana positively or negatively, first in the military cum police rule and now in civilian politics.

…And if I may give you facts, it may not have been planned but it’s very disturbing that no minority outside that triangle has finished his term in office in this country, either as a military leader or civilian.

Starting with Nkrumah, an Nzema, he was chased out of office in 1966 by a coalition of Asantes and Ewes in the army and out of it. General Ankrah, a Ga, from a minority ethnic group, was put in and removed. General Afrifa took over, an Asante, from a majority group, he finished his term,” Osahene Boakye Djan further indicated.