Frances Attacks Rawlings...

With Bows And Arrows

The battle line seems to have been drawn between former President Jerry John Rawlings and Ms. Frances Awurabena Assiam, former National Democratic Congress (NDC) Women’s Organiser, as she descended on the former president, describing him as a murderer.

Frances was in full flight in Accra’s Hotfm radio studios yesterday ahead of her Monday press conference, at which she is expected to open a can of worms about the violence that characterized the acrimonious Koforidua congress, leading to mass resignation from the NDC.

She lambasted Mr Rawlings, calling his NDC/PNDC regimes blood thirsty. The former NDC heavyweight, known as “one woman thousand”, said the ex-president was only good at using people and dumping them. According to her, she had a bone to pick with Jerry Rawlings, whom she said threw all decorum to the dogs at the Koforidua congress and insulted her several times, saying under hushed tone, “NPP Ashawo, NPP Ashawo, and NPP Ashawo”. “We both attended Achimota School and I speak better English than he does. I’m unlike Acheampong and others whom he murdered in the country,” she fired, almost at the top of her voice.

She was in the studio with the NDC National Organiser, Samuel Ofosu Ampofo and other panelists on the station’s morning show programme, to preview her forthcoming press conference. Frances took exception to Ofosu Ampofo’s position that although there were isolated incidents at the ill-fated Koforidua congress of the party in December 2005, the function was by and large, successful.

Ms. Assiam, now the interim Women’s Organiser of the Democratic Freedom Party (DFP), fired from all cylinders and almost emptied her arsenal even before the press conference date. When her NDC counterpart attempted to stop her, she flared up, grabbed the studio microphone and screamed, “You cannot stop me, you Jerry Rawlings’ bootlicker”.

She asked, “Why do you want to stop me when Jerry Rawlings wanted to kill me?” She wondered how a former president who was not a clergyman could pray for her soul even when she was still living, referring to Rawlings’ comments during the ill-fated Koforidua congress. “I am not Acheampong and the others whom he murdered. He cannot kill me,” she screamed. Her fiery attacks were preceded by a powerful prayer which was followed by a gospel song. Then she commenced her litany of woes, to remind listeners of various incidents during which she and others escaped death by the whiskers.

When Frances was asked to show respect to the former president in her mention of his name, she asked how this should be so when Mr. Rawlings called his adversaries thieves and crooks. She said she could see the venom in Rawlings’ countenance at the Koforidua function. The NDC man, Mr. Ofosu Ampofo, debunked Frances’ expose saying he could not believe that they really happened and the reaction of Frances was, “You are not principled”.

So fiery were the lady’s attacks that her NDC counterpart cried foul over what he said was an unfair time alloted to her, accusing the host of conpiracy. “She had more than 30 minutes instead of the five minutes given to me.” Ofosu Ampofo’s attempts at stemming her attacks failed, as she fired another one, “We both attended Achimota School and I speak better English than Jerry John Rawlings. If he is a man let him meet me. He is a murderer and a killer. How dare he pray for my soul?”

Explaining what had happened at Koforidua further, she said signs of trouble at the function were prominent when she introduced Dr. Obed Asamoah and others. Haruna Iddrisu, she said, had expressed the wish to introduce Rawlings and others to which she agreed. When she took her turn to introduce Dr. Obed Asamoah and others, her voice was drowned by a deliberate noise at the venue of the function.

The DFP woman recalled how leather whips or ‘barazims’ were used to flog her by thugs, loyal to Mr. Rawlings and wondered how a person like Ofosu Ampofo would want the world to believe that what the media carried were exaggerated. She also debunked the position that what transpired at the function did not take place within the hall but outside. “The mayhem took place within the operation hall even after the security managers- Asasie Gyimah and Kofi Totobi-Quakyi, had given the all safe signal,” she disclosed.

The host of the show, did not have it easy managing the flared up tempers in the studios, as the two traded verbal blows. At a point, the host had to jump in, to take exception to a charge leveled by Mr. Ofosu Ampofo against the manner he was handling the programme. Frances stated that while in London, Rawlings was bothering her with calls urging her to stop Obed.

Her counterpart cut in to complain that she was deviating from the issue at stake, but she stood her grounds, demanding to be allowed to talk. “Don’t tell me what to do Ofosu Ampofo,” she charged. “Are you Jerry Rawlings, Ofosu Ampofo?” “I am a representative of the party,” he responded. “You dare not,” Frances charged. “If this is how you want the programme to go on, I would not be part of it,” the NDC man said.

“Somebody wanted to kill me and you say I should not talk,” Frances responded.

Rawlings, she said, was the chief planning officer and chief architect of the violence in the NDC and he wanted to see to her demise. “He who must be obeyed incited people against me”. Reacting, the NDC man stated that the Koforidua function was very successful as a result of a painstaking planning on their part. He underscored his assertion with the disclosure that some party members called to find out whether indeed what they read in papers and heard on air happened.

Frances Assiam’s heated preview even before the Monday date, was set to be a hot session and would perhaps present to Ghanaians the inside story of what really happened in Koforidua when the NDC converged on the Eastern Regional capital.

Unlike other incidents which rocked NDC congresses, the Koforidua one was arguably the most outstanding in its effects. It led to the exit of important personalities like Dr. Obed Asamoah and others and the decision to float a new political grouping, Democratic Freedom Party (DFP).