Go and heal the Blind...at school in Akropong

By A. C. Ohene, Eastern Regional Editor, Asesewa

President Rawlings has fired jibes at spiritual church leaders who claim to have healing powers. ?Let those who claim they have healing powers go to Akropong School for the Blind to heal them and not lie to people?, he said. He decried the gullibility of Ghanaians which made them believe everything such spiritual leaders tell them.

Speaking at a commissioning ceremony at Asesewa, the President said those who believe everything said by such priests, the ?gbogba? press and rumour mongers, such as the ?dro laadzemo? or, the genitals disappearance craze of 1997/98, would be denied entry into heaven by Moses who would be manning the great gate, the president preached.

On the private press, he said though not all of them are bad, many are just spewing out lies and recalled that even before the proliferation of the FM stations and newspapers, those who hatched lies were busy at work. In the First Republic, he cited an example, Mrs. Fathia Nkrumah was rumoured to have delivered a reptile. And, the then ?Sunday Mirror? had to publish a group picture of the First Lady and all her children to refute the lie

Inadvertently, President Rawlings admitted that Ghanaians are put on slave wages but advised on protected sex and small family lives. He said all those ministers and senior public officials seated on the platform earn less than the four Japanese who had accompanied the Charge d?Affairs to Asesewa for the commissioning.

His point was that in spite of the bigger salary packets of people in the advanced countries, they do not rush into early marriages; they plan their families and have extra money for development.

?We cannot plan our lives into the future this way?, he said referring to our early births, several children and polygamous lives.

On the fight against HIV/AIDS, Rawlings had an assignment for J. A. Kufuor and the other opposition leaders. ?When they come, tell them to help us by stopping the false allegations to talk about some of these things?.