"JJ will end up at mental hospital" - Attoh Quarshie

A veteran politician of the Danquah-Busiah tradition, Mr J. Attoh Quarshie, has predicted that ex-President Jerry Rawlings would end up in a psychiatric hospital if he failed to listen to reason and pull out of partisan politics.

Speaking in an exclusive interview in Accra, Attoh Quarshie noted that the “three deadly punches” inflicted on the ex-President by his own tribesmen should serve as a serious warning to him. “Mr Rawlings must learn from history - from the days of Nkrumah till now. He must know when enough is enough. We told him not to stand in 1992. He ignored it. He manipulated the system and had his way. There we are now. Whoever thought Obed Asamoah could give Jerry a ‘triple jump’ - crusading against the co-chairmanship, getting them to put the issues to a vote and actually competing in an electoral process and winning, in spite of the heavy odd.”

He agreed with Prof F.A. Ayittey that Rawlings is a spent force in the politics of Ghana and must, therefore, stop deceiving himself. What Rawlings can do now, he said, to save his soul is retire from the flare of public life on to a farm and set himself in tune with nature for spiritual nourishment. “He has the money and the connections to do this to refresh himself spiritually and help feed the nation. As for his much-touted Malaria Project, it is only a political gimmick. Retire onto a farm he must,” the veteran politician emphasized.

Quarshie also predicted the demise of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), especially if the party retained its name and kept to its unholy and undemocratic ways of doing things. “The NDC is a cursed party because of the party’s gory, bloodletting past. That is why it needs a spiritual purification, a new name and image as well as total reorientation if it is to win any future elections in Ghana.”

He was, however, impressed with the way the NDC congress went, as well as the result, revealing that both Obed and Mahama are his political friends and mates in the erstwhile United National Convention (UNC), led by the late Mr William Ofori Atta (Paa Willie), a member of Ghana’s Big Six and former Member of the Council of State in the Third Republic under Dr Hilla Limann.

“I know Obed as a sober politician with solid democratic credentials. I know he is a good listener and capable of leading the NDC. To do this effectively, however, he must get closer to his friends in the party and also reconcile with all his opponents since his success as a leader will depend on deepening relations and total cooperation with rank and file members of his party.”

Bu the veteran politician also had some words of warning to the new leader of the NDC. “Beware of sycophants. It was sycophants who ran Nkrumah down. They did the same to Rawlings, and they will be seeking to do it to you.”