Kufuor did not kill Ya Na - Rawlings backtracks

Former President Jerry John Rawlings has made a dramatic turnaround on the murder of the late Ya Na Yakubu Andani II.

The former President has absolved his successor, John Agyekum Kufuor and the Abudus as brains behind the heinous mur­der in contrast to his previously held position.

"I don't think Kufuor or the Abudus were the killers of the Ya Na," he said in faltering Twi on Wednesday in Kwahu, the Eastern Region.

Jerry John Rawlings never lost a moment to denigrate his succes­sor as being responsible for the murder of the Dagbon Overlord anytime he had an opportunity to address an audience.

The revision therefore jolted those who heard him, especially on a number of radio stations, including Oman FM and Adom FM.

He was addressing an audi­ence during the funeral of the Omanhene of the Kwahu Tradi­tional Area, Daasebre Akuamoah Boateng last Wednesday at Abene in the Eastern Region.

Cocktail of Issues

The former President's address was characteristically a cocktail of issues, sometimes incoherent, spanning an allegation of how a soldier was ordered to assassinate him and two, Generals—Brig Joseph Nunoo-Mensah and the late Rear Admiral Owusu Ansah, a former Navy Commander—dur­ing the 2008 campaign, to the mur­der of the Dagbon Overlord.

He recalled asking the chiefs during a durbar in the Upper East Region whether they would bring pressure to bear upon President John Mahama, an indigene of the north, to probe the murder of the Ya Na.

"Will you ask President John Mahama to probe the murder of the late Ya Na or you would just pamper him and allow the status quo to remain until he runs out his tenure?" he asked.

Arrests

According to Mr Rawlings, two persons were arrested over the murder of the Ya Na but these per­sons feigned madness in the court­room. "They feigned madness and asked in the courtroom whether indeed the Ya Na had been mur­dered. They threatened to mention names and were eventually released," he alleged.

On his allegation that a soldier was sent to come and assassinate him, Brig Nunno-Mensah and the then Navy Commander he said, "A soldier was sent to assassinate me and two Generals during the campaign of 2008."

The soldier, he said, was arrested and detained in the guardroom awaiting the outcome of the elections.

"When the results were out the then President Mills said he was not interested in detentions and suspicions and so the soldier was released," he said.

Continuing he said, "The sol­dier came to me and said that he had been asked not to disclose details of the matter. We remained in that situation and Mills eventu­ally passed away.

"Then the man from the north became president, I mean John Mahama. Your brother the Tamale man from the north we expected would have delved into the mat­ter, being a man from the north. I waited, waited and waited but nothing happened," he said.

Nunoo-Mensah Denial

When Brig Nunoo-Mensah, the man Rawlings claimed was target­ed for assassination was contacted yesterday on Adom Fm about the allegation, he denied knowledge of such a plot.

Surprise

Former Minister of State in the Interior Ministry during the Kufuor administration, Nana Obiri Boahen, expressed surprise at the disclosures from Jerry Rawlings, denying also a plot to assassinate him (Rawlings).

Nana Obiri Boahen said there are certain aspects of the Wuaku Commission of Enquiry in camera sitting he would restrain himself from disclosing which as he put it, would not be charitable to Rawl­ings. "I respect the ethics of my profession and would not do that," he said, adding that he was restraining himself from passing certain comments out of deference for the former president's spouse and children.

Wuaku Commission

Jerry John Rawlings had for a long time trumpeted his knowl­edge of the killers of the late Over­lord, yet when the Wuaku Com­mission sat his evidence strangely did not come let alone play any role in determining the outcome of the procedures.

Nana Obiri Boahen, a private legal practitioner, expressed dis­quiet about Rawlings' constant ref­erence to the late King's murder because die action lacks deference to the deceased and Dagombas. He posed a rhetoric question during the radio programme to which he was invited thus, "Would Rawl­ings have continued to make such references were the deceased his relative?"

Rawlings rounded up his speech with an admonition on democracy when he said, "If we want to enjoy our democracy we should see the importance and preservation of human life."

For someone who presided over a junta which ordered the execution of eight military officers- the first in the history of the country - Rawlings talking about the preservation of human life came under uncontrollable and scathing criticisms on a cross-sec­tion of radio stations.