NDC wing condemns Rawlings

The Action Forum of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has criticized ex-President Jerry John Rawlings, founder of the NDC for the unfair comments made by him against Dr Kwesi Botchwey, one time Minister of Finance under his regime.

The ex-President was alleged to have blamed some of his Ministers, including Dr Botchwey for actions he took on certain issues.

A statement issued in Accra at the Weekend by the Forum, said the founding father was being unfair to Dr Botchwey, especially at the time he (Botchwey) had declared his intention to contest the primaries for the selection of a flagbearer of the party.

It said that as chairman of the Council of Elders, founding father and the former President, such a statement was a gross disadvantage to Dr. Kwesi Botchwey.

"The Forum believes that all contestants must be given an equal platform and opportunity to present themselves. All the contestants will have to work together after the primaries. As chairman of the Council of Elders, he may one day have to work closely with Dr Botchwey if he wins the flagbearership," it stated.

Dr. Botchwey, the then Finance Minister, the statement said, took the flak right in the face from 1983 when this country was the laughing stalk of the international community. "By the time he left office as Minister, it was an entirely different story".

The Forum noted that if there was any blame, then some of those who were around the ex-President and were posing as school mates, house prefects and all those links should have been white-washed by now.

It asked the ex-President to find out the story behind the transfer from the Ashanti Region of Mr Kojo Yankah, the then Regional Minister and his subsequent resignation.

"He took a principled decision to resign because those lies that were told about him were never investigated. Those who cooked those lies will continue to tell more of such vicious lies," it stated.

It advocated close consultation among members of the Council of Elders on one hand with the national executive committee so that the NDC would derive a lot of benefit from pronouncements or proclamations coming from any top leader of the party, be it "positive defiance", "boom", or relations with the media.

The statement said the inauguration of the Council of Elders by the chairman of the same council (ex-President Rawlings) was wrong.

"As the founding father of the NDC and the chairman of the Council of Elders, Action Forum would have thought that the leader (flagbearer) of the NDC would rather perform such a function. In his absence, the national chairman or his vice should have acted," it said.

It congratulated ex-President Rawlings and Dr Obed Asamoah for taking a bold step to iron out any difference they had.

The statement expressed the hope that "this will be a lasting reconciliatory event. In the past, there had been denials that such a rift existed when everybody thought otherwise. The two leaders must know that they owe it as a duty to the rank and file to stick together and work with mutual respect".