Rawlings: DCEs Are Useless

IF NO less a person than founder of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), Flt. Lt Jerry John Rawlings (Rtd), comes out to say that 40% of the current crop of District Chief Executives (DCEs) in the Mills administration are useless, then there must be cause for concern.

He said a lot of the DCEs in Mills' administration are simply incompetent and do not know how to do their work.

Speaking to party youth in the heart of the Volta region, Ho, last Saturday, March 20, 2010, former President Rawlings stressed the need for the incumbent President, Professor John Evans Atta Mills, to sack these DCEs since according to him, they are not only under-performing but “some of them are outright incompetent”.

He therefore charged the youth to be bold enough to bring some of these issues out before the sitting President because “if you the youth see things and do not say it and I say it then I become an easy target all the time. But the reality of what I say is out there and you have to voice it”.

Mr. Rawlings believes the youth have a responsibility to guide the government with the truth, emphasising that “the government is in power because of the electorate and not vice-versa”.

Furthermore, he grumbled over failure of the Mills administration to re-investigate his claim of persecution that took place within the armed forces and other agencies.

According to Rawlings, he once had cause to counsel President Mills to recall soldiers who had been wrongfully dismissed or retired from the armed forces, but the Number One Citizen was told not to do so by one of his advisors who said recalls were done only during war or state of emergency situations.

“So I asked myself: Does the President not realize we have a state of emergency on our hands? I stated that it did not have to be a forced recall but a voluntary one. Nothing has happened since but today some of our finest soldiers are being processed to be thrown out,” he emphasized.

For this reason, Rawlings asked President Mills not to only listen to reports from his security apparatus but also from recognised interest groups “so that he will know the realistic picture of what is happening on the ground.

“Let the government know the reality on the ground. That is the responsibility I am giving you,” he charged the party youth.

On the recent elections at all levels of the party, the former President said there were too many unacceptable issues with the conduct and therefore noted that “when the people elected do not have the heart of the people there is no way they will fight for such persons”.

This, he said, was because “our party does not survive on money but on our beliefs. People have shed their blood to restore integrity back into the country - integrity that dissipated under the NPP regime”.

Unfortunately however, Mr. Rawlings said, “we have allowed the heat of the election victory to slip away”.

He could not fathom why the NPP, which is currently in opposition, was bold enough to hold its congress at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium whilst the NDC, which is in government, barricaded itself into an indoor venue and prevented the masses from partaking in the process, saying, “The NDC as a mass-based party, cannot succeed if it does not correct the dislocation within the major institutions of state.”

He thus stressed the need for the ruling party and its government to submit to the will of the people or “we will not make it”.