Rawlings Digs Into Goosie

The front page banner of the Chronicle reads : 'Rawlings digs into Goosie.' ccording to the story, President Jerry John Rawlings has decried the manner in which Mr. Goosie Tanoh, spokesman of the Reform Party used the name of Nana Kondau Agyeman Rawlings, First Lady, to obtain a loan of about?1.9b from various sources.

According to the Chronicle Rawlings said he did not know about the loan until he read in the papers that some soldiers had gone to Goosie's warehouse where he did his cassava business to punish some of the workers he suspected of cheating on him (Goozie).

Rawlings who is said to have suspected that the business was connected to his wife and the 31st December Women's Movement, because the Movement deals in cassava, summoned his wife to verify the truth the story. The report says Nana Konadu denied having anything to do with the incident but said Goosie who was then a member of the ruling NDC party approached her wanting to buy her Movement's cassava chips for export.

Rawlings is quoted as saying that his wife asked Goosie whether he would pay for the cassava chips in dollars since he was going to export them. "That was the end of any encounter with this guy" Rawlings told a national durbar of ACDR's at Tamale last Saturday.

Rawlings continued: "Not too long after, I was hearing hun- hun - hun, hun -hun at cabinet level. I said look let me dig into this thing because they were mentioning my wife's name again with Goosie and the cassava business.

"I discovered that about ?1.9 billion is being owed by Goosie ... my ... wife cassava business to the Ghana Cocoa Marketing board, a certain bank, and the Ministry of finance"

The Chronicle says Rawlings said when he told Nana Konadu about what he had just heard she said : "I'm sorry I have told you already that I have nothing to do with that business. I don't owe anybody any such money."

Rawlings said he then told Nana to do him a favour by calling the bosses of the Cocoa Marketing Board, the Bank and the Ministry of Finance, specifically, Victor Selormey a deputy minister and tell them she had nothing to do with that business. Rawlings according to the paper said he ordered that no more loans should be extended to Goosie. Rawlings said when Goosie heard about the order he went berserk,.

Rawlings, according to the paper, said he knows Goosie's mind too well. "The way he talks is so impressive. There is no way I'll be a match to him at all; true, true. And that is what sometimes fools me... When people can open their mouths and talk big, big sweet English and construction of words etc we end up being taken in.

Rawlings is said to have observed "Do you see the love of power among some of us? We took you (Goosie) out of school and you ended up straight in New York as assistant to Victor Gbeho" Rawlings who used more than half of his two-and a half hours speech on Goosie told the Cadres "we don't want enemies from within, we have enough from without. I find it very painful that we are doing the work for our enemies," Chronicle said.