Rawlings Is Confused - Alhaji Bature

The Managing Editor of the Al-Hajj newspaper, Alhaji Iddrisu Bature, has taken a swipe at former President Rawlings for describing some leading members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the government as traitors.

According to Alhaji Bature, Mr, Rawlings has consistently vilified President Mills for no apparent logical reason and his recent comments attest to this fact.

The former president, in an encore, launched a scathing attack on members of the Mills-led administration while addressing supporters at a ceremony to mark the 30th anniversary of the formation of the women’s group - 31st December Women’s Movement – on Tuesday.

Reiterating his earlier allegation of corruption against the current government, former President Rawlings said: “How can the government in its desire to hold onto political power demean itself in such a crass manner? Can we sustain hope and strength in this depraved political atmosphere?” adding “the current leadership knows it very well but rather than build on the capacity that the Movement brought to the party, they have chosen to exclude them and do worse than our so-called ‘enemies’ (NPP) were doing between 2000 and 2008.”

Mr Rawlings further added that “this time, however, we are fighting against two enemies – one, the perceived enemy and the other one, the traitor. We cannot fight both at the same time and therefore one has to go.”

But Alhaji Bature, a known sympathizer of the government would have none of that. In an interview on Radio XYZ 93.1 FM’s current affairs programme, What’s New, Alhaji Bature said “this is coming from a confused and a vindictive person.”

He said instead of Mr. Rawlings addressing his own internal family issues and calling Nana Konadu to order, after his wife recently threatened to take back the party’s logo, he spent time bashing a party founded.

“He is now advocating the rejection of the party he has founded. A candidate he has imposed on the NDC party. If this is not a confused mind then I don’t know.” Alhaji Bature said the former first couple and his associates cannot continue to blame the government for cases such as that of the Ya-Na’s murder, which went south.

He added that the accusations of ineffective leadership and corruption leveled against the government by the former first couple are also unfounded as the constitutional courts of the land have adjudicated these cases, stressing “the NDC government cannot rule the country like President Rawlings did between 1982 and 1992.”

He said on the case of accountability, Mr. Rawlings falls afoul of his own much-touted values of probity and accountability because he failed to address parliament on the state of the nation before he left power in 2001.

“Was Rawlings accountable to the people of this country…Did he account for his stewardship,” he queried.