Rawlings betrayed me - Obed Asamoah

A FORMER Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Dr. Obed Yao Asamoah, has finally let the cat out of the bag over why he was not chosen as the running mate of Prof. John Evans Atta Mills in the 2000 general elections.

According to him, even though he never lobbied for the post, he believed strongly that he could have been chosen if the former President, Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings, had asked then candidate Mills to do so.

He claimed that because Mr. Rawlings wielded more power at the time, and was pivotal in selecting Prof. Mills as presidential candidate, the latter would have succumbed to the dictates of Mr. Rawlings.

Dr. Obed Yao Asamoah was speaking an interview with Adom FM, a Tema-based radio station at his house at Macarthy Hill in Accra yesterday, on a wide range of issues, ranging from his involvement in multi-party politics, what he knew about the murder of the three judges, his general assessment of President Mills’ regime, the fracas between the late Ekow Arkaah, a former Vice President, his trauma in the National Democratic Congress (NDC) resulting in his exit from the party, among others.

According to Obed, an attempt by Prof. Mills then to convince him that he was not chosen, because, he (Obed Asamoah) was his former lecturer, was hypocritical.

To him, as a former Minister of Foreign Affairs, he worked under Prof. Mills, then the Vice President, and had very good relations with him, and that he would have seen nothing wrong working under him as Vice President.

Dr. Asamoah said after Mr. Martin Amidu had been chosen to partner Prof. Mills, there were a number of agitations within the party, as to why either he or Alhaji Mahama Iddrisu was not chosen.

According to him, Mr. Rawlings later invited him to his office and told him (Obed) that he actually asked Prof. Mills to settle on him, but he refused.

Touching briefly on the performance of President Mills, he said, contrary to speculations, he has been his own man.

He noted that though President Mills met economic challenges, he has been able to reduce inflation and stabilise the economy, but was quick to add that food prices and unemployment were on the rise.

The DFP boss, who gave an account of the formation of the NDC, and ruled out Jerry Rawlings as founder of the ruling party, said Mills’ honesty and integrity were paying, which probably contributed to the loans he had secured in China and Japan to develop the nation.

Dr. Asamoah however, believed that the government was not doing well, in terms of agriculture and empowering the private sector, which he underscored, as the engine of growth.

On Nana Konadu contesting President Mills in the NDC presidential primaries, Dr. Asamoah said though he believed in multi-party democracy, he cannot say for a fact that Konadu would outstage Mills or not.

According to him, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings had not declared her intention to contest, and that it would be premature to make any critical assessment. “I cannot pretend to know why Konadu wants to contest. She is entitled to be a presidential candidate. In fact, she has been in the trenches from 1992, and everybody is entitled to contest. I cannot tell whether she can beat Mills.”

On his former pal Prof. Kwesi Botchwey accepting to lead President Mills’ Economic Task Force, Dr. Asamoah believed that there was nothing wrong for anyone to play roles in a particular government to help build the nation.

To him, what the DFP felt about his exit from the party was how he announced it on air, which he noted, was unfair.

Commenting on the performance of the current Attoney General and Minister of Justice, Betty Mould-Iddrisu, he noted that it would be wrong for people to claim that she was incompetent, on account that the government had lost cases in court.

According to him, governments losing cases in court was nothing new, because all the former governments faced a similar fate.

On whether President Mills beat Nana Akufo-Addo during the 2000 general elections, he said during the first round, Akufo-Addo beat Prof. Mills, and that Prof. Mills won the election because the NDC was then having the majority of members of Parliament (MPs), and that Ghanaians thought that should Akufo-Addo win, there would be a hung parliament, where the NDC would be controlling affairs.

On whether he believed that Akufo-Addo could perform, he said he was of a firm belief that Akufo-Addo could, but now that his party was no more in power, there was no way he could assess him.

“Seeing is believing; Akufo-Addo is very articulate. He has the capacity to perform,” he said.

On the controversial Special Investigative Report on the murder of the three judges and retired army officer, Obed Asamoah said it was unfortunate that the first report, which heavily implicated Captain Kojo Tsikata (rtd), was later changed to favour Kojo T, as he is popularly known.

According to him, he had strong reservations about how the report was turned to favour Kojo Tsikata, and said though he would welcome an investigation into the matter, a lot of investigations have been conducted into it, and it was time the matter was laid to rest.

“We cannot continue to be investigating this matter. I have great concern over how the report was made to favour Kojo Tsikata, but I think that it must end somewhere,” he said.