Rawlings reacts to 'Who killed the judges' documentary

Former president and founder of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Jerry John Rawlings, has expressed frustration over claims of having a hand in the killing of three judges and a retired army officer 36 years ago. There has been a documentary by Joy News titled "Who killed the judges".

This documentary chronicled events that led to the abduction and killing of three court judges under the military rule of Jerry Rawlings.

Reacting to questions raised in a recent Joy News documentary, ‘Who killed the Judges?’ at a forum in Kumasi, the former president said he wasn’t bloodthirsty and that if he was, things could have been messier.

If I were bloodthirsty as these are people claiming, 15th May 1979, I could have ignited the thing and left it, '79, when people were calling for blood I could have just let go and let people do the killings. How do I come back in the 80s when things have cooled down a little bit to say I want to kill judges?... It was a terrible mistake some our comrades did. Why can't you chose how to knock me down without going low.

Meanwhile, Mr. Rawlings, after the documentary, “Who killed the judges” had emerged in a tweet, to describe the piece as an attempt to destroy the reputation of innocent people for a crime which has long been dealt with and perpetrators punished for same.

He did not understand why media giants, Multimedia Group Ltd will seek to do a documentary about the killing of judges 36 years ago when it equally could have investigated several other murder cases including that of the overlord of Dagbon Ya-Na Yakubu Andani and his elders.

“We have rehashed and recooked history to make innocent people look murderous. And in the next breath using the same name to endorse yourselves because Rawlings said he is cultured (compared to his predecessors). This is vicious and callous political opportunism”, his post read.

But speaking on the issue on Newsfile, editor-in-chief of the Crusading Guide newspaper, Abdul Malik Kweku Baako said the former President would’ve been in better standing if he had kept silent on the subject in the first place.

He finds it rather strange that Mr. Rawlings, even in his position as President and Chairman of the PNDC during his era, remained silent for 14 years and failed to cooperate with the National Reconciliation Commission (NRC) despite several attempts by the same to get his response to damning allegations about his alleged complicity in the murder of the judges contained in the findings of the NRC report.