Rawlings was tolerant, welcoming as President – Fritz Baffour

Former Member of Parliament for Ablekuma South, Fritz Baffour has extoled Ex-President Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings as an admirable president who was welcoming and encouraged the involvement of civilians even in the military regime.

Speaking on Metro TV’s ‘Good Evening Ghana’ program Tuesday, Mr. Baffour recounted his experience when he met and questioned the then President about the brutality and violence that characterized his regime. According to him, Rawlings was honest in his response, detailing the situation and why things were how they seemed. Mr. Fritz also mentioned Rawlings inviting him to bring on board his ideas as he is open to as many suggestions as were available.

“When I met Jerry John Rawlings, I actually put it to him and asked him why all these things and he said that it was a very difficult thing and it’s something he always talks about; the litany of the anger of the masses and that it was an explosion and that certain things happened and I was convinced by his passion and the honesty with which he answered so we started talking about the possibilities and I was a television producer and I said there are certain things I can do so he said we will like to welcome all hands on deck”, he told host Paul Adom Otchere. He described former President Jerry John Rawlings as one of the most admirable Presidents in the history of Ghana. He extolled the former military man as one who was welcoming to new ideas and very open to contributions even from civilians during his military rule.

“I started spending a lot of time with him, filming and he was very welcoming to new ideas and I admired him a great deal as a president, I went round filming with him and then eventually joined the political bandwagon”. “PV Obeng, Captain Tsikata, Tsatsu Tsikata, D.F Annan, Kwesi Botchwey were very much part of it.....There was big contribution by civilians, people like Kofi Totobi Kwakye, Ato Austin, they were all there and they were working very very hard and there was a lot of selflessness at the time among the time”, he indicated.

He also touted Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, wife of the Ex-President as a key player in the creation of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

“By 1992, we decided to become a democratic nation and the constitution came in and we had the referendum and political parties and then we started. I originally started with the Eagle club but then I realized there was another one which became the National Democratic Congress”

“That was a lot of work from Nana Rawlings, she did an incredible job to create the NDC, she worked very very hard, she was very much part of the foundation”

“At the time, the NPP had taken off, they had their emblem; their ehyieee, the elephant and all we were struggling with our emblem which became the umbrella eventually which Prof. Kwame Addo and Nana Rawlings worked on because they were the ones that were artistically inclined”, he stated.