Valarie Sawyerr is right about Rawlings – Namoale

Former Member of Parliament for La Dadekotopon, Nii Amansah Namoale, says he agrees with pointers raised in an article by former Deputy Chief of Staff Dr. Valarie Sawyerr that sort to rein in the former President and founder of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Jerry John Rawlings.

According to him, the former deputy Chief of Staff’s write-up about the founder of the NDC, is not an attack on the former President, as being suggested by some people within the NDC, but a reminder to the founder that there are far more important issues bedeviling the larger Ghanaian society, which the former President needed to comment on rather than openly castigating members of his own party.

“Dr. Valarie Sawyerr did not insult anybody. She only sought to tell our founder that, yes, it is okay to criticize us (the NDC), but the current NPP Government, led by Akuffo-Addo, is engaged in serious acts of corruption, so Papa J must talk about those ones too”, he explained to Bright Kwesi Aempa on Wednesday’s edition of Onua FM’s morning show “Yen Nsem Pa”.

Dr. Valarie Sawyerr wrote a lengthy article in which she implored the former president and founder of the NDC, Jerry John Rawlings, to redirect the energy he uses in criticising the NDC to the current happenings in the country.

Dr. Sawyerr, in her write-up, mentioned, among other things, the BOST saga, the $2.25 million Eurobond saga, the fall Armyworm invasion, as some issues needing the urgent attention of the former president. But some close associates of Mr Rawlings have called on Dr Valerie Sawyer to retract her publications and apologize to the founder.

However Nii Amansah Namoale, opined that Dr. Sawyerr only “exercised her right to freedom of expression and freedom of speech, and there is nothing wrong with that”. He added that both the former president and the former deputy chief of staff are people who are not scared to air their views on any issue both within and outside the Party, which he said can serve as a motivation for the other Party members to also come out openly to vent their concerns.

“Our founder always speaks his mind and so is Dr. Valerie so I don’t see any disrespect here on the part of Dr. Valerie” Namoale observed.