Victor Smith Defends Rawlings

MR. VICTOR Smith has stated that his boss, ex-President Rawlings was absolutely right when he rejected an invitation from government to sit at the VIP stand at the Ohene Djan Stadium in Accra last Sunday during the official opening of the 26th MTN Africa Cup of Nations.

After refusing government's invitation to sit at the VIP section with dignitaries including President John Agyekum Kufuor, the former President reportedly became the centre of attraction when he, in the company of his private security guards, sat at the popular stand of the stadium to watch the match.

The game saw the host nation's senior team, the Black Stars, backed by vociferous supporters, putting up a spirited performance to beat Guinea by 2-1.

For security reasons, the former President is said to have left the stadium immediately Ghana scored its wining goal by a strike from Sulley Muntari in the dying minutes of the game.

This action by Mr. Rawlings has received stern condemnation from a section of Ghanaians who were of the view that the former President intentionally put up that behaviour to tarnish the good image of the country to the outside world.

Also, the majority of contributors to radio programmes in Kumasi, who sounded highly surprised about the action of the former President, accused him of politicizing football which ideally was supposed to unite the whole country as one people.

But Mr. Smith, Special Aide to the former Head of State insisted that Mr. Rawlings' action was very appropriate and that nobody should slam his boss since he had not faulted in any way.

Speaking to a section of radio stations in Kumasi, Mr. Smith said the former President refused to sit at the VIP stand with President Kufuor because it would have portrayed an erroneous impression to the outside world that all was well between Mr. Rawlings and President Kufuor.

"President Kufuor and his government have not been treating Mr. Rawlings well since they took over the reins of this country so why do they expect him to come and sit at the VIP stand with them this time around to lie to the outside world that all was good," he asked.

Mr. Smith wondered why the sudden change of attitude by the government to invite Mr. Rawlings to sit at the VIP stand, reiterating his earlier stance that his boss did the right thing by rejecting the special invitation to sit at the VIP stand and rather opting for the popular stand.

Mr. Smith, who sounded furious, unleashed a series of verbal bashings on the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) government, accusing it of making life unbearable for the former President.

"The NPP government has adopted so many schemes and mechanisms to frustrate Mr. Rawlings since 2001."

He particularly accused Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, NPP flagbearer for this year's elections of allegedly convincing President Kufuor to withdraw the protocol facility allocated to Mr. Rawlings ostensibly to prevent the former President from expressing his views on national issues at the international level.

On ex-President Rawlings' impression about Ghana's hosting of the Africa Cup, the Special Aide said he was yet to verify from his boss his views about the tournament.