Accra - The President's no-holds barred raw style of speaking hit home at the ECOWAS Heads of State summit in Abuja last week, drawing a standing ovation, rave press reviews from the Nigerian media and earning him fresh stripes on his epaulettes as a budding Statesman.
What Ghanaians are used to was a rare sight for the mixed international audience, but the President characteristically exposed to the surprised public the conflicts that had been going on behind closed doors. Charged at the rostrum at the first opportunity he described some of his fellow Heads of State as 'insensitive and selfish".
He even characterised some as 'dishonest' on the Sierra Leone issues.
To the discomfiture of the assembled Leaders, JJ even revealed that between himself and Togo's Gnassingbe Eyadema, Charles Taylor of Liberia and their host General (Rtd.) Olusegun Obasanjo, they had had hot exchanges.
The Nigerian newspaper "Post Express" May 30 edition quoted Rawlings as saying:
"My colleagues have not often shown honesty during our meetings especially during discussions on the region's civil wars as we are witnessing in Sierra-Leone", adding that some of the leaders pursued their personal agenda over the problems in Sierra Leone.
Commenting on his row with Eyadema and Taylor, the President said he was satisfied with the development.
"It is to me a sign that a level of growth is being witnessed amongst leaders since they are willing to tell each other their wrongs to their face."
The Post Express reported that Rawlings who spoke after Obasanjo received sustained applause from the full house including the leaders who had been at the receiving end of his attacks. They got up and shook his hands as he finished his address and retreated to his seat at the high table.
The newspapers led their stories with the Rawlings address and buried the President's speech in the body of the Rawlings report.
