Rawlings' Public Relations man exposed -The Crusading Guide
An attempt by Mr Victor Smith, Head of Public Relations of the Office of Ex-President, Flt Lt J.J. Rawlings, to mislead and misinform Ghanaians on how Ghana's Mission in Canada handled the plight of the former President when the latter got 'stranded' in Canada as a result of the terrorist attacks on the USA, has been exposed.
The Crusading Guide says speaking on an Accra radio last Monday, Mr Smith had sought to create the impression that the ex-President was completely neglected by the Ghanaian diplomatic authorities in Canada even though Ghana's Foreign Minister, Hon. Hackman Owusu-Agyeman had told Ghanaians that "the appropriate courtesies" had been accorded him in the wake of t he diversion of his Boston-bound British Airways flight to Halifax on September 11, 2001.
"He is fed up and disgusted. It is an on-going thing, you see it hurts him even more when he happened to have ended up in Canada when that incident in America happened, and the government then goes on air and makes it look as if they are being so nice to him. And when in fact nothing of the type that the Foreign Minister mentioned was actually accorded to him when he was in Canada because he really was having it tough out in Halifax, some 700 miles from Ottawa where the Mission was. We had to do a lot of work, I was in Boston then and I had to do a lot of work to get certain things put properly before he was able to come back to London", Mr Smith was quoted to have stated.
But the Deputy Government Spokesman, Kwbena Agyepong had via telephone refuted the submissions of Mr Smith. "Well what I want to say is that we don't want to get into a slanging match here. I do believe that the Foreign Service are up to their duties. The Foreign Minister articulated the position to the whole country. And whatever we were supposed to do to accord help to our former President was done. And if his Aide is saying that nothing was done, well that is their view. In our view we accorded him the respect that he deserved."
The Crusading Guide says subsequent developments on the airwave the following day (Tuesday) clearly exposed Mr Smith as having been very economical with the truth the day before as he was confronted with irrefutable, factual, and official evidence of the Ghana Mission's assistance to the Ex-President while he was stranded in Halifax.
....Rawlings paid $600 in Canada
The Ghanaian Voice reports on its front page that long before the government made attempts to defray the expenses of ex-President, J. J. Rawlings who had his plane diverted to Halifax in Nova-Scota, Canada, the University of Boston had already made arrangements to pick the bill.The University, which was to have him as a keynote speaker had faxed a letter that since he was their guest, if the terrorist attacks had not happened in the U.S. they were willing and prepared to pick the tab and that a fax had been sent notifying the Delta Barrington hotel with a Credit card to guarantee the payment.
Mr Kwabena Agyepong, the deputy Government Spokesperson had stated that the government was able to pay the bill a day after Mr Victor Smith had gone on air to complain about the poor treatment given to the ex-President.
Mr Smith is reported to have said that he called the Ghana Mission in Ottawa 30 minutes after he heard the plane had been diverted and spoke to one Miss Benneh, who told him she was going to get the High Commissioner Mr Oliver Loluvi.
Mr. Smith also said that the ex-president was on the plane for 9 hours instead of the 4 hours expected because no High Commission staff turned up to get him and he had to pay $600 as a deposit to enter Delta Barrington hotel, being all the money he had on him and still had to go to the airport alone when leaving Halifax for London.
“What sort of courtesies are they talking about? If they had been of assistance he would not have arrived at London Gatwick airport at 1.00 am and take a public transport” Mr Smith had remarked.
