A prominent Ghanaian entrepreneur, Mr B. A Mensah on Friday said: "The Rawlings regime decimated the fledgling private sector out of jealousy and greed only to replace it a decade later with a political party-biased private sector composed of those, who had organised the coup and were running the country."
He told a conference on: "Ghana's Foreign Policy Options" organised jointly by the Foreign Ministry and the Legon Centre for International Affairs LECIA). Mr Mensah, whose topic was: 'The Private Sector and the Articulation of Ghana's Foreign Policy", said former President Jerry John Rawlings presided over the destruction of the private sector out of jealousy and greed.
"In my view, former President Rawlings' open hatred towards successful local business people among other factors clearly sent negative signals to would-be foreign and local investors," Mr Mensah said, quibbling that he was not a politician but businessman.
He said the image portrayed to the outside world under former President Rawlings was that of corruption and ineptitude. A regime that was prepared to accept backhands and did not practise what it preached.
Mr Mensah said the former government's alignment with Libya, Nicaragua and Cuba led to further isolation of Ghana by the western world and greater economic retardation.
He acknowledged, however, that some attempts were made by the last regime to promote the private sector and foreign investment but said these attempts achieved limited success because the indigenous business people were hardly involved in the formulation of the requisite laws.
Mr Mensah's words drew a sharp reaction from Mr Kofi Attor, NDC MP for Ho Central and Minority Spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, who accused Mr Mensah of misusing the forum to undertake a "Rawlings bashing." He said Mr Mensah's presentation was an attack on the personality of the former President, which he thought was unfair.
"I'm wondering what we'll be achieving at the end of the day if we begin to politicise this forum - organised to collate opinions for a suitable foreign policy-into a political platform to pour out vendetta in attempts to settle personal scores."
Mr Attor said while he admitted that there were wrongdoings in the past, he thought that the nation should move forward taking cue from such wrongs in the past.
