“Gentlemen, from now on you guys are going to prosper” - Rawlings

On that portentous day (31st December 1981), J.J Rawlings took arms and succeeded in overthrowing the constitutionally elected government and capriciously imposing his despotic rule, albeit with the help of some gullible individuals.

It must also be pointed out that Rawlings supplanted power under the pretext of acting as a peripheral Panacea. However, Rawlings cunningly spent a little over nineteen years and bettered his life and that of his family.

According to one of his accomplices of 31st December 1981 Movement, “he bamboozled onto the political scene with the sole objective of transforming his life.

According to the said accomplice, just before mounting the 31st December 1981 coup d’état, Rawlings brought out a bulletproof vest to wear. When one of the soldiers asked why he alone was protected, he argued that he has only one in his possession and it cannot be shared amongst them. More so, “he was the leader and if he died, so many things would go wrong”.

To cheer them up he said, “gentlemen, from now on, you guys are going to prosper”.

Apparently, ever since I became aware of the preceding statement, I have adjusted my views on Rawlings; for I have been mulling over his real intentions for usurping power.

Consequently, I have been harbouring a disputatious opinion that the despotic revolutionary, J.J Rawlings, may be a Machiavellian after all.

Interestingly, however, some prominent scholars assert that Machiavellians tend to take a more detached, calculating approach in their interaction with other people.

Besides, Machiavellians tend to believe most people are concerned only with their own well-being and to depend too much on anyone else is foolish.

Moreover, Machiavellians believe that the best way to get by is to use deception, rewards, promises, flattery and even punishments to manipulate others into doing their bidding. To them, power may be more important than love.

Scholars of Anthropology, however, postulate that in terms of big five personality traits, Machiavellians tend to be low on agreeableness and conscientiousness.

For example, some scholars and researchers have attempted to find a correlation between Machiavellianism and narcissistic personality disorder and Psychopathy. Consequently, Robert Altemeyer found a correlation between Social dominance orientation and Machiavellianism.

I hate to admit this, however, I cannot continue to hush up the admiration I used to have for J.J Rawlings during my secondary school days in the early 80’s.

Of course, like many other students back then, I naively thought J.J Rawlings was a Messiah sent from the Heavens to intercede for the downtrodden, and how wrong I was. Indeed, I am among those admirers who have come to their senses.

Ironically, when Rawlings bamboozled onto the scene, he vowed to get rid of corruption and challenged Ghanaians to “shoot” him if he failed. Nevertheless, Rawlings did not even get rid of the rampant corruption within his erratic government let alone the entire nation.

Paradoxically, however, Rawlings goes about preaching probity and accountability, but fails to practice. For isn’t it somehow ironic that someone who bamboozled onto the scene under the pretext of eliminating the widespread sleaze and corruption would turn to a fantastically corrupt former Nigerian president Abacha for a hard cash gift?

For more news on Nigeria’s former president Abacha’s alleged gift to J.J Rawlings, see: (Nigeria’s Abacha gave me $2 million and not $5 million-Rawlings: citifmonline.com/.../nigerias-abacha-gave-me-2m-not-5m-rawlings-conf... ; ‘Abacha’s $2 million gift to Rawlings: Vitus Azeem is only after the truth’,: www.ghanaweb.com/.../Abacha-s-2m-gift-to-Rawlings-Vitus-Azeem-is-o... ; ‘Rawlings must return Abacha’s $2m gift-Nigerian journalist’: www.ghanaweb.com/.../Rawlings-must-return-Abacha-s-2m-gift-Nigeria...).

Regretfully, the ever righteous Rawlings tempestuously murdered people with more than two cars, and how many cars does he own now?

Rawlings destroyed our educational system and then sent his children abroad to study in what he saw as a superior educational system. How pathetic?

He was at war with rich men and women in the country, however, nowadays, he is undoubtedly one of the wealthiest men in the country. How fair is that?

As a matter of fact, one can hardly understand why J.J Rawlings would continue to accuse his political opponents of corruption, notwithstanding the fact that, when Rawlings supplanted power, he was as poor as a church mouse. Safe to say, he has since transformed his life and that of his family exponentially in financial terms.

Sadly, Rawlings and his bunch of vampires callously murdered innocent people on infinitesimal and to some large extent pathetic reasons and just look at what is going on currently in our political landscape.

What leaves discerning Ghanaians with puzzlement is, with all his misdeeds and ultra-vires, he has the audacity to point accusing fingers.

It is also worth pointing out that with all the atrocities meted on to some innocent Ghanaians during his autocratic rule, he managed to cover his misdeeds with the repugnant indemnity clause. How bizarre?