How the founder of NDC decried the inexorable shenanigans and unbridled corruption in his beloved party

One does not have to look very far for evidence of the late ex-president, Rawlings' devoted attachment to the party he founded and blithesomely autographed with his blood.

Indeed, his June 4 and December 31, 1981, coup d'état commemoration speeches were clear manifestations of his unbridled attachment to the party he founded in 1992.

Yes, the late President Rawlings’ unconditional love for his brainchild (NDC) did not taper off, not by any stretch of the imagination.

I must, however, confess that I was an arch critic of the late President Jerry John Rawlings, mainly on ideological grounds and nothing else.

Truth be told, there was no point in time that I insulted Rawlings, far from

but it was rather the brassbound NDC supporters who showed gross disrespect to their party founder.

You may believe it or not, but it was alleged that the then party General Secretary, hereafter, the National Chairman, Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, who was proselytised and christened into the Umbrella fraternity by the late Rawlings, once called Rawlings a barking dog.

More so, the NDC’s ‘babies with sharp teeth’ (as the late Rawlings would put it), who are clearly not privy to their party’s history, scolded Rawlings all the time for expressing his grievances over the unpardonable mess in his party.

Thus, it came as no surprise to some of us at all when the late president, Rawlings, released a press statement during an NDC congress in which he urged the NDC delegates to be mindful of the wolves in sheep’s clothing that lack any integrity but only seek to win the election in order to pursue their parochial interests (emphasis mine).

The late Rawlings would thus stress: “With the passage of time, a few too many selfish and greedy characters soon began to jump on board. “There were some good people, very good people, but leadership and the command structure did not empower them to override those who were destroying the party and the government”.

If we peruse through the archives of Ghanaian politics, we will appreciate that Rawlings and his cohorts founded the National Democratic Congress based on the ideals of probity, accountability, and social justice.

Disappointingly, however, despite their much touted ethos of transparency, probity, and accountability, we have been witnessing so much duplicity, sleaze, and unbridled corruption in the successive NDC administrations.

I would, however, venture to state that the disgusting behaviour was even worse in the erstwhile NDC administration led by former President Mahama.

Truly, we woke up every morning to hear and read fresh news about damning sleazes and corruption in Mahama’s government.

If you may recall, in the wake of the NDC’s humiliating 2016 election defeat, the late Rawlings lamented: “Most people are yet to recover from the traumatic shock of the December 7th election results. But I will have to state that if we turn our backs to our history as a party, we cannot escape the responsibility for the result”.

“I kept providing the warning whenever and wherever I could, and in public as well. But no, once again, the uncouth and uncultured in our party and government chose to insult and disrespect some of us” (Rawlings, 2016).

Obviously, Rawlings was extremely worried about the irrevocable shenanigans in his party.

He lamented: “The principles of June 4 are not alien or have never been alien to mankind. They are no different from the most basic religious or human values. Probity, accountability, and social justice would, on any day, liberate the overwhelming majority of our people from the bonds or difficulties they find themselves in".

“The fight against corruption, greed, and avarice has, however, been at great cost. Noble soldiers have died; noble civilians have died for it, and so many of the noble ones have suffered and continue to suffer all kinds of indignities for their principles and convictions".

“I want to remind people that we could not have possibly forgotten that generals were executed. The greed, corruption, and injustice of today is a thousand times greater than what these generals were executed for, and if we are unable to restore a firm measure of integrity into our dealings, then the blood of many would have been shed in vain".

“Not too long ago, I thought we heard the jockeys claiming the horses were responsible for this disgraceful failure, while one of the horses was bold enough to lay the failure at the doorstep of the jockeys.

“For me, we lost our masses because we betrayed the values of June 4. However if this horse jockey business cannot be resolved comprehensively, allowing integrity to prevail, then let both of them step aside and allow for fresh leaders with solid integrity to provide the needed leadership” (Rawlings 2017;

myjoyonline.com).

The late Rawlings was indeed not enthused about the posturing of ‘the babies with sharp teeth’ and how the NDC administration under Mahama handled the affairs.