The persona Jerry Rawlings remains
a foreboding enigma – a politician of mystery, full of melancholy, contrasts
and paradoxes. The exact definitions were ascribed to Africa by B.N. Ayitey in
the introductory chapters of his book, “Africa Betrayed”. Like the title of
that book, I’m sure some elements within our body politic would want to paint a
similar picture of betrayal between Jerry Rawlings and his beloved N.D.C. Well,
we can leave that episode for later, what attracts the nib of my pen now, is
the foggy political character of the retired flight lieutenant born to Madam
Victoria Agbotui and the Scottish Chemist on the 22nd July, 1947.
Mischievous as it may seem, history
has a way of knocking certain characters into our heads to the extent that
denying those means denying our heads. Whoever tells the political history of
Ghana and denies Chairman Rawlings of his place has denied the relevance of his
story. I’m told that on 15th May 1979, he and a group of junior officers in the
Ghana Air Force attempted a mutiny against the regime of Fred Akuffo which resulted
in their arrest and imprisonment. However, Rawlings shot to fame
with the June 4th 1979 coup that ousted the Supreme Military Council
and introduced the AFRC which he led as Chairman. Since then, the fair faced gentleman
kept stealing the show in the concert of Ghanaian politics. He’s had his high
points; the days when he was likened to Jesus, the days when he was the most
handsome man in Ghana, the days when octogenarians died of heart attack at the
sight of him, the days when J.J was on the lips of toddlers, and mothers; with
dangling breasts would ran to catch a glimpse of the man of the moment. Indeed,
my fondest memory of him was in 1997 when as a kid in my hometown, our first
public health centre was being inaugurated. Though my little cousin was the one
chosen to present the bouquet of flowers to the president, as was the culture
at the time, I was happy that I was made to stand somewhere I could possibly
take a good view of the man. Trust me, “I saw the man”. He beamed with so much
energy and charisma that infested me with pride to have him as President. I’m
not sure of now, but I can’t deny that I ever admired the man.
A few years down the line, as
Africa kept faith with multi- party democracy, the grandeur surrounding the
personality of Papa J was still pervasive in any public account of the Ghanaian
political trajectory. He is a man ever loved by Ghana; and most dearly, by the
political party brought forth under his midwifery, the NDC. I’ve never seen a
founder whose qualities were ever flaunted in people’s faces than the NDC did
to Rawlings. More so, he has been the salt of their electioneering campaigns
over the years. I’m sure there were times when my friends in the Danquah –
Busia fraternity wished their ideological pacesetters had stayed alive a bit
longer. History somersaults; today, Rawlings has become a fever in the blood.
In recent times, discussions have been held to quantify how much relevance he
still has, left in Ghanaian politics. As the pundits keep throwing their
opinions in our faces, the vapour in my head and that of several other
Ghanaians keeps condensing too many questions especially about the means and ways
of the man, J.J Rawlings. I’ m left with no other description of him than to
call him a mystery. He acts in ways we don’t understand. Even Jesus’ parables
most of the time were explained. Let’s try to research him in the following
expose.
First and foremost, the coup of 31st December 1981 is one that has often generated
controversy in the market place
of historical analyses of events in our politics. There are many who think that
Rawlings’ second coup was needless and as a matter of fact based on his own
reflexes. Perhaps it was meant to merely demonstrate the machismo of the coup
maker in him. People tend to find more justice in the 1979 coup because the
AFRC, under the chairmanship of Rawlings, carried out a much wider
"house-cleaning exercise" aimed at purging the armed forces and
society at large of corruption and graft as well as restoring a sense of moral
responsibility and accountability in public life to the pride of many
Ghanaians. Rawlings was even disciplined enough to follow a program already set
in motion before the June 4 uprising, to organize free general elections hence
handing over power to a civilian government led by the People's National Party
(PNP), under President Hilla Limann on 24th September, 1979. Now
though it’s admitted that a few things went wrong under the Limann regime, I
think that toppling a civilian government after two years of handing over power
to him was an expression of Rawlings’ own personal disagreement with himself –
the beginning of his foreboding enigma. No wonder, the likes of Boakye Gyan
have made comments purporting to register that the 1981 coup was a betrayal of
the principles that guided the 1979 coup.
Subsequently, life under the PNDC
and later NDC on whose banner the guiding principles of probity, accountability
and social justice was indelibly imprinted, supposedly hasn’t been the pleasure
of many Ghanaians. Like every life under a military leader, the PNDC regime
recorded a litany of social injustices and repugnant suppression of civil
liberties. Rawlings cannot claim to have lived his utopian dream of creating a
much better and socially equal life for all Ghanaians under his military dictatorship
and subsequent civilian rule. There were rots under PNDC and NDC, the wrath of
several Ghanaians were incurred, there was no piety in public life; at least
the secretaries under PNDC have not claimed so. Today, the fight of corruption
in public life is still on and though it’s not my place to judge whether the
Rawlings’ principle of probity and accountability has been a fiasco or not, I
can say with all the emphasis I command that the verdict is unpleasant and
sometimes indicting on the personality of Rawlings. More especially, the
allegations of corruption and wanton misuse of the public purse leveled against
this current government is a contrast to the principles ever espoused by the
sole founder on whose vision and ideals the NDC was formed - The blood and soul
of Jerry Rawlings in a contrast. Now, let’s
see what has happened in recent times.
Today in Ghana, history is being
recorded; the only living founder of a political party in government might face
an expulsion from the party in whose constitution his visions and ideals has
been reiterated in ink. Whoever said that the bath blood between Jerry Rawlings
and the NDC might get to this crescendo, could have suffered under the
paralysis of the NDC’s curse. Well, we all know where it started. The protégé
of Rawlings, whom he declared as his beloved successor at the famous Swedru
declaration came under the wildest of attacks after he took over as President
of this country. There is no need repeating some of the earlier descriptions,
but trust me, the late Prof. Mills and his appointees suffered in the hands of
the man believed to be his mentor and founder of the party he was leading. It
was that bad that when tempers flared; the founder and coup scholar was reduced
to a mere “barking dog”. Even the babies in government had some unkind words
for him because Rawlings became a bullet in the flesh of almost everybody in
the NDC except his wife and Kofi Adams. The next dramatic angle was when
Rawlings contested the sitting president for the flagbearership position of the
party through the mischief of his wife. The events of recent times have left
the Rawlings even more vulnerable. More prominently is the birth of a new baby
whose paternity he might not have to deny. The National Democratic Party,
believed to be a bi-product of the incessant displeasure registered by the
Rawlings cult within the NDC, as some have suggested, is meant to annihilate the
NDC into total damnation. My head aches at the thought of how a man plots to
destroy his 20 year old son by giving birth or adopting a new crippled son. Oh
yes, let the facts be told, the NDP is crippled at birth and history would tell
us why. There has been a betrayal in the NDC, and it’s a mystery to think that
the Rawlings has betrayed the NDC – The remnants or deterioration of his own
principles.
So as we go into the election in a
few months time, A few questions keep begging for answers: How relevant would
the Rawlings factor be in the politics of our time especially within the NDC
after the elections? What are the constituent particles of the personality of
Rawlings that he keeps bringing us surprises? Is he a man of stern and rigorous
commitment to his principles? Rawlings keeps calling people with names nobody
ever knew they had, he keeps showing up at rallies he is least expected, he
keeps meeting his perceived arch enemies, he keeps showing the NDC the red card
yet on another breath believes Mahama has brought some spark of hope to the NDC
.
Rawlings is a research problem and a phenomenon that can cease your breath today
and bring you life tomorrow. His outbursts sometimes can be a scar on the mind.
Jerry Rawlings might be extinct someday but until he does, the tumour he leaves
on the skin of Ghanaian politics is an enigma that can set the brain on fire –
My reflections.
Nii Tettey Ashong,
KNUST.
