Real and present danger
The sporadic turbulences that have permeated the political landscape in Ghana in recent months must not be viewed as isolated incidences but - “a real and present danger” that is being perpetrated by - Jerry John Rawlings (JJR), as a means to reincarnate himself as president. Having lost three presidential elections back-to-back, JJR has come to the realization that it will be difficult, if not impossible for him/NDC to gain power by the ballot and, therefore, has opted to do so by the bullet - the only way he knows best to scale the height, when it comes to the occupancy of the presidency.
It will be recalled that since JJR left office at the end of his 20 year reign, he has persistently endeavored to derail the NPP/Kufour’s administration by spreading falsehood about the administration as a starter and recently, has upped-the-ante, by instigating violence in the country to provoke and incite civil war to his advantage.
Engine of Evil
JJR is an engine of evil thus, his utterances and actions -- meetings with ex-generals, letters to foreign embassies, etc., -- must not be viewed lightly, but treated as dark warning signs leading to a possible violent attack against Ghanaians given, his history of violence and lawlessness. This is a man consumed by hatred to his core and determined to murder every Akan in Ghana and, care less of his legacy, which at this point fairs very well with the worse of the worst. Indeed, when compared to other past/present despots’ such as Hitler, Idi Amin, Bin Laden, Pol Pot, and Chauchesco, among others, it illuminates his hallmark, which includes, hatred, egotistic, strategic and diplomatic failures, just like the above mentioned individuals.
The goals of these guys were to conquer the world with false pretense by civilianizing warfare. In like manner, Rawlings, rather than using his political currency to build his country instead, has concentrated on evil forces against his country’s political peace and economic development to conquer Ghanaians. By these methods, and, more important, a ruthless pursuit, he wants to fight the campaign of annihilation which is his main objective. It is this objective to disrupt the peace and the country's ability to move forward, that really sets him apart from the good leaders of the twenty first Century. Where leaders of today are fighting for peace at the negotiating table, JJR fights battles of destruction so that his country’s efforts to develop are broken and then, use that as a trajectory to dictate his terms.
Past Record
Rawlings has illusively indulged himself with the fantasy of being the life time president of Ghana. And, in the process, has apt to shut his eyes against the painful truth by listening to his own song of fallacy which has now transformed him into a monster. Is this the part of a wise man, engaged in a great and arduous struggle for a country’s development?
For years we have been bombarded with his “booms” of rhetoric with no substance. He tells us of how the NDC will be able to transform Ghana to a glorious nation that he alone fantasizes. Because, as for me, what ever paradise it may be, I doubt of its reality. For, I have one lamp by my feet that guide me and that are the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging the future, but by the past. And judging by the past, I wish to reflect on JJR’s record during his 20 year reign, to determine if he is indeed, capable of building “castles in the air” for Ghanaians, with which, his hooliganistic followers have been pleased to solace themselves.
Is it the killings of innocent people which bring him joy? Or dehumanizing of WOMEN, our most Precious and Treasured Assets? Or the destruction and/or seizures of our hard earned assets? Or the joy of endless breeding of orphans by killing innocent fathers and mothers? Dear reader, these are the handiwork of Jerry John Rawlings and, judging from his “masterpiece,” experience tells me that he is rather uniquely qualified to promise Ghana Hell, more so than Paradise. Indeed, his ongoing frantic behavior is justification that he is leaving no stone unturned to crystallize his legacy with the hellish goal.
Since his happenstance to power, Rwalings has had complete misreading of Ghanaians, taking them for granted and, thinking that they cannot fight back. But on the contrary, his erroneous thinking has led Ghanaians to horrendous campaigns against him and his surrogates. The two decades of inaction to acts of military terrorism in 1979 and 1981, led Rawlings to believe that a new military intervention will equally be met with weak response. But he is in for a big surprise. This time, the effect of the innocent killings of husbands, wives, uncles and aunts, among others, have transformed Ghanaians as warriors to resist any new insurgency from him. Further, it has now become abundantly clear that he is not the only Ghanaian to lead Ghana, especially, given the shared weakness and the limitlessness of his vision, ambition, and his inability to recognize that the more he tries to impose his ill will on Ghanaians, the greater the wrath of “We the People” to descend on him and his surrogates.
Rawlings’ extreme, totalistic objectives have created a new Grand Patriotism, as the nation now recognizes that its very survival depends on JJR’s destruction. His immediate objectives are imposition of a totalitarian regime under his control — a regime, whose vicious abuse of its own people makes it in some ways, even more totalitarian than Hitler's. In the long term, he wants to kill every Ashanti/Akan in Ghana, and enslave the rest of the people with the same totalitarian rule that we were unfortunate to experience during his 20 year reign. His political party’s mantra is that a “people never advances by voluntary conversion, but only by military conquest.”
Thus, given this myopic thinking, one can deduce the fact from fiction that Rawlings’ obsession and reasons to topple the NPP government is not necessarily that, Kufour’s government is ineffective but because, the massive success of the NPP performance is an existential threat to JJR and his National Democratic Congress Party. The NPP’s success threatens a core element of the NDC’s base - hooligans. The NDC can’t stomach seeing the NPP making successful strides in all spectrums of development, as well as “hijacking” international recognition for a job well done. The United States, Germany, China, Trinidad and Tobago, and Canada, among others, have bestowed unto Kufour their countries highest awards, reserved only for people of the highest pedigree in humanistic achievements but, not to murderers. (“Nanka Ebeyeden Na Aye wo Ya”?) It is for this reason that JJR has made it his ardent wish to obliterate the NPP leadership, lest its popularity eats away their party’s core base; hence, JJR’s hysteria in his attacks on the NPP.
Conclusion
Thus, viewed from this standpoint, it takes no constrained effort to note that JJR’s ability consists less in actual innovation than in honing and integrating techniques which is terrorist in nature to destroy Ghana. We saw him demonstrated that trademark in 1979 and 1981 as a serialized coup maker, staging the first coup in 1979 in which both civilians and military were the primary targets. And, to proof his callousness, he disregarded the deaths of his soldiers, because replacements were, and still, are abundantly available. Rawlings has a pool of reserve disaffected, evil young men and women from his erstwhile Commando Unit, posted in different cells around the country from which he can tap at whim, to bring mayhem to Ghanaians. But the Lord is on our side. For, it is written, “The scepter of the wicked will not remain over the land allotted to the righteous.”
That said, it must also be pointed out that this is not the voice of one man but one of the voices of the well meaning 26 million native sons and daughters of our beloved Ghana, which collectively echoes in the Ten Regions of the country, and the Diaspora, saying, “The Liberty of Ghana will never again be vested in the hands of a Tyrant but, in the hands of We the People.” Long Live Ghana.
Joseph Smith Adomakoh, Jr. Wall Street, New York, NY
