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Rawlings Locks Horns with NPP's Nana Darkwah - Who Wins?

Sun, 28 Mar 2010 Source: Adofo, Rockson

Nana Darkwah, a frank and fearless Accra boy of Kumawu descent causes Rawlings€™ heart to palpitate wildly. He alleges on air as a panellist on a radio programme that Former President Rawlings could possibly have torched his own official residence. Hardly had the seemingly ridiculous allegation made when one Kofi Adams, the Spokesperson for Rawlings, marched into the radio station accompanied by a policeman to grab him. He grabbed him in the similitude of a hawk diving to catch its prey, a chick of course. He did proceed to the studio to arrest Nana Darkwah without the knowledge of, and authorisation by Mr. Rawlings. Was Kofi Adams exercising his powers of citizen€™s arrest on him, and if yes, why and what for? I demand answers from him or from anyone who is likely to be conversant with his intentions.

Had Nana Darkwah by his allegation caused a security stir in the nation that warranted his immediate arrest and incarceration? How does his allegation or accusation of Rawlings carrying out arson on his own residence affect Kofi Adams? I can hardly get my head around what I still strongly consider as very stupid move initiated by my learned NDC fanatic, Kofi Adams. Was he trying to prove to Rawlings that he is a trusted employee on whom he can have absolute confidence any time, any day? Was he trying to show off to the entire country that his NDC government is in power so Nana Darkwah deserved to be behind bars without recourse to proper process of law? Was he trying to prove to Mr. Rawlings that he, Kofi Adams, could be counted on to do Rawlings€™ dirty jobs for him as a trusted €œboy boy€ whenever it was required without even being asked? What had the accusation to do with him personally, I still want to know? Do we have to live as a nation of cowards only to be trampled upon by a few NDC hooligans among whom I perceive is Kofi Adams? Does Rawlings contaminate anyone who works or associates with him with his emboldened lawlessness? Was the disgraced and sacked Ato Smith not behaving same as Kofi Adams sometime past?

Rawlings could have no moral grounds to request the arrest of Nana Darkwah the way Kofi Adams went about it. May that not be the reason why Kofi Adams without permission from Rawlings decided to act on his own like a senseless or a headless chicken to help Rawlings somehow? Rawlings is accused of arson by Nana Darkwah. Rawlings is the sole person who had/has the imperative right to either oblige Nana Darkwah to withdraw his statement in default of which he could sue him for libel. What business has Kofi Adams to do here, baring his stupidity and intellectual hollowness for all to see? I am sad that we have certain intellectuals in the country who allow their uncultured alliance, be it political or friendly, to cloud their intelligence and rob them of that quality called honesty. Kofi Adams by his taken action or stance as under discussion, not been honest to himself. By same action, he has neither been helpful to Rawlings nor the State. He has only caused a commotion, a misunderstanding, and intra party rivalry or upheaval in Ghana. He, rather by his untoward attitude did cause more harm and losses to Ghana than what may be the unfortunate infantile on air assertion by Nana Darkwah. Ask yourselves why some MPs boycotted Parliamentary and other Committees sittings in solidarity with Nana Darkwah? Ask yourselves why NDC and NPP foot-soldiers are fighting and rallying behind one person or the other on this issue? It is all because of Kofi Adams€™ irrational move to get Nana Darkwah silenced before he divulges any further damaging information about Rawlings.

Was Nana Darkwah€™s allegation of arson against Rawlings worse than Rawlings€™ against other people in the country? Does Nana Darkwah€™s allegation worse in comparison to Rawlings€™ allegation of knowing who killed Andani Yakubu Ya€™Na and some twenty nine women in the streets of Accra? Which one is a crime that affects Ghana as a State more than the other? The killings of Ya€™Na and the women did pose more serious security threat to the State than that wild allegation by Nana Darkwah, according to my estimation. Was Rawlings prepared to disclose the identities of the perpetrators of those who executed the unfortunate but heinous crimes? No, not until he has been taken before the fetish, €œNana Antoa Nyamaa€ or gone through a €œLie detector* machine. What an absolute crap! What did Kofi Adams do on this serious case? Nothing! Rawlings€™ allegation had more serious interest and concern to the State and individuals than that of Nana Darkwah.

Intentionally burning a State property is a crime. Nana Darkwah should rather be engaged as a State witness to prosecute Rawlings if he did actually set fire to his official residence. The State should rather gather genuine information from him to assist the State prosecute the Rawlingses on this arson allegation if proven by the crime investigators. Why is Nana Darkwah before the Courts now? He is a defendant. Who is the Complainant or his accuser? The complainant cannot be anyone other than the accused, Mr. Rawlings, whom he alleged to have torched the house. Neither the State nor Kofi Adams has the right to cause his arrest, prosecution or incarceration. It is only Rawlings, the accused, who can do it. But can Rawlings in the face of his many nonsensical, more serious and damaging defamatory utterances, morally carry out this task? His guilty conscience will not permit him to.

I will advise that the prosecution of Nana Darkwah based on the wishful thinking of that Kofi Adams be discontinued. The prosecution is as senseless as it is baseless. If Rawlings is suing him for libel, then it is interesting to let the whole world know. In the absence of that, Nana Darkwah is declared innocent by me from this very moment forward. It does not take one to be a lawyer to know the law. He is not absolutely innocent but in the absence of convincing or compelling evidence from Rawlings to the contrary, he is declared not guilty but free. Nana Darkwah, you are free forever. Yaw Baafi and Mary Nyanor Ntakyi Baafi, I have found your son not guilty. €œAchico€, your brother€™s son is free from the fake grips of Kofi Adams and the Rawlingses.

The State should not be over emotional towards the plight of the Rawlingses. They should be re-housed, for that I agree. Intensive investigation must be conducted into the cause of the fire to find appropriate solutions to avoiding future house burns. It has been established that the Ghana Fire Service lack the necessary materials able to help them fight fire outbreaks effectively. Will the Fire department be well equipped from now on?

On the night of the fire outbreak that gutted the residence of Mr. Rawlings, was there any power outage, popularly referred to as €œSo dum€ in that area €“ Ridge area of Accra? If there was any, could it not have triggered the burning in Mr. Rawlings house? The €œso dum€ is a great cause of nuisance and possible fire outbreaks in homes in Ghana. It often results in surge currents being carried across the network and to homes when the power is switched back on by the Electricity providers, companies or what not.

I will recount my personal experience of how this €œso dum€ nearly caused fire outbreak in my younger brother€™s house in Kumasi-Bremang in the year of Our Lord Jesus Christ, 2008. A computer in my room had been switched off as normally prescribed and recommended by experts, employing the mouse device. Hardly had I entered my brother€™s car waiting in the compound when I realised I had left an important thing in my room which needed to be retrieved before we went out. I excused friends sitting in the car to permit me a minute. Just as I rushed to the room the electricity came back on. It had been switched off by the area electricity supplier as per their infamous €œso dum€. All of a sudden, I could smell burning in the room. I started looking everywhere for the burning. In the next minute, I could see smoke gushing out of the computer, the tower to be more precise. I quickly unplugged the lead which was always plugged in at the wall€™s power socket and left switched on. I took the tower, rushed outside with it and threw it on to the open grass area within the compound. If I had not gone back to the room intending to collect what I had left behind, the house could have gone up in flames or gutted by a possible fire outbreak. If it did, who was to blame? The electricity provider had to. Why? It€™s because they are paid to provide us a quality service but not the substandard stupid, and I repeat, stupid service as is known in Ghana. I decided to bring this to the attention of the electricity provider (Ghana Electricity Company) and forced them to pay for the damages to not only the computer but most electrical appliances in the house damaged by their incessant silly so-called shameful €œso dum€; a trait of incompetence by a public utility company. I went to the Dechemso branch and explained the damage and harm their unprofessional substandard service in the provision of electricity has caused to me and my household. I spoke as a professional and an overseas trained electrical technician with the service regulatory knowhow who was no longer going to stoop to their nonsense. I calmly explained the situation and the rules and then obliged them to pay for the loss I have incurred. The guy started shivering and sweating. Why? It was because he had probably for the first time met someone who was conversant with the related electricity provision service laws and was ready to apply them as they should; probably to their detriment. He pleaded with me and sent me to Adum to meet their boss at the Head office. I was driven to Adum. Unfortunately, the boss had travelled outside Kumasi only to return the next three days. I was leaving Ghana within the next two days and could not have time to follow my complaint up. The Electricity Company may be the cause of the fire outbreak in Mr. Rawlings house if we have patience to investigate properly.

If Nana Darkwah has no convincing proof that Mr. Rawlings did actually torch his house, then Rawlings should oblige him to retract his statement in default of which he should sue him for libel. If the Electricity provider by their €œso dum€ caused the fire outbreak, they should be sued for reparation. I will in future explain how I once compelled the Ghana Telecom by law but without taking them to court to refund a certain amount of money to (name withheld). I never take it kindly to that nonsense of that €œGhana dee saa€ (that is the way things are done in Ghana) attitude of doing things in Ghana. It is about time we uprooted that foolish view of justifying incompetence and condoning crime in the Ghanaian society. It is a factor that is causing the nation€™s economic stagnation if not retrogression.

Why should I continue sitting on the fence while my people suffer? Many are those that have advised me to help build Ghana. Ghana needs honest, dynamic and selfless people to help her on to her feet. I will give this advice a very thoughtful consideration. I may go to Ghana as I have a lot positive contributions to offer to my beloved Nation.

Kumawu DCE, please stop sleeping with married women according as the information reaching me indicate. You are alleged to have taken Wofa Kwasi Krah€™s (alias C.K) girlfriend of ten years from him. She is in the person of the Kumawu District€™s NDC Women€™s Youth Organiser. You are also alleged to have slept with the wife of one Nkwanta guy living in the USA. The knowledge of this has led to the guy divorcing his wife. Please, stop that untoward attitude if they are true. You were not brought over to carry out such detestable acts. Go for other single women or girls where you feel your wife may not be enough to satisfy your promiscuous sexual desires. I may not have moral justification and time to defend you as I am doing in the case of Nana Darkwah. €œA word to the wise is enough€

Long live Nana Darkwah. Long live the Rawlingses. Long live the truth and may it be known always. Long live all honest, selfless, dedicated and peace loving Ghanaians.

Rockson Adofo

Columnist: Adofo, Rockson