Raymond Archer¹S Cowardly Attack On The Rawlingses

I have read with trepidation a series of publications alleging that the

Mills Administration has paid an amount of USD $5 million to former

President Rawlings and his wife.

The Daily Searchlight reported that the Editor of the Enquirer, Raymond

Archer had said on the Saturday April 10 edition of the ³Alhaji and Alhaji²

programme on ³Radio Gold² that though the former First Couple had received

an amount of $5 million dollars from the Mills Administration they had

proceeded to champion the cause of disgruntled foot soldiers who are

accusing the government of not attending to their welfare by way of

employment opportunities.

Mr Archer then proceeded to disassociate himself from the Daily Searchlight

report in widely circulated rebuttals accuse the Searchlight editor of

ŒBigfoot¹ journalism.

Commenting on the issue of foot soldiers agitating against the Mills

administration on the Radio Gold programme Archer did question why those who

had taken $5 million dollars from government had not used that opportunity

to employ some of the aggrieved supporters in their factory.

There is clear inference in the statement by Mr Archer and it is pure

cowardice and indeed ³bigfoot¹ journalism for him to run away from the fact.

Inferences and innuendoes are dangerous areas competent journalists dare not

thread because of the legal minefield they pose and the fact that affected

persons can sue for libel or slander whether their names are mentioned or

not. All that matters is for right-thinking members of the public to

recognise who or what is being referred to.

It is public knowledge that Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings is associated with

Caridem Development Company Limited, which is a minority shareholder in Calf

Cocoa. It is public knowledge that in December 2009 the Attorney General

publicly stated at a press conference that the latter organisation had been

paid monies being a judgement debt awarded by the courts during the previous

administration.

It is also public knowledge that the former First Couple have been critical

of the Mills Administration in as much as its management of party foot

soldiers are concerned.

My investigations indicate that the payment to Calf Cocoa was in lieu of a

ruling by the Accra High Court on March 5, 2008 which ordered the government

of Ghana to pay an amount of USD$ 3,550,000.00 plus accrued interest to Calf

Cocoa following the brazen refusal of the then government to pay an amount

of $1,800,000.00 to Calf Cocoa being the final tranche of a Subsidiary Loan

Agreement (SLA) between Calf Cocoa and the Ghana Government for the

establishment of the Cocoa Factory.

In fact the Attorney-General, Mrs Betty Mould Iddrisu said in a statement of

December 22, 2009 said that: ³That case arose simply because NPP Government

refused to honour a contractual agreement between the Government of Ghana

and Calf Cocoa for the payment of the sum of US$1,800,000.00 as working

capital, after the construction of the cocoa processing factory. When it

became clear, after the exchange of correspondence, that the NPP Government

did not intend to pay the sum, Calf Cocoa took the matter to court.²

According to the judgement the factory was set up to process Ghana¹s raw

cocoa into cocoa oil, cakes and aromatic products. Following the Kufuor

government¹s failure to pay the working capital of USD $1,800,000.00 the

factory¹s machinery deteriorated.

Indeed during the pendency of the case, a witness described the state of the

project as follows:

³The buildings are there, running down, the equipment installed. The

rubbers, the covers etc are getting worn out and there are thefts also. Just

this February the Chinese representative there sent us a message that the

motors had been removed.²

This is a factory that can employ thousands of Ghanaians when it is fully

operational but was prevented from doing so due to political expediency. Now

that efforts are being made to resuscitate it, is it not unfortunate to try

and denigrate the Rawlingses when in fact it is not their personal project,

and even if it was there is no way one can begrudge them for conceiving such

a great idea. I commend 31st December through Caridem for such a good

project.

The judge in her ruling on the matter stated that:

³Value addition to raw cocoa beans has always been on the economic agenda of

this country. The objective of this company is to process Cocoa Beans into

Butter and other value added products. The country has recently commissioned

cocoa processing plants such as Barry Callibaut and Cadbury and Fry in

furtherance of this objective. So why should this project not meet the light

of day? Whose fault is it? What went wrong?

It is clear the loose remarks by Mr Archer were calculated to sow

disaffection for the former First Couple by creating an impression that they

were quietly benefiting from some largesse from government.

I think Raymond Archer¹s should get off his high horse and apologise to the

former First Couple for his irresponsible comments. Why create an impression

that the Mills administration had given a $5 million gift to the Rawlingses

when in fact it was a judgement debt to a company they do not even own? And

he should stop his lame argument about not having mentioned their names. He

should know better.

If the agenda of Raymond Archer and his cohorts and sponsors is to sow

disaffection for the Former First Couple then they have a lot of work to do.

Kufuor did so and failed miserably. So Raymond, gird your loins.

By Kwadwo Amoako

Kwadwo.amoakogh@gmail.com