Venomous Vipers Around Rawlings

There cannot be a more cruel and evil act than for a group of people who, for parochial reasons, are causing former President Jerry Rawlings to lose his bearing on Ghanaian politics, which is his forte.

Why do we hold this view? Former President Rawlings is being fed with all manner of hogwash, and things being said and done in his name against the very course he has sacrificed his entire political life to establish, by some persons who claim to be champions of his course but are clearly playing their own game around him, unfortunately on his blindside.

There are people who in various ways are benefitting from the so-called rift between the former President and President Mills- and this people are on both sides of the internal politics in NDC. That is why they would continue seeking to muddy the waters in order to permanently establish disaffection, disunity and misunderstanding within the ranks of the party.

This game has been on for a long time. Thank God the cover of the venomous vipers is being blown by their own acts and deeds.

Mr Michael Tei Nyaunu and his ilk have had their way for quite a long time, creating the impression in the eyes of the public that all is not well with the NDC regarding its internal politics and because of that the party does not deserve a second term in government under President Mills’ leadership. Now the cat is out of the bag. Tei Nyaunu and his gang have been exposed for what they stand for- the disunity and strife within the NDC. This, they have done all this while by spewing blatant lies about people and attributing comments derogatory to the former President to innocent people like Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketia.

The Catalyst, had in a past publication exposed the blatant lie passed on to the Daily Guide for publication that the NDC General Secretary had called the former President a barking dog. In that publication, the paper, having watched the entire video clip of the programme where the FONKAR boys claimed Mr Nketia did the unthinkable, made it abundantly clear that he had said nothing like that about the former President.

We pointed out then that the unfortunate tag of ‘barking dog’ being placed on former President Rawlings was the orchestration of FONKAR boys. We still stand by that fact.

It is our hope that in pursuing the truth in this matter, former President will not stop at the statement he caused to be issued to refute the lies of the likes of Tei Nyaunu and his ilk, who we strongly suspect are behind the Daily Guide publication. This is because, if he digs a little further, he will discover some bare truths about some of the ‘men of integrity’ around him.

Former President Rawlings has strong views about the Mills-led NDC government, a rare occurrence in Ghanaian politics where a former President says it as he deems fit about his own party’s government. It will be surprising if the Mills government has not gotten used to this by now. The former President till date believes that the Mills-led NDC government has lost the opportunity to retain power. That is his view. Maybe that is why he would not want to waste his time campaigning for the NDC in the 2012 elections. It is also possible that things would change soon from his perspective and he would regain confidence in the NDC as the party to form the government of this country yet again for the next four years under the leadership of President Mills. We wait and see what happens.

We want to state however that we disagree with the former President, the same way that we disagreed with him prior to the Sunyani congress when he surprisingly felt that President Mills had lost it, only for his wife, who she supported to get a paltry 3.1% of votes cast. We believe that President Mills will win the 2012 elections in the first round of voting and it will be a commanding win over NPP’s Nana Akufo-Addo.

What is unacceptable is for the likes of Tei Nyaunu to continue plotting to subvert the progress of the NDC, in the name of former President Rawlings. Before the 2008 elections, Tei Nyaunu said President Mills was sick and thus could not have won the elections for the NDC. President Mills won and Tei Nyaunu jubilated. Before Sunyani, Tei Nyaunu said President Mills was not the able leader the NDC needed. But after Sunyani, Tei Nyaunu before his defeat at the primaries told Radio Gold’s Samuel Ablordepe in an exclusive interview that President Mills would win the 2012 elections hands down.

After losing the chance to be the NDC parliamentary candidate in the elections, Tei Nyaunu’s music tune changed. He has announced his decision to contest the election as an independent candidate. The NDC has made it clear that all those members who would run as independent candidates would be expelled from the party. We are therefore under the impression that Nyaunu is on his way out of the NDC.

What then is Nyaunu’s interest in the NDC right now?

The Catalyst is also aware that a new party has been formed by some of these elements who are parading themselves as the advocates for Rawlings ‘welfare’ in the NDC. We will not be surprised to see Tei Nyaunu play a leading role in the joke being pushed as a political party, with the sole aim of derailing the NDC’s chances of retaining power in the 2012 elections.

We hope that former President Rawlings will take a decisive action against all the venomous vipers that are poisoning the atmosphere in his name once he discovers their pranks, in order to preserve his legacy- the trust of the masses of the people of Ghana.