I enjoyed Rawlings’ criticisms of Acheampong – Kufuor recounts

Former President John Agyekum Kufuor has said that when he met Jerry John Rawlings for the first time at the residence of Nik Amarteifio, his [Rawlings] conversations were full of criticisms about General Kutu Acheampong’s government, something he enjoyed.

Speaking on Asaase Radio, Sunday, September 9, Kufuor said that Rawlings’ criticisms of Acheampong’s regime sounded like music in his years “because Acheampong had detained me, overthrown the government of which I was a member in 1972, held me in Ussher Fort for one year three months without trial, so anything that went against him, naturally I like.”

This, Kufuor indicated, made his wife confront him and asked why he should be in a political conversation with someone he had just met instead of enjoying the party they came for but he retorted: “the young man [Rawling] is talking sense against Acheampong”.

Rawlings, meanwhile, extended his criticisms to JA Kufuor after the latter won the 2000 presidential election. There were a few attempts while Kufuor was president, to get him and his predecessor to meet at private residences, many of which failed.