Incompetent Valerie Sawyer evidence of Mahama’s lack of vision – NDC group

A pressure group affiliated to the opposition National Democratic Congress, NDC Action Movement, has descended heavily on party stalwart Valerie Sawyer, for expressing what they believed to be disparaging remarks about the founder of the party J J Rawlings and his commemoration of the June 4 uprising, ABC News Ghana can report.

The group insists that the position of the former Senior Chief Advisor under the Mahama administration is hypocritical and an attempt to put into disrepute the principles the NDC party was built on.

In an article published on Monday, Valerie Sawyer condemned the anniversary celebration of the June 4, 1979 coup by former President Rawlings suggesting it is insensitive to the families of those who were innocently killed.

She expressed in the said article that contrary to the notion that there were some gains made from the coup that overthrew the Supreme Military Council II led by General Akuffo, the party and nation have never witnessed anything worthy of commendation emanating from the coup.

“I know I will receive a barrage of attacks for saying this – but anytime I hear June 4, 1979, or December 31, 1981, I cringe. Usually, when these dates come up, I simply attend to other things to distract myself because I find it difficult to relive the killings of those days.”

“Young men and women of Ghana, listen to me please! There was nothing glorious about JJ’s revolution. Those who lived in those times can assure you. You do not need a coup d’état to know that you must not be corrupt. You do not need a coup d’état to know that probity and accountability must be upheld. It is in our Constitution,” she disclosed in her article titled, “Goliath, David is coming.”

These remarks seemed to have incurred the wrath of a section of the party supporters who align with the so-called ideals of the revolution as they accuse her of turning her back on the very foundation she benefitted from.

In a press statement issued on Wednesday by the group, they fumed, “How conveniently self-serving of Valerie Sawyer? Those who have come round to enjoy the booty of the NDC’s struggle and transformation dating back to June 4, 1979 have suddenly forgotten where it came from, when it started and how it started? Today these traitors think Jerry Rawlings and his revolution is no longer relevant to the NDC? We mentioned before that Valerie and her cohorts were reaping from where they had never sown and she proves it with her vitriolic pieces which evoke hatred rather than the so-called love for the NDC that she touts.”

The group believes that her uncommitted attitude and tendency to divide the front of the party significantly contributed to the fortunes of the NDC in the 2016 polls when they lost by a humiliating margin.

The group pointed out that individuals like Valerie Sawyer who had the privilege of working closely with Former president Mahama have exhibited gross incompetence.

Failure of Former President Mahama, now the leader of the NDC as they head into the 2020 elections, to boot out from his inner circles, people like Valerie Sawyer only reflects his lack of plan and vision which could spell doom for the NDC in the 2020 elections.

“By Valerie Sawyers’ conduct, it is pretty clear that the current flagbearer and leader of the NDC has no clear plan to prosecute the agenda 2020.

He’s not ready to unite the rank and file of the party for the bigger agenda.

And in the light of the above, we are by this statement sending a strong signal to president Mahama to show leadership and call his aide- Valerie Sawyer to order or he should forget about 2020 elections.”

“When President Mahama moved to the Flagstaff House in 2012 no space was created for her and she had no official designation. She groveled and begged to be offered some space at all cost because she knew staying at the Castle as some of her unfortunate colleagues suffered, would be the end of her.

President Mahama acquiesced and she was subsequently offered some useless role as Senior Policy Advisor to stay in the Presidency. Her incompetence and that of others contributed to the naked emperor taking us to the most disgraceful electoral loss in the history of this country.”

The NDC Action Group defended the June 4 coup d’etat and all other coups organized by the forebears of the NDC insisting that their actions were necessary to instill the tenets of probity and accountability.



They admitted that innocent lives were lost but justified that those were excesses of the overthrow which must not be made to overshadow the essence of the coup and what it achieved.

They also questioned Valerie Sawyer’s locus to attack the party in such manner since her father was a key figure in the planning and execution of the June 4 revolution.

“We need the commemoration of June 4th now than ever before to remind our present leaders of what can become of them if they keep engaging in corruption. No one is proud that lives were lost, and the leaders of these two events recognised that there were excesses. We do NOT want to experience this side of our history, but the circumstances that led to these events should rather guide us in our present and future situations. But it’s not to demonise and condemn the leaders, there were gains which we continue to enjoy today too.”

“Indeed Valerie father – Harry Sawyer must be turning in his grave at the vicious manner she is denigrating the very ideals which he defended with his life till he passed in 2013. Her dad is on record as having urged General Kutu Akyeampong to step down on more than one occasion. He was involved in 1979 and 1981 Revolution. What does she have to say about that? Is she denigrating her father’s legacy? As a so-called academic it’s amazing she is so blinded by the Rawlings name she has forgotten the name Sawyer played an integral part in that legacy. Valerie should not assume some extraordinary intelligence brought her into office as Deputy Chief of Staff. She was appointed simply because of her dad’s dedication to the cause.”