Press statement from friends of the Rawlingses

STOP BLAMING FORMER PRESIDENT RAWLINGS FOR NDC ELECTORAL DEFEAT.

We the friends of the Rawlingses have monitored with shock the avalanche of comments and utterances coming from members of our party explaining and putting blame upon blame on our party founder, His Excellency Jerry John Rawlings for causing our defeat in the just ended elections.

We wish to caution such shallow-thinking personalities in the party who lorded their positions over the ordinary supporters of the party and showed extreme disrespect to the founder to desist from casting further abuse at him.

The founder's only crime was to state the obvious, that the party was copying the NPP's corrupt tendencies and campaigning on the same level as the NPP. Instead of selling the ideals of the NDC during the four-year period, we rather left the party in the hands of a few who decided to feed fat and do little to enhance the quality of life of the ordinary Ghanaian.

After the embarrassing electoral loss on December 7, 2016 many silent voices in the past have are also suddenly clamouring for the reuniting of former President Rawlings and the leadership of the NDC.

The feigned zeal and alacrity with which this "fake" reconciliation is being pursued is what baffles us most and by extension exposes the lust, greed and anger in the NDC.

We all know the magic former President Rawlings can do to resuscitate the sunken spirits of grassroot supporters of the NDC who have been disenchanted by the leadership ineptitude and administrative somersault in the President Mahama government, precipitated by the repudiation of the fundamental principles on which the party was embedded.

But in all sincerity, is that really necessary? We were shocked to bone a few days to the general election when we heard the wide mouthed NDC General Secretary Asiedu Nketia on some radio stations suddenly saying Former President Rawlings is old and can't campaign, when in actual fact no hand was extended to him to campaign.

Surprisingly, when the hopes of many in the NDC remained a mirage almost years down the lane of power these people did not see anything wrong with it. When things changed drastically, giving credence to the political thought that "power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely", these people did not see anything wrong with it! When individual characters changed and the "values" of the party also changed dramatically from "all men are equal" to "the fewer the merrier", these people did not see anything wrong with it! When majority of our gallant men who gambled with their lives and exposed their families to precarious circumstances just to bring the NDC back to power were treated as outcasts and "persona non-grata" and avoided in all circles of power these people did not see anything wrong with it! When very "few" people were enjoying the power "many" laboured for while the rest of Ghanaians were starving, these people did not see anything wrong with it!

The "Greedy Bastards" seem to have forgotten the core promises and covenants the NDC made to Ghanaians and the foot soldiers of our party during our campaigns in the 2008 and 2012 elections.

These sacrifices of the foot soldiers were fueled and motivated by the bedrock on which the NDC was built on; Probity and Accountability and the party's conventional values that "all men are equal" and would be treated as such in the distribution of "fortunes of power".

When, did the likes of Ade Coker and his connoisseurs in government realize the need to accord former President Jerry John Rawlings the respect he deserves as the founder of the NDC party?

"Lead us not to temptation" is always a wiser prayer in politics than "deliver us from evil". President Mahama and the NDC leadership had spurned numerous chances and time offered them to restore peace and harmony in the NDC. The acts and omissions of some party leaders and government officials clearly pointed to a well-orchestrated political agenda to intimidate, humiliate and vilify former President Jerry John Rawlings and as well impugn his credibility and relevance in the NDC. They demonized the iconic figure in the party whose individual efforts and instrumentality won late President Mills and President Mahama the power that clouded their consciousness like a drug and caused them to rubbish the cardinal principles of probity and accountability. Now that the power is out of our hands, we shall see. President Mahama and his "boot lickers" obviously misconstrued the insistence of former President Jerry John Rawlings on the need to respect these values on whose track record the NDC rode to power.

The "true" party loyalists whose competence and contributions could undoubtedly propel the "Better Ghana Agenda" were sidelined by the "greedy bastards" who hijacked the government machinery and party structures to satisfy their own parochial interests and those of their cronies.

Regrettably, President Mahama succumbed to the whims of those greedy people against the persistent outcry and condemnation of the party's founder Jerry John Rawlings and party foot soldiers. Arrogance, mediocrity, anger and worst of all massive corruption which the NDC are now the bane of this government that was supposed to be executing a "Better Ghana Agenda". That is not to suggest that all in the current cabinet are incompetent. The NDC still has more competent and experienced men who excelled in various portfolios and it is about time the party made use of them if any hope of winning the next general elections is harboured.

All is not lost anyway, but if well meaning NDC party faithful can take swift measures to reconcile with the NDC founder and the aggrieved party footsoldiers and restructure the party and work diligently to restore the dwindling fortunes of the party ahead of 2020 we can be very sure of returning to power.

The party and certain individuals who made unguided comments must also apologise to the former first couple for all the insults and ridicule they have suffered from party and government officials in the past and by extension harness both experience and criticisms of former President Rawlings to save the NDC from defeat in 2020.

Ibrahim Hardi,convener/spokesperson,contact 0208235615,email;bigkolaaya@yahoo.com