The persona Jerry Rawlings remains a foreboding enigma – a politician
of mystery, full of melancholy, contrasts and paradoxes. The exact
definitions were ascribed to Africa by B.N. Ayitey in the introductory
chapters of his book, “Africa Betrayed”. Like the title of that book,
I'm sure some elements within our body politic would want to paint a
similar picture of betrayal between Jerry Rawlings and his beloved
N.D.C. Well, we can leave that episode for later, what attracts the nib
of my pen now, is the foggy political character of the retired flight
lieutenant born to Madam Victoria Agbotui and the Scottish Chemist on
the 22nd July, 1947.
Mischievous as it may seem, history has a way
of knocking certain characters into our heads to the extent that
denying those means denying our heads. Whoever tells the political
history of Ghana and denies Chairman Rawlings of his place has denied
the relevance of his story. I'm told that on 15th May 1979, he and a
group of junior officers in the Ghana Air Force attempted a mutiny
against the regime of Fred Akuffowhich resulted in their arrest and
imprisonment. However, Rawlings shot to fame with the June 4th 1979 coup
that ousted the Supreme Military Council and introduced the AFRC which
he led as Chairman. Since then, the fair faced gentleman kept stealing
the show in the concert of Ghanaian politics. He's had his high points;
the days when he was likened to Jesus, the days when he was the most
handsome man in Ghana, the days when octogenarians died of heart attack
at the sight of him, the days when J.J was on the lips of toddlers, and
mothers; with dangling breasts would ran to catch a glimpse of the man
of the moment. Indeed, my fondest memory of him was in 1997 when as a
kid in my hometown, our first public health centre was being
inaugurated. Though my little cousin was the one chosen to present the
bouquet of flowers to the president, as was the culture at the time, I
was happy that I was made to stand somewhere I could possibly take a
good view of the man. Trust me, “I saw the man”. He beamed with so much
energy and charisma that infested me with pride to have him as
President. I'm not sure of now, but I can't deny that I ever admired the
man.
A few years down the line, as Africa kept faith with multi-
party democracy, the grandeur surrounding the personality of Papa J was
still pervasive in any public account of the Ghanaian political
trajectory. He is a man ever loved by Ghana; and most dearly, by the
political party brought forth under his midwifery, the NDC. I've never
seen a founder whose qualities were ever flaunted in people's faces than
the NDC did to Rawlings. More so, he has been the salt of their
electioneering campaigns over the years. I'm sure there were times when
my friends in the Danquah Busia fraternity wished their ideological
pacesetters had stayed alive a bit longer. History somersaults; today,
Rawlings has become a fever in the blood. In recent times, discussions
have been held to quantify how much relevance he still has, left in
Ghanaian politics. As the pundits keep throwing their opinions in our
faces, the vapour in my head and that of several other Ghanaians keeps
condensing too many questions especially about the means and ways of the
man, J.J Rawlings. I' m left with no other description of him than to
call him a mystery. He acts in ways we don't understand. Even Jesus'
parables most of the time were explained. Let's try to research him in
the following expose.
First and foremost, the coup of 31stDecember
1981 is one that has often generated controversy in the market place of
historical analyses of events in our politics. There are many who think
that Rawlings' second coup was needless and as a matter of fact based
on his own reflexes. Perhaps it was meant to merely demonstrate the
machismo of the coup maker in him. People tend to find more justice in
the 1979 coup because the AFRC, under the chairmanship of Rawlings,
carried out a much wider "house-cleaning exercise" aimed at purging the
armed forces and society at large of corruption and graft as well as
restoring a sense of moral responsibility and accountability in public
life to the pride of many Ghanaians. Rawlings was even disciplined
enough to follow a program already set in motion before the June 4
uprising, to organize free general elections hence handing over power to
a civilian government led by the People's National Party (PNP), under
President Hilla Limann on 24th September, 1979. Now though it's admitted
that a few things went wrong under the Limann regime, I think that
toppling a civilian government after two years of handing over power to
him was an expression of Rawlings' own personal disagreement with
himself the beginning of his foreboding enigma. No wonder, the likes of
Boakye Gyan have made comments purporting to register that the 1981 coup
was a betrayal of the principles that guided the 1979 coup.
Subsequently,
life under the PNDC and later NDC on whose banner the guiding
principles of probity, accountability and social justice was indelibly
imprinted, supposedly hasn't been the pleasure of many Ghanaians. Like
every life under a military leader, the PNDC regime recorded a litany of
social injustices and repugnant suppression of civil liberties.
Rawlings cannot claim to have lived his utopian dream of creating a much
better and socially equal life for all Ghanaians under his military
dictatorship and subsequent civilian rule. There were rots under PNDC
and NDC, the wrath of several Ghanaians were incurred, there was no
piety in public life; at least the secretaries under PNDC have not
claimed so. Today, the fight of corruption in public life is still on
and though it's not my place to judge whether the Rawlings' principle of
probity and accountability has been a fiasco or not, I can say with all
the emphasis I command that the verdict is unpleasant and sometimes
indicting on the personality of Rawlings. More especially, the
allegations of corruption and wanton misuse of the public purse leveled
against this current government is a contrast to the principles ever
espoused by the sole founder on whose vision and ideals the NDC was
formed - The blood and soul of Jerry Rawlings in a contrast. Now, let's
see what has happened in recent times.
Today in Ghana, history is
being recorded; the only living founder of a political party in
government might face an expulsion from the party in whose constitution
his visions and ideals has been reiterated in ink. Whoever said that the
bath blood between Jerry Rawlings and the NDC might get to this
crescendo, could have suffered under the paralysis of the NDC's curse.
Well, we all know where it started. The protég of Rawlings, whom he
declared as his beloved successor at the famous Swedru declaration came
under the wildest of attacks after he took over as President of this
country. There is no need repeating some of the earlier descriptions,
but trust me, the late Prof. Mills and his appointees suffered in the
hands of the man believed to be his mentor and founder of the party he
was leading. It was that bad that when tempers flared; the founder and
coup scholar was reduced to a mere “barking dog”. Even the babies in
government had some unkind words for him because Rawlings became a
bullet in the flesh of almost everybody in the NDC except his wife and
Kofi Adams. The next dramatic angle was when Rawlings contested the
sitting president for the flagbearership position of the party through
the mischief of his wife. The events of recent times have left the
Rawlings even more vulnerable. More prominently is the birth of a new
baby whose paternity he might not have to deny. The National Democratic
Party, believed to be a bi-product of the incessant displeasure
registered by the Rawlings cult within the NDC, as some have suggested,
is meant to annihilate the NDC into total damnation. My head aches at
the thought of how a man plots to destroy his 20 year old son by giving
birth or adopting a new crippled son. Oh yes, let the facts be told, the
NDP is crippled at birth and history would tell us why. There has been a
betrayal in the NDC, and it's a mystery to think that the Rawlings has
betrayed the NDC – The remnants or deterioration of his own principles.
So
as we go into the election in a few months time, A few questions keep
begging for answers: How relevant would the Rawlings factor be in the
politics of our time especially within the NDC after the elections? What
are the constituent particles of the personality of Rawlings that he
keeps bringing us surprises? Is he a man of stern and rigorous
commitment to his principles? Rawlings keeps calling people with names
nobody ever knew they had, he keeps showing up at rallies he is least
expected, he keeps meeting his perceived arch enemies, he keeps showing
the NDC the red card yet on another breath believes Mahama has brought
some spark of hope to the NDC . Rawlings is a research problem and a
phenomenon that can cease your breath today and bring you life tomorrow.
His outbursts sometimes can be a scar on the mind. Jerry Rawlings might
be extinct someday but until he does, the tumour he leaves on the skin
of Ghanaian politics is an enigma that can set the brain on fire My
reflections.
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