Ex-President Jerry Rawlings has accused the chairman of the Council of State, Prof Kofi Awoonor of usurping the powers of President J.E.A. Mills.
Worse still, he said the president failed to act on the few occasions his attention was drawn to instances his authority was usurped.
Narrating one of those instances at a public lecture to climax activities of the 29th Anniversary of the 31st December 1981 coup that toppled the Dr. Hilla Limann government, Rawlings said: “He (Mills) wanted to put some efficient person in some organization. When the person went to inspect the place, only to go and discover that somebody had already been put there. Who put him there? Prof Awoonor. That man had done his own appointment without reference to even the president.
“The man comes back and reports it to the president and the president says Prof Awoonor ‘ore haw me’”, to wit, the prof is worrying me.
According to Mr Rawlings, President Mills offered to give the man another appointment “when he should have called Prof Awoonor, give him five seconds to move that your thing out of the office.”
Some other top government officials including the Tsikatas, the Ahwois, the Anyidohos, Ludwigs and the Lampteys – “the one from Chorkor,” were not spared the bashing of Mr. Rawlings.
He said those appointees are “doing their own things” in government and blocking wise counsel from well-meaning supporters of the president.
Mr Rawlings said the president has become so lonely with little or sometimes bad advice from so called counselors.
“The President has become quite lonely” he said, adding one of his (Mills’) former advisors boasted that he had told President Mills not to investigate corruption allegations against officials of the past government.