The party indicated that it is even weird that such accusations are coming from a man whose tenure was the most repressive and inhumane in Ghana’s history.
Taking a swipe at the recurring reference to the principle of probity and accountability by Rawlings, the NPP, through a statement signed by its Communications Director, Nana Akomea, asked why Mr. Rawlings indemnified himself against any probe if he does not have anything to hide.
Mr. Rawlings, when he addressed NDC supporters during the recent commemoration of the June 4 coup d’état that brought him to the political limelight, levelled charges against former President John Agyekum Kufuor and the NPP.
He especially accused his successor of stashing state money for his party’s 2012 campaign.
The NPP posed a question to their accuser, an answer to which might never come anytime soon: ‘The question is, how did the NPP win the 2000 elections when Ex-President Rawlings was in power and also in 2004?’
Giving a blow-by-blow response to the charges from the ex-President who has become notorious for making spurious accusations against even members of the party he founded, the NPP punctured holes in the charge that attempts to bring in Gizelle Yajzi proved impossible. The party asked: ‘What is so difficult about bringing one woman to Ghana over a five-year period?’
Rawlings had alleged that the National Security Advisor, Brig General Joseph Nunoo-Mensah, had told him that Gizelle Yajzi was ready to come to Ghana to spill the beans but he did not get approval from his boss. He did not mention who the boss was, at the Kumasi June 4 rally, but had told an NDC delegation that President Atta Mills was preventing the discredited woman from coming.
The NPP rejected the assertions of corruption alluded to President Kufuor and his government by President Rawlings, demanding comparative public auditing of both the Kufuor and Rawlings governments to assess which grew governance of the nation in terms of social and economic performance.
The litany of accusations rehashed over the past years, according to the NPP, included allegations that Kufuor stole gold reserves, ‘all of which have proved to be wild, reckless and irresponsible’.
For the Mills/Mahama administration, the chickens, the NPP observed, have come home to roost, as the President who gleefully accepted and touted the accusations bandied about by Rawlings, has been unable to prosecute anybody.
‘After becoming civilian President from 1993 to 2001, President Rawlings presided over systematic corruption resulting in scandals such as the Mabey and Johnson and GHACEM bribery scandals, the exoneration of ministers found culpable by CHRAJ, the Gwarzo $5million allegations, the non-transparent sale of state properties to NDC members including his wife (Star Hotel, Nsawam Cannery etc), the $600m proceeds from Ashanti Goldfields, fees for his children in expensive schools abroad, the Juliet Cotton $22million scandal and many more,’ the NPP fired at Rawlings.
Ghanaians, the party stated, are the best judges regarding the posers they alluded to.
Ghosts of the numerous victims of Rawlings’ inhumane and repressive regime, the NPP said, are haunting him many years after those dark days, leaving him restless.
By A.R. Gomda
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