A former National Democratic Congress (NDC) National Chairman says criticisms of former President Jerry John Rawlings and Martin Amidu by Dr Valerie Sawyer is a good way to build a country.
Dr Obed Asamoah said Ghanaians should be given the opportunity to “speak their minds” on issues irrespective of who is at the centre of those issue.
He said he had, at some point, been critical of the former President and would welcome anyone who will take on leaders of the country for their misdeeds.
Former President Jerry John Rawlings
Dr Sawyer, a deputy Chief of Staff under former President John Mahama, blamed the NDC defeat in the 2016 election to Mr Rawlings and Amidu’s outbursts at the John Mahama led government.
In the article widely circulated, the environmental consultant said the NDC founder sees nothing good in anyone but himself.
“They say he booms [but] I say he buzzes…like an agitated mosquito…looking for his next victim,” she wrote about Mr Rawlings.
Valerie Sawyerr and President John Mahama
Dr Sawyer also vented her anger on former Attorney-General, Martin Amidu, saying his “pomposity, over-bloated ego and sense of self-importance” will lead to his downfall.
“I am not a soothsayer, neither am I a harbinger of gloom and doom…but once again I say to you…this time with a nation full of witnesses…that your Achilles heel will destroy you,” she said.
The former A-G has reacted to the statements made against him by Dr Sawyer. He said the former deputy Chief of Staff authored her article as though she was under the influence of alcohol.
Reacting on the issue, Communication expert, Dr Akofa Segbefia told Emefa Apawu on Joy FM’s Top Story Wednesday, the media banter among NDC stalwarts is needless considering the party has more to do ahead of the 2020 general elections.
“I personally believe in family values and the NDC is considered as a family…so there are ways to deal with the issue,” he said.
But Dr Obed Asamoah said he sent Dr Sawyer a text message, congratulating her for being forthright with Mr Rawlings.
“It is good for the country…people should speak their mind,” the longest serving A-G under Mr Rawlings said.
He downplayed the impact of the exchanges among NDC functionaries on the party. “Why should the division in the party be deepened because someone has spoken her mind?”
Dr Asamoah said many people in the NDC are not happy with the manner the former President criticizes everything in the party.
“Everybody is a crook and he is a saint,” he said of Mr Rawlings.
