<\/p>\n
President Jerry Rawlings was so close and yet so far from launching a rare attack on the NPP government led by President Akufo-Addo.<\/p>\n
As a King Cobra props itself for a deadly strike, Rawlings prefaced what looked like an imminent attack at the New Patriotic Party (NPP).<\/p>\n
The NDC founder said although the first NPP government led by President John Kufuor [from 2001 – 2008] is not as corrupt as this second version led by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.<\/p>\n
“I know what is going on. I know some of the things they are running into,” the former president hinted at possible wrongdoing within the NPP.<\/p>\n
And then……he\u00a0 mumbled off a few words to frustrate a hot line-up of sentences waiting to roll off.<\/p>\n
“No,no,no…next time”, the president bit his lip as the crowd laughed at a timely screeching of the wheels before crashing into the NPP political machinery.<\/p>\n
Nonetheless, Rawlings made it pretty clear, the NDC has a responsibility to hold its arch rival, NPP, to account. It is a duty which it must not shelve, he suggested.<\/p>\n
“Is it because this NPP government is not behaving like Kufuor did in his time so we think we are okay?”<\/p>\n
The President was also clear that to do this work of accountability, the NDC must remove the log in its eyes to gain public credibility.<\/p>\n
How big is this log, you may ask.<\/p>\n
After more than six years of criticising the past two leaders of the NDC for failing to fight corruption, it is safe to say this log could be pretty big.<\/p>\n
Former President Rawlings and the 2016 NPP presidential candidate Akufo-Addo struck an unsual friendship in public with the two seen cosying up towards each other.<\/p>\n
Rawlings has described Ghana’s new leader as a divine intervention to fight deep-rooted corruption.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople think I like that man to high heavens. No, but I respect him for certain principles and values and I will continue to pray and I sincerely hope that he stays the track and devote possibly over 30 per cent of his time to fight corruption and corruptible tendencies\u201d, he said last Febuary.<\/p>\n
The friendship began before the 2012 elections after Jerry Rawlings fall-out with the NDC become an open secret. Akufo-Addo visited before that election which he lost and visited again after 2016 election which he won.<\/p>\n
Akufo-Addo paid the visit to Rawling on December 27 2016 to say ‘thank you’\u00a0 some two weeks and odd days after he won the presidential elections.<\/p>\n
Needless to say, the NDC has found this patch-up political pact, unsettling.<\/p>\n
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