Ex-President Jerry John Rawlings
FORMER PRESIDENT Jerry
John Rawlings has stated emphatically that he is not obsessed with political
power as some people perceive him to be.
For instance, he said it
was never his intention to contest the 1996 presidential election on the ticket
of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) but he was forced to do so.
According to him, it was
his grand plan to step aside after serving as a civilian president from 1992 to
1996 for then Speaker of Parliament, Justice D.F. Annan, to lead the NDC to the
1996 elections, but his decision was rejected.
He explained that after
his long stay in political office, it was possible that the NDC and himself would
not continue to enjoy the goodwill from the people, hence his decision to step
aside.
Addressing the National
Cadres Conference at Ejisu last week, the former
President said the NDC would have been in political office for about 16 years
running had his decision to step down worked.
“Going into the 1996 general
elections, I suspected that the people (electorate) would be bored with me and
that would affect the fortunes of the NDC in future elections. In this regard,
I suggested that I should step aside during the 1996 elections to allow Justice
Annan rather to be the NDC presidential candidate in the interest of the NDC,”
he claimed.
“I suggested that strategy
because I realised that naturally the people would be tired of me but you know
black men; they refused to accept my positive idea. The NDC members did not
understand my point so they rejected my plan to step aside and insisted that I
should contest the presidency again. Ideally, my idea was that people would
become bored with me so if I allow Justice Annan to go for eight years then I
can come and finish my last four years,” he said.
Mr. Rawlings said if he
was power drunk or obsessed with power, there was no way that he would suggest to
step aside for Justice Annan to lead the NDC in 1996.
The programme was used by the National Cadres to make thorough assessment about their group and the NDC for the 2020 presidential election.
FROM I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi
