…Describes party as undemocratic
Posted: The Chronicle Tuesday, April 28, 2009
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
Former President Jerry John Rawlings has launched a scathing attack on the credibility of the erstwhile New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration. He finds it extremely difficult to understand why members of the NPP so much pride themselves as being democratic, since according to him, “contrary to the assertion that their tradition was truly democratic, the NPP government was an excellent example of an undemocratic regime.” According to him, “once you belonged to the party you did no wrong.” 
The former President made these remarks at a public lecture organised as part of activities marking the 10th anniversary celebrations of the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi, over the weekend. The lecture was under the theme -'Ghana's democracy; the way forward'. According to Rawlings, during the reign of the NPP government every effort was made to obliterate the legacy of the P/NDC regimes, which he superintended over, “the institutions of government were so politicised that even when they took decisions against government officials, such decisions were disregarded with impunity.” He therefore noted that under the reign of the NPP, Ghana once again sunk into what he described as a democracy of nepotism, non- accountability, power to the rich and a complete disregard for the feelings of the electorate. “More dangerous was the abuse of the security services structure, the hounding and persecution of some service personnel, refusal to follow laid down promotion procedure and a complete politicisation of the military”, he noted, stressing that the NPP could not co-exist with Institutions with integrity. Under the NPP, Mr. Rawlings said “the security services were not spared and the judiciary took a serious beating as well.” “Seeing shadows and recognising the fact that some of us were aware of the deepening crises in the barracks, a blanket ban was placed on respectable senior officers not to visit military installations, including the police and military hospitals”, he said. Fortunately, he said “Ghanaians knew better and did not hesitate to vote out the NPP when it mattered most, despite the clear doctoring of figures and tinkering that took place in a desperate bid to stay in power.” Whilst noting that many people were quick to point fingers at his party, the NDC, for being intolerant and threatening mayhem if it lost in the 2008 general elections, the former President noted that “the general populace was privy to the fraud that was taking place and a refusal to allow that to persist meant threats of a state of emergency and a culture of fear designed to compel the electoral commission to announce the NPP as the winner.” He therefore asked rhetorically -”what was a better recipe for chaos than this? Why did the NPP decline to go to Tain by citing security concerns when the Commander-in- Chief was the sitting (NPP) President?” In answering himself, he emphasised that “the soldiers and police were not discriminating in their search of persons entering Tain. Snipers who were entering the town with murderous plans were stopped and arrested. The fraud that had taken place elsewhere including Ashanti was arrested and NPP stared defeat in the face.” For him, therefore, “the NPP took us to the abyss as far as democracy was concerned and such methods do nothing to deepen or entrench democracy. It allows for chaos, lack of confidence in the electoral process and political apathy.”
The former President made these remarks at a public lecture organised as part of activities marking the 10th anniversary celebrations of the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi, over the weekend. The lecture was under the theme -'Ghana's democracy; the way forward'. According to Rawlings, during the reign of the NPP government every effort was made to obliterate the legacy of the P/NDC regimes, which he superintended over, “the institutions of government were so politicised that even when they took decisions against government officials, such decisions were disregarded with impunity.” He therefore noted that under the reign of the NPP, Ghana once again sunk into what he described as a democracy of nepotism, non- accountability, power to the rich and a complete disregard for the feelings of the electorate. “More dangerous was the abuse of the security services structure, the hounding and persecution of some service personnel, refusal to follow laid down promotion procedure and a complete politicisation of the military”, he noted, stressing that the NPP could not co-exist with Institutions with integrity. Under the NPP, Mr. Rawlings said “the security services were not spared and the judiciary took a serious beating as well.” “Seeing shadows and recognising the fact that some of us were aware of the deepening crises in the barracks, a blanket ban was placed on respectable senior officers not to visit military installations, including the police and military hospitals”, he said. Fortunately, he said “Ghanaians knew better and did not hesitate to vote out the NPP when it mattered most, despite the clear doctoring of figures and tinkering that took place in a desperate bid to stay in power.” Whilst noting that many people were quick to point fingers at his party, the NDC, for being intolerant and threatening mayhem if it lost in the 2008 general elections, the former President noted that “the general populace was privy to the fraud that was taking place and a refusal to allow that to persist meant threats of a state of emergency and a culture of fear designed to compel the electoral commission to announce the NPP as the winner.” He therefore asked rhetorically -”what was a better recipe for chaos than this? Why did the NPP decline to go to Tain by citing security concerns when the Commander-in- Chief was the sitting (NPP) President?” In answering himself, he emphasised that “the soldiers and police were not discriminating in their search of persons entering Tain. Snipers who were entering the town with murderous plans were stopped and arrested. The fraud that had taken place elsewhere including Ashanti was arrested and NPP stared defeat in the face.” For him, therefore, “the NPP took us to the abyss as far as democracy was concerned and such methods do nothing to deepen or entrench democracy. It allows for chaos, lack of confidence in the electoral process and political apathy.”
No comments:
Post a Comment