Traumatised Rawlings turns to God

NAKED I CAME, NAKED I WILL GO
… As fire consumes all his belongings in a dawn disaster
Posted: The Chronicle |Monday, February 15, 2009

By Charles Takyi-Boadu & Bismark Bebli

Former President Jerry John Rawlings yesterday made one of the most touching and emotional statements in his life, after fire razed down his Ridge residence in Accra.
The dejected-looking former president, who had to travel at top speed from Sogakofe in the Volta Region to Accra, told newsmen in a brief interaction: “we came without… and we’ll leave without…”

Though he openly admitted it was a great and painful loss, the former president appreciated the fact that the fire did not claim life of his beloved wife, Nana Konadu, and daughter, Yaa Asantewaa, and other members of the household.

Mr. Rawlings told reporters that he was not at home when the incident happened, and that he was dealing with the “wee situation in the Sogakope area” when he received information about the fire outbreak, and had to rush down. It was however not clear the sort of ‘wee’ situation the former president was talking about.

The Spokesman for the former president, Kofi Adams, said when the fire broke out between the early hours of 4:00-4:20 a.m., the former First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings, and one of their children, Yaa Asantewaa, were in the house.

Though the Assistant Public Relations Officer of the Ghana National Fire Service, Prince Billy Anaglate, was not sure what might have caused the fire, the outbreak is suspected to have been caused by an electrical problem.

The National Security Coordinator, Lt Col Gbevlo Lartey (Rtd), later told The Chronicle they were looking for an alternative house within the same locality to accommodate Mr. Rawlings and his family.

Scores of people from all walks of life, including party activists, ministers of state and the nation’s chief executive, President Mills, were at the house to express their heartfelt sympathies to Mr. Rawlings and his family.

After interacting with President Mills and other influential people in the country, Mr. Rawlings boarded his Toyota Land Cruiser vehicle, in the company of his wife, and drove away to a destination that was not made known to the press.

What surprised most of the people gathered at the house, was his decision to personally drive at a time when he was psychologically traumatised. President Mills, who arrived at the scene at around 8.58 a.m., was himself shocked at the incident, and could not comprehend the situation.

In his interaction with the fire officers, President Mills asked them to launch a full-scale investigation into the outbreak, and assess the extent of damage. President Mills was later conducted around the house by the former president, in the company of Sports Administrator Herbert Mensah, Mr. Eddie Annan, and a host of others. After inspecting the extent of damage, President Mills had a brief interaction with the National Security Coordinator and left.

The Greater Accra Regional Police Commander, Rose Bio Atinga, and her men were also there in their numbers.

Some party faithful have started pointing accusing fingers at critics of the former president as those behind his woes. These party faithful, who trooped to Mr. Rawlings’ residence in droves, threatened to deal with his critics.

Meanwhile, the Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo) has denied that the fire that gutted the former president’s house was caused by power fluctuations, and called on the public to wait for the report that would be issued after investigations into the incident.

Below is the full statement.

The Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo) and wishes to inform the public that there was a fire outbreak on one of the disconnect Switches at the Tema Switch yard during this morning’s rainstorm at 1:15 am on Sunday

February 14, 2010.This tripped a line between Tema and Akosombo. The feedback from thesetwo events led to the loss of two units each at the Akosombo and Kpong generating Plants leading to the Tema Terminal Plant going down completely. GRIDCo engineers had to take off all loads to Mallam, Kumasi and Cape Coast to stabilise the GRID system.

This led to loss of power supply to the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).

The system was subsequently stabilized around 10:30 am this morning, Sunday, February 14, 2010, and ECG was requested to restore power to its customers.

GRIDCo and ECG are aware of the unfortunate incident which occurred at the former president’s residence early this morning, Sunday, February 14, 2010 and fully sympathize with the former president and his family.

GRIDCo and ECG however appeal to the public that no conclusions should be drawn until investigations are concluded by the appropriate authorities concerning this unfortunate incident.

As aviation expert petitions gov`t for probe

STORM OVER SALE OF G.A AIRCRAFT
Sale raises more questions than answers -Mike Hammah

Posted: The Chronicle |Friday, February 12, 2010



The report of the official liquidators of Ghana Airways (GA) to the Chairman of the Ghana Airways Assets Disposal Committee of 2007, rescinding its earlier decision to lease one of its aircraft 9G-ANB to the lowest bidder, has sparked a heated controversy in government circles.
This follows a petition sent to the Minister of Transport, Mr. Mike Hammah, by one Duke Odiasempa, an Aviation expert who has an insight into the activities and operations of the defunct national airline, Ghana Airways.

He is asking for a thorough investigation, and review into the circumstances that led to the virtual sale of the aircraft to Messrs. Thameside of the United Kingdom, rather than CSDS Aviation of the United States, which bid the highest.

The sector Minister, Mike Hammah, has duly acknowledged receipt of Mr. Odiasempa’s petition, a copy of which is in the possession of The Chronicle.

He has however declined to make any categorical statement on it, except to say that it was under serious consideration, since “it raises more questions than answers.”

In his petition, Mr. Odiasempa raises questions about the property valuers of the aircraft - Price Waterhouse Coopers (PWC) - and how such a consultant was selected among others to evaluate the bids/bidders.

Officials of Price Waterhouse Coopers are however tight-lipped about their role in the entire liquidation of the airline. An official of the company, Richard Hodasi, yesterday told The Chronicle that the company does not disclose its dealings with their clients to third parties, and for that matter they cannot make any substantive input to the paper’s enquiries.

In the sales agreement of both Thameside and CSDS Aviation, Mr Odiasempa noted that Price Waterhouse Coopers (PWC) deliberately put different clauses in the various agreements to frustrate the highest bidder - CSDS.

According to him, the sales agreement itself was drawn by one of the most expensive legal firms in the UK, Beaumont and Sons Limited, which incidentally were solicitors for Ghana Airways. To him, the contentious clause that was in the sales agreement for Thameside was the aspect which stated: “the buyer of the Ghanaian aircraft shall indemnify the Ghanaian government for 2 years in a sum of $50 million,” asking whether this was done to make it easy for a supposed friend of the seat of government, the Castle, to get purchase the aircraft.

Mr Odiasempa indicated that CSDS Aviation petitioned the then President on the bad business practice on the sale of the aircraft.

He therefore could not comprehend why Price Waterhouse Coopers advised the official liquidator (Registrar General) to cut and ship the aircraft in boxes as scrap metal, when it was bought.

Meanwhile, he said CSDS had arranged for a heavy maintenance programme of the subject aircraft at an engineering base in Belgium to the tune of $4 million.

When the negotiations stalled, he noted, the Minister of Aviation at the time told Parliament that it would be solved in a month, in favour of CSDS Aviation.

Though Ghana Airways was said to be owing Agence pour la Securite de la Navigation Arienne (ASECNA) and Esblissement National de la Navigation Arienna (ENNA) at the time of the liquidation, both companies were said to have not chased Ghana Airways out of business, since according to Mr. Odiasempa, “they only made a claim when they knew Ghana Airways was not going to be in existence anymore.”

He therefore accused Price Waterhouse Coopers, its network, and Ghana missions abroad, of aiding the official liquidator to close the 12 Ghana Airways overseas offices that were still open at the commencement of the liquidation.

“Staff were not notified before the closure of various offices, and any payments made to the staff would amount to deliberately causing financial loss to Ghana as a whole,” he stressed, insisting, “It requires looking into by competent professionals, to ascertain if Price Waterhouse Coopers handled that aspect of issues properly.”

According to the expert, there should not have been any legal suit by the leasing company against the Ghana government and Ghana Airways, noting: “The suit came about as a result of Ghana Airways’ improper husbanding of resources to pay the BCI aircraft.”

Furthermore, Mr. Odiasempa stated that the overall financial summary of Ghana Airways would have to be properly interpreted to get qualified accountants, with the support from some commissioned people by the Minister, to better understand the figures and sale of its assets, saying, “one does not understand why the Ghana Forex Bureau Limited and Ghana Distribution System Limited yielded zero amounts during the liquidation process.”

Also, he indicated: “Price Waterhouse Coopers continued to tell a pack of lies to Ghanaians, and to frighten them that the Italian government was after the blood of Ghana Airways at the time the two DC 10 and others were strangely scrapped, according to the PWC report.”

Up till date, he says, older DC 10s still fly across the globe, including a freighter that flies in and out of Ghana.

“PWC had in effect indicted Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), who are the regulatory authorities in Ghana representing ICAO, so to speak,” and that “Ghana Airways had a poor maintenance record, thus casting a heavy slur on the regulatory body.”

According him, this was ordinarily not true, stressing: “otherwise, GCAA inspectors would let any Ghana Airways aircraft fly.”

He noted that the scrapping of the equipment, especially the DC 10 aircraft, was doubtful, and was therefore calling for proper investigations to unravel the mystery surrounding the whole sale. More anon!

Rawlings rants at Mills again

Posted: The Chronicle |Thursday, February 11, 2010

By Charles Takyi - Boadu

Former President Rawlings went ballistic on Tuesday when he brought the entire Mills administration to question. In his usual self, the former President could not fathom why after several criticisms, President Mills was still not firm in his decisions, and is allowing some of his men, including Ministers and appointees to have a field day.
Addressing a gathering of party foot soldiers and a number of parliamentarians during a reception held at his Ridge residence in Accra, Mr. Rawlings said - “I want Professor Mills to understand that, that seat at the Castle, that throne, I’ve had it before for 18 years. I want NPP (New Patriotic Party) to know, I want everybody to know, I’ve had it for 18 years.”

Furthermore, he said “I had no time to hold it – that you know, I’ve put my foot on it… and it’s like I’m grabbing it, don’t come and take it off me kind of thing. I had no time to even sit on it.”

He added “The way I consolidated my hold over the seat was actually to leave it alone and concentrate on the work that needed to be done…Nobody could touch it because the power was where productivity was – the power was where we were providing water, the power was where we were providing electricity, the power was where we were providing schools, etc, as we were empowering people.”

This was the reason why he said the other day that “the people he surrounded himself with, most of them have worked with me before”, saying “that’s when I said who born dog.”

Mr. Rawlings went bonkers when he said that during his days as President of the Republic, “none of them would dare do the foolish things (they are doing) around him”, asking rhetorically “I’m disciplined and I know Prof is a disciplined man, but why is he not putting his foot down to make sure the nonsense going on around him is brought to a halt? If I could do it why can’t he do it?”

“If he can do that, we will begin to see some change and if they are not changing, he should boot them out. If not, if not, he will go down with them. And if they want to take us with them, I’m afraid we will not go down with them”, he emphasized Mr. Rawlings complained about lots of developments in the party, warning that “ if we continued at this rate for another year, the third year would be difficult, and the fourth year would be very, very difficult.

We’ve lost one precious year; we’ve got one more year to prove that we can turn this thing round.”

One person who incurred the displeasure of Mr. Rawlings was one of Mills’ boys at the Castle, in the person of Ludwig Hlodze, who doubles as a Presidential Staffer and the National Youth Organiser. Mr. Rawlings accused the young and innocent-looking Ludwig of using the services of dispatch riders to go home.

“That Ludwig, who comes home using dispatch riders, look for somebody to film it and give it to Professor Mills and ask him what is Ludwig, that little twitch, what does he need dispatch riders to go home for?”, he asked rhetorically.

According to the former President, Ludwig goes home late in the night in the company of siren-blowing dispatch riders, disturbing and waking people up from their sleep. But the man described by Mr. Rawlings as a ‘little twitch’, Ludwig Hlodze is not the least happy about the former President’s reference to him.

This became glaring when The Chronicle contacted him yesterday for his comments about the allegation leveled against him by the former President. He vehemently denied ever using any motorcade or dispatch riders as Rawlings claimed. Ludwig, however, refused to comment on Rawlings’ reference to him as a ‘little twitch’, choosing to leave the man to his fate.

The former President did spare the sitting President either, asking Prof. Mills to put his house in order before matters get out of hand, before Ghanaians show NDC the exit, come 2012.