With the December 7, 2020 general elections drawing close, politicians, especially those from the National Democratic Congress (NDC), are working very hard to promote their flagbearer, former President John Dramani Mahama, for victory at the polls, with Prof. Kwamena Ahwoi, a former Local Government Minister in the Jerry John Rawlings administration, dropping what can only be described as a ‘double barrelled salvo’.
In a book he authored, titled ‘Working with Rawlings,’ and yet to be launched, the former Local Government Minister dropped information, which many see as derogatory, about former President Rawlings, while others believe the timing is wrong and detrimental to the fortunes of the NDC flagbearer in the upcoming general elections.
Pages 198 to 209 of the book, according to Prof. Ahwoi, dwelt on an incident that happened between the NDC Founder, Jerry John Rawlings, and a member of the party’s Elections Committee at the time, Bede Ziedeng, in which the former President is alleged to have held his testicles and squeezed them.
According to the book, the NDC went to congress in 2002 to elect one of two candidates, Dr. Obed Asamoah and Alhaji Mahama Idrissu, for the position of National Chairman of the party.
Mr. Rawlings, at the time was an ardent supporter of the then candidate, Prof John Evans Atta Mills, while Prof. Awhoi, in his book, described Bede Ziedeng as “a rabid Obed Asamoah supporter, and by extension, an anti-Mills person.”
The book stated; “On the congress day, Bede and the other party members formed a human chain on the two sides of the entrance to the Congress Hall to provide a kind of protection to the VVIPs as they entered.
“As Bede tells it, when Rawlings and his entourage got to the entrance and the crowd surged forward to acknowledge their hero, Rawlings got hold of his testicles and squeezed them hard, so hard that he believes he fainted.
“When he recovered, he was outside the Congress Hall and people were fanning him.”
Prof. Awhoi said he confronted the former President on the matter, but he laughed over it, stating “I should have squeezed them harder.”
The book also explained a term, ‘greedy bastards’ which was coined by former President Rawlings that referred to some government appointees, he (Mr. Rawlings) wanted out of government if the party should win the 2012 general elections.
The appointees included Prof Ahwoi, former National Security Advisor Captain Kojo Tsikata (rtd), former Chairman of the National Development Planning Commission P.V. Obeng, Prof. Ahwoi’s brother, Ato Ahwoi, former Finance Minister Kwame Peprah, and former Information Minister Kofi Totobi-Quakyi.
The book further described how Mr. Rawlings’ incessant attacks on Prof Atta Mills of blessed memory nearly made him resign as President of the Republic.
Prof. Mills is quoted as saying: “I can’t take it anymore, so I have decided to resign as President.”
Continuing, the book stated: “President Mills asked me (called him on phone) whether I had heard the things Rawlings had said about him to the smaller group of NDC loyalists that he had met in Tamale after the congress.”
According to the book: “It took the intervention of Captain Kojo Tsikata (rtd) and Kofi Totobi-Quakyi to convince Prof Atta Mills to change his mind,” adding that they agreed to use younger members of the party to respond to Mr. Rawlings any time he attacked President Mills.
“Any time former President Rawlings attacked or insulted President Mills publicly, one of the younger members of the party would take him on publicly, not with insults, but logic,” and once again Mr. Rawlings referred to them as “babies with sharp teeth,” it noted.
Prof Ahwoi also revealed how the NDC founder wanted his senior brother, Ato Ahwoi to contest Prof. Atta Mills, in the party’s flagbearer race in 2006, stated that Mr. Rawlings had argued that the move was in the best interests of the NDC.
“Jerry Rawlings invited Ato to his Ridge residence and prevailed on him to contest the presidential primaries against Prof. Mills. Ato says he was astounded, because Jerry knew his relationship with Prof. Mills, and also knew the role that he had played in 1996 in convincing Prof. Mills to agree to become his running mate,” the book explained.
Nonetheless, Dan Abodakpi, Chairman of the Volta Regional Council of Elders of the NDC, has taken a swipe at his friend and colleague, saying; “I am convinced that this is a perilous, ill-timed submission at this point in our party’s history. It is, in fact, in several instances, a factually wrong and dangerous aberration likely to create tensions in and out. Is the objective of this enterprise to destroy President Rawlings political legacy? If so, then I can tell my brother and my friend that he is simply wasting his time.”
Mr. Abodakpi continued: “Again, I question the motive of the author in twisting the facts to denigrate the person of the Founder of the party he claims to love.
“President Jerry John Rawlings may not be a ‘plaster Saint’, but he certainly does not deserve this from people like Prof. Kwamena Ahwoi, who, quite frankly, were gifted the privilege to participate in building on the foundation of sacrifice established by the Founder,” he noted.
Meanwhile, former President Rawlings has declared that he would soon deal with the likes of Prof Kwamena Ahwoi, whose intention is to dent his hard won reputation and that of the NDC.
In a Facebook post Monday, Mr. Rawlings noted; “Much as I find it tiring and tedious to be engaging in self defence when I have given my all, all these years, I will soon deal with the callous agenda of bile by the likes of Kwamena Ahwoi, who are desperately seeking control of the NDC party.”
By Richard Kofi Attenkah
The post AHWOI FIRES DOUBLE BARREL … Disrobes Rawlings, bad timing for Mahama appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
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