Can They Reconcile After Sunyani?

Jerry Rawlings and Prof. Mills

“Reconciliation is like a galloping horse. You either jump on it when it stops by your gate or it will gallop away to return no more”. Yasser Arafat at the Camp David meeting with Anwar Sadat of Egypt

There was a consensus in the NDC that no one should challenge then Chairman Rawlings for the NDC flagbearership race in1992. It was decided that having ruled the nation for 11 years, he was the most marketed candidate and as such there was no need contesting him in anyway. All agreed that his charisma, coupled with his no nonsense behaviour, would give him an edge over any opponent, particularly the late Professor Adu Boahen who had a thick skin and who also was fearless. They also believed that with the military, particularly the Commandos solidly behind Rawlings, it would be suicidal for the party to drop him for another candidate.

In 1996, Rawlings had added another four years to his rule, making him the longest serving head of state since the country had her independence. Even though there were some people in the party who wanted to contest him, they were not bold enough. They dared not pop up their heads because Rawlings made them what they were. Who born dog. Rawlings eventually went unopposed. After ruling for yet another four years, Rawlings was still youthful and still wanted more power but sadly the constitution barred him from staying in power beyond his eight –year term. That is why he is still restive and kicking.

Instead of allowing the constitution of the NDC to work as far as the election of a flag-bearer is concerned, Rawlings bulldozed his way and raised the hand of Professor Mills at Swedru to tell the world that it was Mills who should come after him. That Swedru Declaration culminated in the NDC losing power in 2000. When he made that declaration, the crowd roared:  “Onim dea oye ma yen” (He knows what is good for us). Unknown to Rawlings and those sycophants who were singing his praises, there were some people in the party who did not side with him. Rawlings listened to choruses and the concomitant noise at the rally ground and wrongly believed that everybody supported him. He backfired. Before the sun could set that day, Goddie Tando, Kyerekyie Poku, Sam Gariba and host of the cadres rebelled and defected to form the Reform Party. That was where the chips started to fall. In fact, that was where the chickens came home to roost.

Since a divided army cannot win any battle, the NDC lost to the NPP who were united, strong, vibrant and ready to come to power. In 2004, Rawlings made sure that Mills got the shot even though many NDC supporters had other choices. Mills was pushed into the ring, only to be bruised again. After the defeat, we all saw an old professor growing sick and weak. Even though some of us were not medical officers, we could easily see how weak the professor was and warned against his third slot at the presidency. It was not for nothing that text messages were sent around, warning members of the party against pushing in the seemingly sick professor one more time. No wonder after being sworn in as the president of the nation, his mentor always referred to him as Atta Go Slow or Atta Konongo Kaya. How do you expect a sick president to go fast?

Enter 2008 and the same old professor again reared his head to run for the presidency with the full support of his mentor.  Spio Garbra (Super Gariba) also flew in from his base abroad to challenge the professor. Once again, Rawlings subtly made sure professor Mills got the nod at the congress, to the displeasure of Spio, who was misled into thinking that he (Spio) had the support of Rawlings. At the end of the day, the professor won handsomely and started junketing across the globe in search of sponsors to run his campaign and also to seek cure, from China to South Africa, for his multiple ailments. Then he flew to Nigeria to seek spiritual healing from Prophet Joshua. From Nigeria, he plunged into a serious campaign with serious lies and promises that he genuinely knew he could not fulfil, like the one-term insurance premium he promised Ghanaians.

Supported by master liars like Fiifi Kwetey, Okudjato Ablakwa, Ama Benyiwa Doe and Asiedu Nketia, the 18^th thief, Ghanaians were fed with nothing but lies and character assassination.

If today Mills and his GAME boys and girls are ruthlessly taking on Rawlings and his wife, it should be an eye opener for everybody. Rawlings brought a young lion to his house and fed it to become a grown-up lion that is now roaring, snarling and threatening to devour the man who fed it.

Today, people who could not look into the protruding eyes of Rawlings are now treating him with disdain. This is how the world is. Today, Mills, who was literally picked from the Ivory Tower to become the Vice President of God’s own country, has the money, the power, the honour and the glory and so he has unchained his men to attack the man who made him what he is today. The multi-million dollar question is, if Nana Konadu had not decided to run for the flagbearership position, would they have unleashed these terrorists to unduly attack Rawlings?

A man put his nose on the grindstone to launch a bloody coup d’état and thereafter formed his own party to contest an election, which he won. When his wife, who played a meaningful role in the formation of the party, decided to contest the flagbearership position, hell broke loose. The truth is that those who are attacking Rawlings are protecting their jobs. They know very well that with Nana Konadu at the helm of affairs, their jobs would be threatened.

They are desperately working hard to push Rawlings out of the