Woyome Is A Crass Criminal – Rawlings

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Woyome Is A Crass Criminal – Rawlings

Former President Jerry John Rawlings has described businessman Alfred Agbesi Woyome as a “crass criminal” who was allowed to dupe the country by the Atta Mills-led National Democratic Congress (NDC) government.

According to Mr Rawlings, who until now had been silent over the Woyome issue, the NDC now had no moral right to accuse anybody of being corrupt because the Woyome scandal was enough evidence that they were guiltier of corruption than the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP).

“You have left crass criminals like Woyome and those who supported him in government and you expect to win an election?” he quizzed, adding, “What is your moral stand? I have a right of saying so, that you have lost the moral high ground.”

Mr. Rawlings made the remark in Aflao on Sunday when he addressed hundreds of people during the June 4 rally.

The crowd, who started thronging the Victory Park as early as 8.00am, became thick when Mr Rawlings arrived afterwards.

The enthusiasm and desire to catch a glimpse and if possible touch the former president, made the crowd breach the security barricade to get close to the podium where the speakers addressed them from.

A platform mounted for the media stand was taken over by the crowd, as local and foreign pressmen battled for every inch of space.

When it was Mr. Rawlings’ turn to address the crowd, the chants and screams from the crowd took about 15 to 20 minutes to subside, after the NDC founder pleaded with them.

Mr. Rawlings noted that the Woyome scandal was a clear example of how much the Mills government was engulfed in corrupt practices.

He added that as much as he wished the NDC to retain power, the Woyome scandal, among other instances of graft in the government, would make it impossible.

He quizzed: “What are you going to tell the people of Ghana?” adding that the ruling NDC had become so conceited that it could not hear the voice of the masses.

“To look into the faces of the masses, you are looking into the face of God. If you cannot recognize the face of God, then where lies the saying that the voice of the people is the voice of God? People in government instead of looking at the faces of the people are now looking into their own faces. How conceited have we become?”

Recent Killings

He expressed concern about the resurgence of serial killings in the country. The killings in the country had demonstrated how vulnerable we had become, Rawlings said.

Many killings had taken place in the country, he stated, adding that it took DAILY GUIDE to draw the government’s attention to the phenomenon. ‎”The serial killing of women has started. They have killed about eight people so far…”

He expressed the need to improve security in the country and if possible, get psychic detectives from the US to come and assist in solving the mysteries of the many killings.

“We don’t give a damn about the security of the people. Straight forward investigations will lead to the perpetrators or masterminds behind the deaths. Give suggestions they don’t take. If you cannot work on cases in which the perpetrators have been established such as the murder case in Sogakofe sometime ago…The perpetrators have still not been arrested,” he said.

“In China, I told the prime minister about how the people are suffering in my country because, your Chinese poor people come to my country, see a kiosk, take a picture and in two weeks time they come to retail all sorts of goods to the extent that they are selling coffins at cheaper prices,” he stated.

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Tsikata, Obed Sheep Logo –JJ

The NDC founder defended his wife, Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings over the ownership of the NDC logo, the umbrella with the eagle crest.

According to him, following the acceptance of multi-party democracy about two decades ago, some senior members in the party had suggested a sheep, axe, soap among others for the logo of the NDC.

He mentioned Captain Kojo Tsikata and Dr Obed Asamoah as those who suggested the sheep and he got angry with them over such a suggestion.

“When it was decided we had to go multi-party, I remember that day when we were looking for a logo. I remember my suggestion. A senior citizen suggested a sheep. Tsikata and Obed they suggested the sheep. Those who suggested the sheep, did they have heads at all?”

Mr Rawlings told the mammoth crowd his own suggestion was a fist while others suggested an axe and soap among others.

It would be recalled that some weeks ago, the former first lady, Nana Konadu served the NDC party leadership a letter threatening to take back her logo.

She warned that should the ruling party continue to veer off the ideals that brought about the logo she claimed to have designed, then the party would have to think of getting a new logo for the December elections.

In her defence, Mr Rawlings stressed his wife’s struggle for the party long ago and that “Nana is the one who suggested ‘akatamanso’ (umbrella)”, which he said was immediately rejected by Kwamena Ahwoi, because it could be referred to as ‘okata maa su’ to wit ‘the cover of women’.

Obed, he said, made fun of the suggestion by saying ‘akataporie’ (Alorga Akatapore, a PNDC member now in exile) but he intervened and said the umbrella was a dignified symbol that stood for protection.

At the formation stages, Captain Tsikata, he said, suggested that the NDC, instead of forming a new party, should adopt the Convention People’s Party (CPP), another suggestion that he rejected because the era of Nkrumah had passed and it was a new generation taking its destiny into its own hands.

He said, “The Revolution has come with pride and dignity of its own. We don’t have to destroy it, but it is something that must be created and preserved for this generation.”

He added that Tsikata later told him that the PNDC/NDC was so popular that even if they had used the sheep as an emblem, they would have won the elections hands down.

Rawlings added that Brig Gen Nunoo-Mensah had been begging him to join the campaign to re-elect President Mills, but how could he do that when the government had lost the moral high ground and failed to stem corruption in government.

According to the former president, persons in government had made themselves like the Pope but were doing bad things in the dark.

He noted that June 4 was a gift from God to correct the wrongs and put into effect the right, and expressed gratitude to the security services for their bravery that day “because it gives credence to the national desire”.

He noted that anyone who forgets this past misses his destination, explaining that June 4 gave birth to 31st December and then PNDC and the NDC and wondered why the NDC, which was the great grandson, had decided to deny its parents, deny its past and even wanted to spit on them whenever it had the opportunity.

Dr. Josiah Ayeh, a former General Secretary of the NDC, expressed worry about the influx of persons he described as hypocrites in the Mills administration, saying, “They have all crawled out of the wood work to reap where they had not sown”.

He also mentioned that the merger of the NDC and the DFP had some dire legal implications because it defeated the Political Parties Act which suggests that a new party emerges whenever different parties merge.

Source: Fred Duodu, Aflao