It was only a matter of time before Jerry John Rawlings said something.
This week, the volatile ex-president of Ghana, who craves the spotlight and whose soul has failed to languish in the wake of numerous political changes, called upon the newly-elected NDC government to prosecute former ministers of the previous NPP regime. Screaming and foaming at the mouth whilst speaking to fanatical supporters at a rally in Kasoa in the Central Region of the country, ‘J.J.’ labeled all former NPP ministers ‘criminals’, and called upon President Atta Mills to act quickly. ‘Some of the crimes are obvious and yet, the government is saying, “we are investigating”,’ the founder of the NDC party cried. ‘NPP was almost collapsing the moral fibre of the country with corruption until Ghanaians threw them out.’
Whilst NPP and NDC propaganda always has good entertainment value, the matter to which Rawlings alludes is a serious issue indeed. Why? Because all eyes are now on Professor Mills, who did such a good job of divorcing himself from Rawlings during pre-election campaigns and shedding his image as a ‘Rawlings puppet’ – in the process, alienating some die-hard J.J. supporters and nearly costing himself the election. But it appears that he has finally caved into the demands of the former president. As if following instructions, Professor Mills scrambled this past week to appoint a three-member commission to investigate issues related to the Ghana@50 celebrations, which were under the control of the former Chief of Staff, Kwadwo Oyyere Mpiani.
Here is the problem, however. There is little doubt that NPP ministers embezzled funds during their grueling tenure; and, it is likely that the corruption could be traced back to the president’s office itself. A recent article published in the April 2009 issue of the New African condemns critics of the NPP regime, pointing out that under President Kufuor’s eight-year watch, Ghana’s GDP quadrupled and how when he left office, there was a national reserve of US$2 billion, compared to the US$230 million left by the previous NDC government. It of course fails to mention how much of this revenue came at the expense of large-scale privatization (principally in the mining and utilities sectors); that GDP is not a very good indicator of quality-of-life, and how, despite the increase in national GDP, the gap between the country’s rich and poor actually increased during the NPP’s rule; and how President Kufuor spent more time abroad delivering speeches from luxury hotels in the likes of America, Holland and the UK than in Ghana dealing with domestic issues. Also noteworthy, under his watch, Kufuor approved the spending of close to $20 million on Ghana@50 festivities, and even approved the construction of the Accra Mall, which contains expresso bars, a Shoprite and a Nike store – I repeat, a Nike store – on the other side of the Achimota Roundabout, directly across from his house and his son’s hotel. The article also praises the ex-president for ‘passing the torch’ to Atta Mills of the rival NDC party upon announcement of vote results, seemingly overlooking that these things are supposed to happen in a democracy.
But for Jerry Rawlings and his wife to talk, publicly, about how the NPP government was corrupt is more than a bit of the pot calling the kettle black. Here is a man who has five mansions and countless cars, which he surely did not purchase on his airforce salary alone. He also financed several questionable development projects during his even more grueling 18-year rule, and, like Kufuor, shelled out millions on a celebration of his own: Ghana@40. In order to give some credibility to the accusations being made of the NPP, therefore, someone other than Jerry Rawlings needs to voice them.
The irony of the unnecessary, protracted verbal war between the NPP and NDC, which too often results in violence in the country, is that both parties are more similar than they are willing to admit: both have done a great job of selling the Ghanaian economy to Westerners, albeit under different circumstances; neither has managed to establish policies with donors capable of facilitating positive growth in Ghana for Ghanaians, the former forging highly-inequitable agreements and the latter, alienating support bodies altogether; and both have to date, identified the poor as the centerpiece of their agendas, yet have done next to nothing to alleviate their hardships.
One thing that is for sure, however, amid the J.J. rants and NPP chopping: that Nkrumah is turning in his grave, wondering ‘what happened?’…
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