By William
Yaw Owusu
Saturday
June 02, 2018
It appears the
battle lines have been drawn for supremacy in the opposition National
Democratic Congress (NDC), as former President, John Dramani Mahama boycotted
the June 4th Revolution Lecture on Thursday.
All the NDC
presidential hopefuls were in attendance, except Mr Mahama.
Previously, Mahama
had told his supporters to attend such events, but on Thursday he was
conspicuously missing, with no apparent reason.
The lecture, which
was chaired by former Vice-President, Paa Kwesi Amissah-Arthur, was attended by
Joshua Alabi, Ekwow Spio Garbrah, Dr Kwabena Duffuor, Sylvester Mensah, who are
all seeking to lead the NDC into the 2020 presidential election.
Former President
Jerry John Rawlings, NDC founder, and Mr Mahama are trying to take control of the
party.
The two powerful
leaders with massive following in the party are clearly engaged in a ‘cat and
mouse game,’ trying to outdo each other as the race to select a candidate for
the NDC ahead of the 2020 presidential election draws closer.
Common Platform
It appears they do
not want to share a common platform, as the two are always avoiding each other
at NDC programmes.
The lecture formed part
of activities marking the annual celebration of the June 4, 1979 revolution
which brought the AFRC junta into office.
However, it is
unclear if Mr Mahama was in town, but during the event there were murmurings
over his glaring absence.
Recently, Mr.
Rawlings also refused to attend a conference attended by Mr Mahama at the
Mensvic Hotel in Accra for former Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief
Executives (MMDCEs), who served under the erstwhile NDC administrations.
Verbal Tirade
Ex-President
Rawlings launched an unprovoked verbal invective on former Presidents Mahama
and J.A Kufuor.
Mr. Rawlings had
called his two successors, Mr. Kufuor and Mr. Mahama, ‘evil’ and ‘rogue’
respectively at a meeting with some chiefs from the Volta Region.
Office of Mr Rawlings
later released a statement, apologizing to his former colleagues for his
‘inappropriate’ comments.
Mr. Kufuor set the
records straight but it is unclear if Mr. Mahama protested his verbal abuse by
Mr. Rawlings.
Forced Apology
However, in a
bizarre twist, Mr. Rawlings appeared to say that he had been forced to render
an unqualified apology to his former colleague Presidents.
Answering a question
posed at the lecture, the NDC founder accused the young generation whom he
described as ‘Babies with sharp teeth’ for continuously denigrating him and putting
him in a bad light for always standing up for the truth, fighting corruption
and keeping firm on his beliefs.
“I’m not the one who
is bastardising the truth, it’s the young generation you are talking about; if the
ones with sharp teeth, who are much younger hadn’t bastardised the truth, there
probably wouldn’t be the need for an apology,” he fumed.
“I have so much on my chest, and you
misrepresent me, you bastardise the truth, and people wonder - is this man
crazy, and I have to apologize. It’s not over; I’m just giving you an example
of what your generation is doing. What a misrepresentation, isn’t it sad?” He quizzed.
Mr Rawlings said
there were more greedy acts that members of the NDC perpetuated against the
people of Ghana during their tenure which he had not yet revealed.
He described members
of the NDC as greedy and selfish, saying they are part of the reason for the
“poverty” in Ghana today.
The former President
said the party thwarted his efforts to develop a land for people in the Volta
Region, who have historically supported the party.
According to him, it
was unimaginable that in this modern era, there were families in Ghana who
still eat Banku with "only hot water and salt."
He vowed to further
expose the NDC come June 4 at Madina Social Welfare Centre, where the
celebration is scheduled to take place.
The crowd responded
with shouts of "more fire," to which he responded "I hope I will
see you all on June 4."
Mr. Rawlings looked
them in the face as he described the NDC members as highly corrupt and greedy.
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