Rawlings fumes; says 'so-called Nkrumaists' have made Ghana worse

Europa

May 25, 2016 10:12 AM

“Can you believe that those of us, we don’t even regard ourselves as Nkrumaists. Those who call themselves Nkrumahists are the worst offenders; criminals. From Mills till now, not even one single policy resembles anything Nkrumah stood for or believed in," former President Rawlings said.

According to him, those who call themselves Nkrumaists have failed to follow the footsteps of Ghana’s first President Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.

“Can you believe that those of us, we don’t even regard ourselves as Nkrumaists. Those who call themselves Nkrumaists are the worst offenders; criminals. From Mills till now, not even one single policy resembles anything Nkrumah stood for or believed in.

“We did everything possible to lift up this country and that’s why people kept wishing we were back. But as soon as we handed over; the guy [former president Mills] turned the wheels one 180 degrees. Some of the most outrageous things were happening. I remember trying to tell Mills and giving him details about some of the issues but it surprised me though that for a brilliant man like him, [Mills] he couldn’t see,” Former president Rawlings said.

He made this known while addressing a delegation from the Association of Cuban Trained Ghanaian Professionals at his residence on Tuesday.

According to him, Ghana has strong institutions but lack competent leaders to manage those institutions, a situation he believes has affected the success of this country..

Defending his 1979 coup, Former president Rawlings said “You know we did our bit from the 80s. In 1979, we had no choice; people were angry and it was a time of rage. We had to handover but then we had to come back again in 81 or 82. We could have stayed on for another eight or sixteen just to work to consolidate situations very well and proper.

“And I made a suggestion to my colleagues that considering that people are becoming saturated with us or with me, let me let Justice Annan takeover and I can be his number 2 or step aside.

“He can serve four years or eight years then I could come back; and that will be sixteen years of consolidation because what we had noticed was that his characters will destroy anything and everything so let’s not allow it.”

“Some of my comrades said no and that it’s never been done before. Is that not what Putin did recently? We would have been the first to do it here.

“That would have helped to consolidate because quote often we make reference to institutions but the institutions rely on the human factor and if those human entities are not bold enough to defy that which is wrong, that institution will be weak; am I lying?” the former president asked.

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