Jerry John Rawlings
Former President Jerry John Rawlings? diagnosis of the ailment the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and its government are suffering, is not new. But repeating it with a feverish fervor, when supporters and leadership of the party expected a positive change in his posture at the Kumasi emergency conference, was heartbreaking and a disappointment for campaign strategists who sought to cash in on his appearance. It was a primetime query for a party which prides itself in spewing lies in almost everything it does.
His observation about the declining quality of the presidency in the hands of the NDC did not start last week, but within a few months upon the assumption of office of the late President John Evans Atta Mills. Rawlings? disapproval of the party?s mawkish governance style represents the defining disparity between him and the party he founded.
Mr. Rawlings is not the originator of the worrying observation: He only buttressed what many Ghanaians had concluded regarding the moral challenges that have enveloped the presidency since the late president ascended the seat of government.
Refusing to be swayed by the warm reception accorded him at the Baba Yara Stadium in the Garden City- one he did not get when he showed up in Sunyani during the party?s congress earlier- the former Air Force pilot passed a test which he might have not known he was writing. Had he glossed over the now aggravated moral challenges confronting the NDC at the presidency and just allowed the spirit of business as usual to prevail when he took the mike, Ghanaians would have rated him differently.
When sharp-teethed youth holding ministerial appointments, as he described some appointees, are allowed to rain invectives on politicians of many years standing, with their employer not frowning in disagreement, the presidency is not in good standing.
The style of the sharp-teethed ministers and propagandists is one factor which has eroded the respectability of the presidency. They have to their discredit attacks on the Roman Catholic Church, the charismatic churches and statesmen who dare express disapproval of policies and actions of national importance.
When rotten planks on the village bridge are allowed to infect the rest of the planks, the foundation of the crossing point is compromised, thereby endangering inhabitants of the village.
No presidency can pass a moral test when such sharp-teethed youth are allowed to engage in obscene hubris to the extent that they can openly express how much they hate to see the countenance of a former president.
A presidency which fails to stop illegal payments from the public purse definitely needs political exorcism; more so when the president?s orders stopping the payments are ignored contemptuously.
Lost in the contagion of narcissism, the ruling party even after being presented with such an appalling score sheet by their founder, continues to savour the lie of doing well.
The murder of some youth at Agbogbloshie with nothing being done to apprehend those behind it even as these persons are known, the continued detention of NPP men from Dagbon on remand for political reasons, remain some of the albatrosses around the neck of the NDC government.
The stains of financial malfeasance on government appointees have earned for the ruling party, a poor honesty rating, one inconsistent with the standards of best governance practices. Rawlings? order was tall but that nonetheless is the only way our crestfallen presidency can regain its lost glory and respectable aura.
