Jerry Rawlings’s aide And Ohene In Hot Exchange over who is most Corrupt

The two major political parties in the country - the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) are on each other’s throat over the acquisition of state properties by members of both regimes. While Nana Ohene-Ntow, the General Secretary of the NPP contends that the founder of the NDC, Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings has no moral authority to talk about corruption, the deputy National Organizer of the NDC, who is also a spokesperson for the NDC founder, Mr. Kofi Adams has rubbished the claims.

According to Kofi Adams, it is rather a case of the pot calling the kettle black, when the NPP, under former President John Agyekum Kufuor during their 8 year regime amassed wealth which cannot be compared to Mr. Rawlings’ 19 years rule as president of this nation. To him, the assertions by the NPP stalwart that Mr. Rawlings should furnish Ghanaians with information about how he built his only property at Adjirigano, a suburb in Accra was laughable because that it was an attempt to divert the sensitive issues raised by Mr. Rawlings about attempts of some members of the opposition to denigrate the ruling NDC with armed-robbery, kidnapping and others.


In his view, the NPP was only running away from its own shadows and trying to read meanings into whatever the NDC founder would say. “They know that the former President is not corrupt and has not illegally acquired property. They have investigated him during their 8 year rule and found nothing against him, except that they are finding it difficult to tell the truth. “Indeed, if they have found something against him, they would have gone after him because Rawlings did not stop criticizing them even during their tenure of office, and up till today he continues to accuse them of being corrupt,” he said.

The two politicians clashed on an Accra based radio station over the weekend when commenting on issues raised by the former President to the extent that some elements within the NPP are behind the recent armed-robbery and kidnapping among others. Mr. Adams believed strongly that the invectives and innuendoes of Nana Ohene-Ntow was just one of the many diversionary tactics. Earlier, Nana Ohene-Ntow had told the Chronicle newspaper that Mr. Rawlings has no moral authority to accuse people of corruption. According to him, the former President has not lived up to his principles of probity and accountability, and therefore dared Mr. Rawlings to provide evidence of allegations of corruption charges that he continues to level against officials of the NPP, without providing any concrete evidence to back his allegations. “I challenge him to provide the evidence that incriminates the NPP members and to stop making unsubstantiated allegations, and when he is pushed to the wall he demands to be subjected to chemical interrogations.


“He should stop the fluke of chemical interrogations. He is not a special person. He is just like anyone of us now. He should go ahead and name the people he thinks are corrupt and are behind the armed-robbery, abduction and many vices in the country,” he intoned. According to Nana Ohene-Ntow, Mr. Rawlings is disturbing the peace of the nation by making such wild allegations. “He is disturbing the peace of the nation. If he really loves this nation, he should desist from making such explosive statements.”
Continuing, he said that “He has no moral right to talk about corruption. If he wants the people of Ghana to take him serious, he should tell Ghanaians how he got money to build his mansion at Agyirigannon, how he financed his children's fees abroad, and those who provided him the 4 wheel drive vehicles. If he fails to provide the hard facts, he should desist from disturbing the peace of this country.”


source: The Chronicle