Former President Jerry John Rawlings appeared to have lost his cool yesterday when a retinue of chiefs and queen Mothers from the Volta Region called on him at his Ridge office in Accra to broker peace with President Atta Mills.
The chiefs, operating under the name, �Royals for Peace and Development, dressed in full regalia and led by Togbe Adela Adelakoe ll of Wheta, arrived at Ridge around 3:00pm in a convoy of vehicles including a huge Yutong bus carrying some of them.
They included Togbe Gobo Dake Xll of Tsito, Mama Ayipe Ama lll of Abutia Kpoeta, Nana Otimpong Otibribi lll of old Baika, Togbega Yaka IV of Afife and Togbe Tenukpo lll of Tedzi.
Some could not even make it to the place because they had just checked into their hotels from the Volta Region, allegedly on a state-sponsored trip.
Mark Woyongo, Upper East Regional Minister had dropped the hint a couple of weeks ago that the government would engage the services of chiefs to mediate in the impasse between President Mills and Mr. Rawlings, with the state footing the bills.
Daily Guide learnt that pastors had also been engaged to do the hatchet job and some of them might visit the Rawlingses this week.
The mission of the Volta chiefs yesterday was to ascertain the root cause of the bad blood between the former President and founder of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the leadership of the party and the government headed by President Mills.
Also present were former First Lady Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings, MP for Lower-Manya, Micheal Teye Nyaunu former NDC General Secretary Dr. Joseph Aryeh, aide to the Rawlingses Kofi Adams and a host of others.
Spokesman for the chiefs, Togbe Hotormaho Amedzake lll of Abutia Kpeta, said the trip was to enable them to appraise themselves on happenings in the NDC, which he described as �a legacy for the people of Volta Region� and make informed decisions.
This, according to him, was because �we have learnt that all is not well�.
Whilst recognizing the fact that the NDC was a national party, Togbe Amedzake ll said �but to us it is a national tradition�.
The numbers were such that the meeting was held on the forecourt of the office in an open space, with the handful of journalists present having to wait at the reception.
The Chiefs were the first to present their concerns after which Nana Konadu made a couple of remarks.
Then came the time of the submissions of Mr. Rawlings who was occasionally overheard speaking at the top of his voice even without the aid of a microphone.
The meeting travelled into the night and NDC founder and the chiefs had to defy the darkness in an attempt to find a lasting solution to the impasse, as they sat under a tent.
Mr. Rawlings came out of the meeting which ended at exactly 7:10pm, soaked in sweat, an indication of the heat that the meeting generated.
Kofi Adams, who briefed the media, said Mr. Rawlings had poured his heart out to the chiefs, saying that he was not enthused about the manner in which things were being handled by the leadership of the party and government.
He was also said to have expressed concern about the fact that the party was losing the moral high ground in the eyes of Ghanaians in view of failed promises and several unresolved issues.
�He mentioned clearly that it is his wish that the NDC wins, but the executive in government and at the party level have kind of messed up the opportunity; they�ve messed up that chance because we�ve abandoned the values, the principles��he noted.
For these and other reasons, Kofi Adams said, �he (Rawlings) has pain in his heart when he remembers such situations that people have to wait for hours on end�and then the power is given and then you do otherwise.�
The chiefs ended up sympathizing with Mr. Rawlings after the meeting.
Source: Daily Guide/Ghana
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