After listening to the concerns of former President Jerry John Rawlings, the chiefs and queen-mothers from the Volta Region who operate under the name �Royals For Peace And Development� have dropped hints of their intentions to meet President Atta Mills.
The move, according to Togbega Yaka IV of Afife, would be part of their efforts to find a lasting reconciliation between the two personalities, saying, �We want to know what really is the problem that it appears there is no peace between them�.
The �royals� met Mr. Rawlings, founder of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) and his wife, Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings and some of his loyalists on Tuesday at his Ridge office. During the meeting, he spelt out a tall list of conditions including the sacking of Johnson Asiedu-Nketia, General Secretary of the NDC and the retrieval of the GH�51.2million cash fraudulently paid to Alfred Agbesi Woyome, NDC financier, to be met before he would join the 2012 electioneering campaign of the party.
Michael Teye Nyaunu, MP for Lower Manya, who sat through the meeting, had confirmed on Citi FM yesterday that conditions were put before the �peace envoys�.
It is not yet clear when the chiefs would go and see President Mills but Togbega Yaka, who was part of the delegation, told DAILY GUIDE, �the next step is to talk to the Presidency�well, we have spoken to him; we got�he�s made some concerns known to us so we are going to look at some of these concerns and take some of the action points.�
This was when he called the DAILY GUIDE office to protest against the headline �Rawlings Goes Wild� in the Wednesday edition.
Togbega disputed that Mr Rawlings, who hosted them for over four hours, was wild on that evening and that they were not sponsored to go and meet the former president.
He said it was their own initiatives as they bussed themselves into a Yutong bus and landed at the Ridge office of Mr Rawlings in full traditional regalia, with others using their private cars.
Asked exactly what they would be telling President Mills when they get the opportunity to meet him, the chief of Afife noted, �We will strategize; you know we are chiefs in our own right and we have arbitrators in various matters and at various levels. We will be depending on our respective experiences to adopt a strategy to sort the problem having listened to both parties.
�Whether we like it or not, it doesn�t matter where you belong to; for the President not to have been comfortable as result of what is happening among these statesmen.�
His statement brought forth the question whether the President had complained to them and Togbega�s answer was �nobody has complained to us; but he wouldn�t tell you, he doesn�t have to come and tell you. But you, if you are indeed a chief, you should be able to know whether somebody is working in peaceful environment or not�.
According to the chief, they had observed that President Mills was not happy with the frosty relationship between him and the NDC founder.
He blamed the media for the bad blood between the former President and President Mills.
The chiefs are also considering going to the north to also help find a lasting solution to the chieftaincy crisis that has bedeviled the Dagbon traditional area in support of the committee of eminent chiefs led the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II.
They are equally planning to meet key stakeholders to fashion out strategies to cut down on the proliferation of small and illegal arms in circulation in the country.
He ruled out politics in their intervention to bring the feuding parties in the NDC together.
JJ�s Rejoinder
Even though Mr Teye Nyaunu yesterday confirmed our publication about the meeting with chiefs, the Office of President Rawlings has taken exception to the publication captioned �JJ Tells Mills Vomit Woyome Cash�.
�While we do not wish to delve into the details of what was discussed in deference to the delegation of chiefs who requested privacy in the full glare of the media including your reporter, we have to state that at no point during the meeting did President Rawlings issue conditions and ultimatums to the NDC government.
�President Rawlings�s contributions at the meeting were summarized by his spokesperson, Mr. Kofi Adams and we find it unprofessional and absurd that your reporter attempted to question the veracity and accuracy of the presentation by Mr. Adams.
�The former President has throughout the tenure of President Mills been unequivocal about the need for the Mills government to uphold the tenets of probity and accountability and re-investigate serious infractions during the tenure of the NPP. He did not hesitate to bring up those issues once again,� a statement signed by Kobina Andoh Amoakwa in Accra said.
�There is no doubt that President Rawlings is extremely unhappy about goings-on within the country under the administration of President Mills, but that does not mean he will acquiesce to falsehoods linked to his name even if they are critical of the current government.
�This Office wonders if the report is not a conspiracy by certain political elements to generate misguided animosity within the current political dispensation designed to court the usual political sympathy for the government.
�The crux of President Rawlings�s message during the meeting on Tuesday April 24 was the fact that he wished the NDC would win the 2012 elections but that opportunity had been squandered due to the abandonment of the party�s values,� the statement said.
<<Print>>