Rawlings At It Again!

Nothing exposes former President Jerry John Rawlings� hypocrisy better than his selective silence, as the country is gripped by an unparalleled spate of corruption. His so-called accountability and probity mantra about which he made so much useless noise and sent those he hated to the stakes, is all but gone as he treats himself to the ill-gotten goodies of life. For someone whom captiousness is a principal feature, the deliberate silence as Ghana�s corruption hits an all-time high compounds his well-known foolish grandiose. Street-side conversations have it that he is sparing President John Mahama his usual inclement words because of a favour from the top. He has closed his eyes to the Merchant Bank, GYEEDA saga and the backbreaking judgment debt debacles among others. Hypocrisy, insincerity and deviousness are neither attributes of statesmen nor good men. On Monday he returned to his old devil-may-care rhetoric self after a lull, when he descended on former President John Agyekum Kufuor during his visit to the South African High Commission- obviously ignoring the good counsel of his family to stop the silly and incoherent remarks. It was such an unnecessary outburst that had observers agreeing that senility sets in early for some and late for others. If by his remarks Kufuor monopolized corruption and prevented others from engaging in the graft, it stands to reason that it was limited in its scope as opposed to its far-reaching cover today. He adds that because President Mahama is gentle and easy-going, corruption is being perpetrated by so many people under him and not a presidential monopoly. A so-called warning from the Americans about a possible coup d��tat if Kufuor did not halt corruption in the country, sounds rich and nonsensical. Rawlings� sordid past could no longer be confined to the closet when incensed persons made disturbing references to how much he retarded the growth of Ghana. Former President Rawlings should stop deluding himself about being a morally upright person who changed the fate of Ghana. The recent history of Ghana is awash with details about his mismanagement of the economy, the selling of state assets to his spouse and cronies et al. Jerry John Rawlings should be the last person to throw the stone of corruption at a fellow Ghanaian. We have not forgotten the smelly deals at the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation when he virtually gave the place out to one person to run, a period which saw the worst moments in the entity�s history. It is unfortunate that even with his advancing age Rawlings continues to exhibit the traits of envy and jealousy, qualities which have defined his devious past. Former President Jerry John Rawlings� fading relevance is having a toll on him. He would have rather he continues to make the headlines: not so however, as history�s curtain is beginning to draw over him, confining him to the backburner, irrespective of his occasional remarks which is all but hot air. It is instructive that he flew to South Africa to witness the funeral of a real world leader, a unifying character whose sterling qualities � the most outstanding of which is forgiveness � sets him apart from caricatures of leadership.