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This open letter to former President J.J. Rawlings stands the danger of misinterpretation by the man to whom it is addressed. It could be mistaken as a plea to him to shut up or look the other way in the face of obvious wrongs against the nation of Ghana. Far be it from me to be so minded. Corruption is killing Ghana and we all need to raise a voice against it. The former president is as free as any Ghanaian to do so. In this life, however, even the black/goldsmith knows that hammering too persistently and too long on one spot may destroy the beauty of what he set out to craft. Criticism is good, for it helps us to learn and change, but too much of it, and from the same source, makes the motive suspicious. A Bible school professor used to advise wannabe preachers in his class: �By all means, preach sin, but at the risk of being misunderstood, I advise you all: do not major on sin�. He went on: �if you see a pastor who preaches against fornication every Sunday, he may be hiding a personal propensity yet unknown.� For Rawlings� sake, for the sake of Ghana and for the benefit of succeeding presidents after Mahama, I share, as a New Year goodwill message, the following facts which I read in Newsweek last year and which helped me to understand why conversations among ex-presidents, as well as between them, and incumbents work so well in the United States. The Presidents Club In that country, there is a convention that has become known as The Presidents Club. Its raison d�etre was stated by Harry Truman, the 33rd US President, that �there is no conversation so sweet as that of former political enemies.� The Presidents Club is a platform for former presidents of America to share ideas with, pass on vital information to and even guide incumbents, drawing on their reservoir of experience and wisdom. The club has not been formalised; it is not in the American constitution. It was created in 1953 at the inauguration of President Dwight Eisenhower as the 34th President of the United States, when Herbert Hoover, the 31st President, proposed the alliance to Truman. In the interest of US security, the two men, political and personal opposites, agreed that they would work together to ensure a strong presidency for the incumbent and future Presidents. Using the club, some sitting presidents have consulted with their predecessors. It was former President Eisenhower who John F. Kennedy called on the morning he was about to announce a quarantine of Cuba that could trigger a nuclear war. It was former President Richard Nixon who Clinton called late at night to discuss Russia and China. Recently, on the night that the American SEALs killed Osama bin Laden, it was to former Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton who Barak Obama placed his first two calls before informing his own allies and party people. Many Ghanaians would be shocked to read this note. It said simply: �You will be our president when you read this note. I am rooting hard for you.� It was sent by George H.W. Bush to Clinton, the man who had just defeated him. George W. Bush (a Republican) is on record as assuring Obama, a Democrat, just before the latter�s inauguration: �We want you to succeed. Whether we�re Democrat or Republican, we care deeply about this country�All of us who have served in this office understand that the office transcends the individual.� They all keep close track of what their fellow members are up to, even monitoring one another�s health. Their top aides communicate by phone or email, sometimes every day. It�s a club with rules. One of them is: �Don�t discuss club business with the press.� Secrets Each former president passes on secrets to those who follow. Eisenhower showed Kennedy how to instantly summon the evacuation helicopter to the White House lawn. Johnson showed Nixon where he kept the tape recorders. Ronald Reagan taught Clinton how to salute properly. It is known that Clinton used to call Nixon late at night to talk about Russia, China or just how to manage the Oval Office. And dear reader, you�d love this. President Johnson, while in office, would ask ex-President Eisenhower to make up an excuse to visit Washington so they could quietly consult about Vietnam, telling him: �You�re the best chief of staff I�ve got.� It is not as if these men are (or were) hand in gloves with each other. No, they had their own share of feuds and tensions. But America came first, and America still does come first, that is, before any single ex-president�s desire to prove by booms that his presidency was better or was the best. Who has no sin? When, as Ghanaians, we see the sin, we should, and will, punish it. But like all human beings, without exception, we all err. And I am not too sure that Rawlings ran a faultless presidency. I am not a Rawlings hater (or basher). As a matter of fact, if this will give him some assurance (as if he needed any!), I used to be a die-hard supporter of the December 31 �holy war.� Though that coup led to the closure of the airport and, therefore, delayed my first-ever trip to Europe, specifically to The Netherlands, by two weeks, I told myself that it was the least sacrifice I could make to the success of the �war�! When I did land in Holland eventually, I was given the floor to say a word in class about events in Ghana. To my audience of representative journalists from across the Third World, I spoke like a man possessed about a revolution that was going to ensure that �no one had more than one WC in their house� in a country where �there would be no sale of cement to private builders until there was enough to build toilets in Nima and clinics and schools in all communities.� The above is to prove that I am not a Rawlings hater. As a matter of fact, in 2008, I sent an SMS to Joy FM protesting against Dr Arthur Kennedy�s comment, during an interview, that Rawlings had �grown old without growing up�. Rawlings incorruptibility Talking about human (and presidential) sins, once upon a time, I could swear by Rawlings on matters of incorruptibility. God, how I used to adore the man! My adoration was jolted when he allowed one of his children to be educated overseas, fees paid (as we were told) by �a friend� who till today remains unnamed. My faith in all �holy wars� and in all human messiahs suffered a massive irreversible stroke after the revelation that while J.J. Rawlings was in office, Norway�s cement makers funnelled money to support a certain political party�s electioneering in Ghana. When his wife�s 31st December Movement acquired Nsawam Cannery, that faith died � from the stroke. All of the above and others, notwithstanding, Ghanaians (judging by their body language and knowing their very make-up), have shown a willingness to let the Rawlings bygones remain bygones. But not Rawlings. He feels too holy to look at sin and not boom. If, as he claimed, his direct access to Prof. Atta Mills (while the latter was in power) was blocked, what about Mahama? Do J.J.�s calls to Mahama go unreturned? Are his requests for meetings with the incumbent rebuffed? If not, why is it not possible for him to choose the heart-to-heart chat approach, rather than the booms? The whole country should be grateful to J.J. for wanting to share top-secret information with incumbents, especially about the conduct of state appointees and, more especially, the corrupt ones and �babies with sharp teeth,� etc. But, honestly, if examples of the so-called top secrets are what he shared with Ghanaians recently about former President John A. Kufour (JAK), then I doubt which sitting president would want to give him a second chance on the phone? What encourages Rawlings is that at various times in our political past, both the NDC and the NPP (when it suits them) have found Rawlings talking for them. Remember, the NPP paid a courtesy call on him and even made him a main speaker at a forum organised by Andrew Awuni�s organisation. The motive was obvious: the man�s wife was shrilling around the country against the NDC and so the NPP naively thought Rawlings needed a platform to release some anti-NDC booms. He felt so self-righteous! Think of this, fellow Ghanaian. Isn�t it curious that one man can be angry forever? The first time we heard J.J. in 1979, he was an angry man. From 31st December, 1981 till he handed over power in 2000, he was an angry man. He is still angry, so angry he tore mercilessly at Prof. Mills. And the latest attacks on JAK: where did they come from? As I wish J.J. �Afehyia pa� and long life, the biblical story about the woman caught in adultery comes to mind. Casting the first stone makes the accuser look holy; but too often, in this world, it is Pharisaic! None of her Pharisee accusers was found standing by the time Jesus was done writing their sins in the sand.