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The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has called on former President J. J. Rawlings to allow Ghanaians to be judges of the various regimes that have had the opportunity to run this country and stop acting pious and being the judge by calling others unpalatable names. According to the party, President J. A. Kufuor�s track record in the eight years of his presidency saw steady growth and a systematic change in our fortunes and a step towards achieving middle income status as a nation. Ghanaians are witnesses to the conduct of Mr Kufuor since leaving office in 2009, the statesmanship, initiative, the international recognition, level headedness and the finesse with which he has handled life after the presidency, the party statement stressed. The party urged Mr Rawlings to also show some statesmanship and exercise restraint in his public outburst, not only against Mr Kufuor but all leaders of our country. According to a press statement signed by the National Chairman of NPP, Mr Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, and issued in Accra last Thursday, the NPP was disgusted at the constant insults and attacks from former President Rawlings on former President Kufuor. According to the statement, the NPP was not saying that former President Kufuor was not beyond criticisms. The statement said it, however, found it highly unbecoming, mischievous and provocative that Mr Rawlings, a former military leader, later head of state, who should naturally be wearing the shoes of statesmanship, was deliberately casting unjustified insinuations and insults on his colleague. It said Mr Rawlings behaved and talked like an angel and a judge of humanity when his 19-year-rule was inundated with atrocities and unbeatably dark days in the history of our country. During the rule of former President Rawlings, the statement said, so many lives were lost and up till now lives that were lost had not been accounted �the murdered judges, ordinary citizens, businessmen and market women who were murdered, tortured and humiliated under his regime. The statement said while some fled to far and near lands, he and his cronies autocratically held this nation to ransom and dissipated our resources. The culture of silence, curtailed freedoms and lack of dignity were the hallmark of his years in power. According to the statement, it was a pity that Mr Rawlings, who Ghanaians had forgiven despite the loss of lives and property, and for the incarcerations inflicted on friends and relatives by his regime, was now calling someone who brought hope to Ghanaians all kinds of names. It noted that the era of Mr Rawlings saw a leap in the fortunes of countries around the world such as China, Singapore, Malaysia and Brazil, some of whom sent experts to Ghana to learn from us. Ghana, the statement said, lost out on the opportunity of achieving a middle income status and building a foundation for a kind of take off that would have increased the fortunes of this country in those 19 years till Mr Kufuor and the NPP took over from Mr Rawlings in 2001. It would be recalled that ex-President Rawlings who was speaking to young people at the closing ceremony of the International Youth Fellowship Volta camp at Adidome Senior High School in the Volta region said that former President Kufuor was corrupt, an elections rigger and an �autocratic thief�. The topic was �Peaceful Hearts and Transformed Youth for National Development�.