June 4th: The Day Armageddon Will Visit NDC

Reverent Herald Camping of Family Radio is not a good mathematician. If he had contacted me earlier on, he would not have goofed as far as the day of Armageddon is concerned. Your Earth Angel Gabriel looked through my crystal ball and lo and behold, I saw June 4th 2011, coming and going. I prayed unceasingly for the Lord to reveal to me why that particular date and when I looked further into my crystal ball, I saw the flag of the NDC flying at half mast with a certain bearded white man standing by the flag with tears running down his puffy cheeks. On his forehead was written JJ. Then as the flag was waving from left to right, I saw a whirlwind with fire at its tail, approaching the flag and before I could adjust the crystal ball, the fire and the whirlwind consumed the flag, leaving the bearded man standing alone and this time laughing and clapping. He pulled a placard with the inscription: �Prophet Jeremiah, he who is ordained by the God of Israel to prophesy the death of NDC. And the spirit of the Lord came upon me, saying, prophesy, son of man, prophesy to the children of the National Democratic Congress and tell them that I will punish them for their iniquities against the prophet of God�. From what I saw in my crystal ball, I could see Armageddon visiting the NDC immediately after the Sunyani congress in July. At the launching of the campaign of Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings, the former president, His Excellency Jeremiah John Rawlings, served notice that on June 4th, he would come out in full force to tell Ghanaians many more things. He said on that day, the heavens would open and boulders would be released to crush unbelievers of the tenets of the June 4th Revolution. He said mountains would be flattened and all caves closed so that no one in the NDC would have any place to hide. They would run but they would not have anywhere to hide. On that day, those who cannot read because of their bad eye sight will be able to read the signs on the wall and those who are impotent will be blessed with a serrated penis which can ejaculate for 24 hours. Indeed, on that day of Armageddon, greedy bastards will realize that after all they have a founding father and there will be no more stabbing in the back of the founding father. On a more serious note, my dear reader, what do you envisage Rawlings will say on June 4th, the 32nd anniversary of the revolution that saw the murder of three former Heads of State, top military officers and hundreds of innocent Ghanaians? On that fateful day and the three months that followed, we thought the world was coming to an end. Readers will recall that last year I wrote in this column during the June 4th celebration that if Rawlings decided to stop celebrating his June 4th, I would also stop writing about the wish-to-be-forgotten damned revolution. I promised that if he decided to celebrate the revolution as he used to do, I would also continue to travel down memory lane for the sake of the younger generation who were born too late to understand the episode. Any celebration ofthe June 4th revolution rakes our wounds and sets our blood pressure shooting sky high. Those of us who were victims of the revolution may forgive those who trampled on our rights but surely we will never forget those days of madness and display of �soldier power�. I always write in this column that the forty-year-old man or woman, who holds a responsible position in the country today, was barely eight years when the revolution happened. Such people did not experience the pain, anguish and bloodshed meted to Ghanaians. In fact, they did not see how women were stripped naked in public and caned by drunk and drugged non-commission officers. That revolution brought nothing to Ghanaians but pain, blood, death, tears and anger. The revolution rather paved the way for Rawlings and his family to taste the good things of life. As for the retired military or non-commission officer who participated in the revolution and took part in the beating and drilling of poor Ghanaians, he or she may be 60 or 70 years old now. I know many of such persons living in abstract poverty and unable to make ends meet. Some of them are even too poor to pay their premium in order to enjoy the National Health Insurance Scheme. They gained nothing from a revolution they put their noses on the grindstone to make it succeed. Thirty-two years down the road, these people who took the rights of Ghanaians for a ride are a liability to their family as they live from hand to mouth. The sad aspect of their predicament is that many of those I know have gone mad because of the crimes they committed against humanity. God has punished them for us. Rawlings always makes June 4th look like a one man show. His comments during the celebrations make it look as if he was the only person who took part in the revolution. For the past three decades that he has been celebrating the revolution, none of his colleagues who participated in the revolution have ever joined him in the celebration. Osahene Boakye Gyan for example was the spokesman of the AFRC and he is living in this country, but I don�t think he will join the celebration come June 4th. As for Major Baah Acheamfour, he told Ghanaians during the sittings of the National Reconciliation Commission that he would not touch Rawlings with even a long stick. No more boys on the bus glow. There are however certain things that Ghanaians should learn from June 4th. On that day, it became very clear how fragile freedom is when it is attacked by insane people and scatterbrains. In fact, we realized the cost of peace when we did not have it. As the years rolled after June 4th, we learnt the real meaning of deception. Rawlings was a poor guy who was finding things difficult until he came storming with venom. He and his fellow junior ranks looked around and saw their superiors living luxurious lifestyles and the jealousy in them made them to move against them. In three months, several top military officers were brutally killed. Those who were lucky run into exile and even died there. Initially, some students at the universities supported Rawlings when he launched his coup on 15th May, 1979. When he appeared before the military court marshal and told the judges that his men should be left alone, we saw him as a hero. But on June 4th, when he and his undisciplined junior officers turned their guns against poor civilians, we started hating him and have never forgiven him since then. Somebody out there should ask Rawlings what he achieved when he took arms and overthrew the SMC II? If he mentions probity and accountability as one of his achievements, ask him whether he accounted for Account 48 to Ghanaians. Unknown to those who were religiously following Rawlings during and after June 4th, the man was amassing wealth. Before we could say Jack Robin, he had acquired luxurious bullet proof cars, speed boats, mansions and educated all his four children in prestigious universities abroad. We were swindled because while his children were attending Ghana International School, our children were attending Junior Secondary Schools which he hurriedly implemented without any plan. Look at Rawlings today and compare him to the Rawlings of June 4th, 1979 and you will realize how stupid we were to hail him as a messiah. As for the bad blood that has developed between Mills and Rawlings, it serves Mills right. If Rawlings decides to lambast Mills on June 4th, no one will have tears for him. Mills put on the cap of a traitor when he defied all reason and accepted to partner Rawlings after his own kinsman, Ekow Nkensen Arkaah, was beaten at a cabinet meeting. In fact, Mills must thank God for small mercies because in his case, Rawlings only insults him but in the case of Arkaah, he was beaten into a pulp and he died with his torn coat still hanging at the police station where he went to report a case of assault. Rest in perfect peace Mr. Stubborn Cat. Live with a disturbed conscience, Atta Mortuary Man.