Former President John Agyekum Kufuor has rejected assertions by ex- President Jerry John Rawlings that he (Kufuor) and ex-Nigerian President Olusegun Obansanjo were snubbed by Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, when two western leaders allegedly sent them to ask him to step down.
Mr Kufuor also dismissed claims by his predecessor that Ghana was a “captive state” that was “whitewashed” by western media and governments under his (Kufuor's) tenure.
Ex-President was reported to have told the Guardian Newspaper of Nigeria that the two (Kufour and Obasanjo) were disdainfully spurned by Mr Mugabe when they were sent by two western leaders to talk him (Mugabe) into letting go of power.
He is also reported to have stated that western media and governments “whitewashed” the image of Ghana after he left office.
"Not too long after I left office, I was giving a talk in Tanzanian and I said the world was going to see an exponential growth of terrorism. I had left office and the western media and western governments were desperately whitewashing the image of Ghana in spite of the atrocities and the corruption that was going on in my country after we had left office.
Ghana had become a captive state, being whitewashed. You see how they orchestrate things? This is what I want you to wake up to. Now, it might interest you to know that, while they were whitewashing, making these claims and things were also falling apart, as late as just a few months ago, BBC now claims that terrorism had risen by 84%, creating a false impression at that time. This is the power of the Western media", Mr Rawlings said.
But in a press release Tuesday signed by Frank Agyekum, the ex-President Kufour described the claims as untrue and unfounded saying it was rather "former Presidents Thabo Mbeki of South Africa and Obasanjo of Nigeria who volunteered to go on the mission".
"It beats one’s understanding that such an untrue narrative could be concocted...I was never part of such an endeavour, and it is disappointing that Former President Rawlings, who must know the facts, will add my name to it after all these years,” Former President Kufuor wondered.
"Ghanaians are the best judges of the eight-year record of President Kufuor and the 19 year record of President Rawlings. Let history judge the two periods of Ghana’s stewardship, and not President Rawlings as the referee," the statement added.
Read Mr Kufuor's reaction below
The Office of Former President John Agyekum Kufuor rejects as untrue and unfounded assertions by Former President Jerry John Rawlings that he and Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obansanjo were snubbed by Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, when two western leaders allegedly sent them there to ask him to step down.
Former President Rawlings is said to have made this observation in an interview with the Guardian Newspaper of Nigeria which has been reproduced by some in the Ghanaian media.
Former President Kufuor categorically denies such a mission with Former President Obasanjo, and wondered how Former President Rawlings should be the only one to know if such a mission ever took place.
”It beats one’s understanding that such an untrue narrative could be concocted,” Former President Kufuor wondered.
Former President Kufuor recounts that at the Commonwealth Heads of State meeting in Nigeria in 2003, the Heads of State were concerned about the heightened political tension in Zimbabwe following the government’s decree to seize white lands for blacks, and requested some of the leaders gathered to intervene to help calm tempers.
Former Presidents Thabo Mbeki of South Africa and Obasanjo of Nigeria volunteered to go on the mission.
“I was never part of such an endeavour, and it is disappointing that Former President Rawlings, who must know the facts, will add my name to it after all these years,” he said.
Former President Kufuor also denies claims by Former President Rawlings that Ghana under his rule had become a ‘captive state’ that was being ‘whitewashed’ by ‘Western media and Western governments, in spite of the atrocities and the corruption that was going on.”’
President Rawlings is not the only living Ghanaian during the administration of President Kufuor, and therefore he cannot rewrite history for Ghanaians.
President Kufuor asserts that whatever commendations his government received were worldwide and well deserved and were based on the results-oriented approach that was brought to bear on governance during his eight years at the helm of affairs of Ghana.
This Office asserts that it is becoming one too many. President Rawlings must leave President Kufuor alone. If he wants to stand on the rooftops to proclaim his sainthood, he has all the right to do so without mentioning President Kufuor’s name in his sanctimonious proclamations.
The records are there; historical, statistical, economic, and social records, for all well-meaning Ghanaians to compare and contrast.
The achievements of President Kufuor’s government, during his eight-year tenure, was without denying any soul their human rights as citizens, and without a single blood being shed or a single political prisoner created.
President Kufuor’s era has been acclaimed as an era of economic growth with marked expansion in personal freedoms to the envy of even some of the Asian Tigers of current times.
Ghanaians are the best judges of the eight-year record of President Kufuor and the 19 year record of President Rawlings. Let history judge the two periods of Ghana’s stewardship, and not President Rawlings as the referee.
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