Victor Smith: Rawlings Can�t Call Me A Liar

Former aide to Ex-President Jerry John Rawlings and now Ghana�s Ambassador to the Czech Republic, Ambassador Victor Smith, has said that he never lied about the position of the former President concerning Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings� decision to contest Prof. Mills and that the former President knows that is the truth. Speaking in an interview with the Enquirer newspaper via phone last Saturday, Mr. Smith said that former President Rawlings would be the last person to call him a liar. �I don�t think that the statement to the effect that I am a liar came from former President Rawlings because he vouched for my sincerity when I was with him,� he said. Ambassador Smith insisted that he was fully aware that his former boss was not in support of his wife�s� bid to contest President J.E.A. Mills to become the flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC). According to him, former President Rawlings never wished his wife to contest Prof. Mills at all. He told the Enquirer that the Rawlings that he knows would never says such a thing about him.�I strongly and sincerely believe that that statement came from somebody other than former President Rawlings,� he said. Ambassador Smith said that his position that the former President does not support his wife�s move would never change because that is the true picture. �Rawlings did not bargain for what the wife is doing in any way,� he said. He told the Enquirer that former President Rawlings never wanted Nana Konadu to contest Mills but rather wanted things to be done in a certain manner. �Former President Rawlings wanted a stake in the running of the government. He wanted to be the chief consultant, but Prof. Mills has his own style and that is where the problem is,� he said. According to him, what the former President wanted is some alterations in the way things are done by Prof. Mills but not to get his wife to contest him. �I have been told by insiders that former President Rawlings asked the wife to step down which she agreed but other people convinced her to contest Prof. Mills,� he said. Ambassador Smith told The Enquirer that the Rawlings he knows would certainly not do anything to destroy the NDC. �I know the former President well and how he does his things and I don�t think that he has changed, so I know what I am talking about,� he said. He told the Enquirer that former President Rawlings knows very much that Prof. Mills will emerge victorious at the congress. �If you listened to him during the June 4 celebration, he stated it clearly that Prof. Mills will win but he expects some quick alterations to be done,� he said. Smith told The Enquirer that he never stated that Rawlings was supporting Nana Konadu to avoid divorce. �What I said was that he supports the wife for the sake of domestic harmony and that is a fact and not conjecture,� he said.