Former President Jerry John Rawlings is baffled some elements within the National Democratic Congress would conveniently point accusing fingers at him for the party’s humiliating defeat in the 2016 general elections.
The sitting president, John Dramani Mahama was beaten in excess of one million votes by opposition leader Nana Akufo-Addo, whilst the NDC lost over 40 seats to the New Patriotic Party.
In Mr. Rawlings’ assessment, the government rather lost the elections due to some “uncouth” “uncultured” and “greedy” elements in the party who ignored all advice and chose to wallow in greed.
“But rather than facing the obvious truth about why we lost, Rawlings once again has to be made the scapegoat of their failures,” Mr. Rawlings analysed.
Ghana’s former President who is also the leader of the 31st December Revolution made the assertion when he addressed a ceremony to mark the 35th anniversary of the revolution at the Revolution Square in Accra on Saturday.
He also identified what he calls a “gaping disconnect” between leadership and the masses as one of the causes of the party’s defeat. The masses were left “disillusioned” by the disconnect, he pointed out.
Mr. Rawlings who first came to power as a military leader in 1979 before winning two democratic elections, suggested that the kind of greed that infested some government officials was such high to be pardoned.
“If the masses knew about the detrimental effects of the greed and avarice perpetuated by some of our own people in leadership they would never forgive us. Examples abound all around us.
“You need not stretch your imagination at all. If we all don’t do some careful introspection and openly show remorse for the betrayal of the people’s trust we might not recover in time for the next election.”
He said the situation was such bad that the NDC envisaged the loss way back boldly written on the wall.
“It was obvious a long time ago that we wouldn’t make it. Our general negativity, impunity, disrespect and corruption was taking us further and further downhill. About the time when most were living in the painful reality with stress and anger, that’s when some of us chose to be more impervious to reality. We had lost so much goodwill,” he painfully said.
Further noted, “I kept providing the warning whenever and wherever I could, and in public as well. But no, once again the uncouth and uncultured in our party and government chose to insult and disrespect some of us.”
In general, the NDC was “painfully and massively” rejected at the polls it lost its moral ground, which in former President Rawlings’ view, sets them apart from others.
The party may have to understand the dynamics of human nature when it gets the chance to govern the nation again, he posited.
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