[ 2011-04-18 ]

Former President Rawlings

Rawlings accuses Mills of stealing oil money
THE Spokesperson for the former First Couple, Mr
Jerry John Rawlings and Nana Konadu
Agyeman-Rawlings, have accused the administration
of President John Atta Mills of dipping their
hands into Ghana's oil revenues.

In an interview with the New York-based Bloomberg,
the world's reputable source for business news,
Kofi Adams, who is also the Deputy General
Secretary of the National Democratic Congress made
it clear that one of the reasons that have
motivated the former First Lady to launch an
unprecedented campaign to challenge President
Mills’ second term bid is corruption.

Former President Rawlings, who is also the founder
of the ruling NDC, had earlier said that
'corruption has been institutionalized" under
President Mills.

According to Kofi Adams, "If elected, Agyeman
Rawlings will seek to prosecute corruption in the
country’s oil industry." Among the charges
against the Mills-Mahama administration from Mr
Rawlings, according to our sources, are to do with
illegal multi-million profits allegedly made from
certain persons by selling off Ghana's consignment
of crude oil on the high seas, as the Tema Oil
Refinery is starved of crude oil to refine.

Apart from allegations to do with the lifting of
oil, there are also others to do with the signing
of agreements to do with Ghana's oil and gas
production. Concerns have been raised over the
decision to award the contract to build a single
gas pipeline from the Jubilee Fields to a planned
gas processing plant onshore to at least two
companies, at an estimated double the price of
construction if one company were to have done it.

"It is because there is this rush for oil deals
and the President has lost control of the
situation, allowing the greedy bastards to have a
field day with their thievery" a senior source in
the NDC told the New Statesman.


Institutionalization of Corruption
One of the calls by the pro-Konadu is for the
election of a new leader who has not been tainted
by corruption and according to them Nana Konadu
Agyeman Rawlings is that leader. There is a strong
feeling within the ruling NDC that President Mills
has not been able to give them the kind of
leadership they were expecting.

In their opinion, President Mills had become a
liability to the electoral fortunes of the NDC in
2012 as he has clearly departed from the NDC’s
mantra of upholding the principles of probity and
accountability

The former president has on numerous occasions
stated that President John Atta-Mills is condoning
corrupt practices within the NDC and this has led
to the instituionalisation of corruption in the
country.

In a statement released on the 21st of October
2010, the former President stated: “Do I have a
problem with President Mills? Yes, I do. His
refusal to pursue the moral mandate of the people
- to reinstate truth, transparency and most of all
justice into the fabric and psyche of the nation.


This is leading to the institutionalisation of
crime and corruption. Justice will be deformed”.


A group calling itself “The Concerned Youth of
NDC” has also craved on the indulgence of
President John Atta Mills, in several
publications, to humbly take a second look at his
questionable political career and quit politics by
not seeking a second term in office for the sake
of “our great party” [NDC].

The group, in its latest press statement released
on 6th April 2011, stated that the very promise to
crack the whip was a huge campaign promise by the
President.

“But as of today, there have been a number of
unsuccessful prosecutions of the alleged corrupt
officials under the Kuffour Administration. Why?
In the name of “Father for All”, Ghanaians and
the NDC party are gradually loosing grips on the
principle of accountability which is one of the
key principles underlying the formation of NDC.
For how long should this prevail? For how long
should we continue with these acts of
maladroitness and incompetence?” the group
charged.

According to them, “we undoubtedly believe that
the future of NDC will be salvaged and the
paramount good of all will be achieved if
President Atta Mills takes a second look at his
political career and finally takes a political
shower.”

Full Story as carried by Bloomberg
Ghana Ex-First Lady to Challenge President Mills
in Primary

Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings, wife of Ghana’s
former President Jerry Rawlings, will challenge
incumbent President John Atta Mills in a July
primary to become the ruling party’s candidate
in the 2012 presidential election, Kofi Adams, a
spokesman for the Rawlings, said.

“The level of apathy in the party is high,”
Adams said in an interview today.

The challenge from Agyeman-Rawlings, 62, whose
husband stepped down in 2001 after two decades
leading the world’s second-biggest cocoa
producer, will complicate the re-election efforts
of 66-year-old Mills, said Aboramapah Mensah, a
program officer with the Accra-based Ghana Center
for Democratic Development.

“She will command a lot of followers,” Mensah
said in an interview from Accra. “Though Mills
enjoys the incumbent’s advantage and will be
able to tour the country to rally his supporters,
the former president’s family also commands
strong support.”

Mills, a member of the National Democratic
Congress party founded by Rawlings, was vice
president under the former leader from 1997 to
2001. Mills lost presidential elections in 2000
and 2004 to John Kufuor of the New Patriotic Party
before beating the NPP’s Nana Akufo-Addo in 2008
in a runoff decided by less than 1 percent of the
vote.


Corruption
If elected, Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings will
seek to prosecute corruption in the country’s
oil industry and may try to renegotiate a $1.5
billion agreement with South Korea’s STX Corp.
to build 30,000 houses for the country’s
security services, Adams said.

Koku Anyidoho, a spokesman for Mills, declined to
comment when contacted on his mobile phone.

Rawlings may tap latent support for her husband
within the party as well as utilize her 31
December Women’s Movement, which operates
agricultural projects and nursery schools across
the country, to challenge Mills, Mensah said. The
organization has 1 million dues-paying members of
voting age, according to its website.

The NDC will choose its candidate for the December
2012 presidential poll on July 8 at a party
congress, where about 1,000 party officials will
choose the nominee, Mensah said.

Agyeman Rawlings’s bid shows “there is a
strong feeling” that Mills “hasn’t been able
to give the leadership that was expected,” said
Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko. “Whether he manages
to sail through the storm, I think the damage will
be difficult to repair.”

Source - The New Statesman

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