Former President Jerry John Rawlings has in his response to Kwamena Ahwoi’s ‘Working with Rawlings’ book made startling revelations about the health status of the late president Atta Mills prior to the 2008 elections which nearly led to the latter’s resignation as the NDC’s flagbearer.
According to the former president, the then Flagbearer of the NDC after winning the 2006 presidential primaries of the party informed him while on a medical trip to South Africa that he has decided to step aside as the presidential candidate because of his deteriorating health condition.
The former president recalled that he had informed leading members of the party about Mills’ communication to him and taken steps including the identifying and urging some members of the NDC to position themselves as potential candidates to fill the imminent vacancy of the NDC flagbearership position.
But the late president Mills upon his return to the country from his medical trip was convinced by Kwamena Ahwoi and others to resend his decision to step aside as the party’s 2008 presidential candidate.
He added that Prof. Mills was made to believe that he (Rawlings) was acting in ways that undermined Pof. Mills as the party’s Flagbearer. This, the former president disclosed, led to the sour relationship he had with ex-president Mills before his demise.
The founder of the NDC recounted how meetings were held without his knowledge by Prof. Ahwoi and others that manipulated the late president to rescind his decision to resign the as NDC’S candidate that eventually saw him contest the 2008 elections which he won.
“When Professor Mills returned to Ghana, meetings were held with him without the knowledge or participation of President Rawlings, where Professor Mills was convinced by those present, not to withdraw his candidature and actually made to believe that President Rawlings was working to undermine him. That, was when the mistrust begun, and Mr. Kwamena Ahwoi was and is well-known to be one of the master-architects of that manipulative agenda that pushed a very unwell candidate Mills into the 2008 General Elections,” he stated in an 11 page document seen by dreamzfmonline.com.
Debunking Prof. Ahwoi’s account of what led to Rawling’s fall out with his one-time vice president, Mr. Rawlings asserted that his decision to identify and encourage some party members to position themselves as potential contestants of the NDC flagbearership position was not an attempt “to undermine, sabotage, betray or malign professor Mills as the author shamelessly infers in his book.”
Mr. Rawlings also took on Kwamena Ahwoi for creating an impression in his infamous book that he (Ahwoi) was unware of Prof. Mills’ Communication to him (Rawlings) about his health situation and his contemplation to resign. He concludes that Prof. Ahwoi denial of his knowledge of Mills’ intentions to resign as well as its implication to the party is because of his deliberate attempts to belittle and ridicule Rawlings’ efforts to avert the impending crisis of Mills’ decision.
The ‘Working with Rawlings’ book by Prof. Kwamena Ahwoi chronicling his experience working under former president Rawlings’ regime has created controversies particularly within the NDC.
Some of the issues raised in the book have been denied by personalities who were allegedly involved.
For instance, the book claimed that a group of young politicians including Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Felix Kwakye Ofosu and Omane Boamah were groomed to take on Mr. Rawlings anytime he criticized the then president Mills. All of these individuals have denied ever being part of such agenda.
Special prosecutor, Martin Amidu has also denied portions of the book that claimed that he was wooed back into the party with a vice presidential position after he and the late vice president Amissah Arthur joined a political movement.
