Member of Parliament(MP) for Nsawam-Adoagyiri Constituency, Frank Annoh-Dompreh, has revealed that stories his father told him about the atrocities committed by the Rawlings military regime made him develop hatred towards the former President of Ghana.
According to the NPP MP, the stories he was told about the excesses of the Provisional National Defence Council(PNDC) military regime and the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) both led by former President Rawlings, including the shedding of blood of some Ghanaians, made him perceive the former President as a wicked person hence, his resentment against him.
The Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of Parliament also revealed that he was approached and persuaded by Kwamena Ahwoi through the Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu to join the National Democratic Congress(NDC) but he refused to become a member of the NDC because of the perception he held against its founder, Jerry John Rawlings.
“I started engaging my father on political levels…he drew me into the Danquah-Busia tradition and he gradually engaged my mind, and might say that, for want of a better word, he built a certain hatred in me against Rawlings at that time – the people who were killed and the excesses of the June 4th and the likes – from that age, I just didn’t like former president Rawlings because of the stories I have been told about him and he looked like a certain wicked personality to me at that time,” he said.
He continued to say “when I was NUGS president, I had several encounters with them (NDC). Kwamena Ahwoi severally through Haruna Iddrisu reach out to me that I had talent and they wanted me to be with NDC. Again, because of what my father told me about Rawlings and I felt that the NDC was more of a single Personality party and hence at that time, this perception about him being a wicked person is still associated with the tradition. That put me away (from becoming a member of NDC).”
Mr. Annoh-Dompreh, however, said though his checks have established that most of the atrocities associated with Mr. Rawlings and his military regime are true, he has changed his perception and feelings about the former president since every human being is fallible.
“ But growing up, I can say that I now have relaxed my perception and belief of him. Most of the things my father told me at the time, I checked and most of them were true but I realized that former president Rawlings is human and we all have our shortcomings and weaknesses.
It wasn’t just him, there were a lot of people who were with him in that operation. So it would be most unfair to put everything on him,” he stated.
Former president Rawlings then a junior army officer led the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) to overthrow another military regime in June 1979 leading to the killing of senior military officers including General Akwasi Amankwaa Afrifa, General Ignatius Kutu Acheampong and Major General Edward Kwaku Utuka who were leading members of the ousted military regime.
Mr. Rawlings has since the uprising sort to justified the killing of the senior military officers describing them as “very corrupt” officials and claiming that their execution was necessary to avert an imminent implosion.
But the Nsawam-Adoagyiri legislator believes “the circumstances under which some people had to be killed were a bit strange.”
