Cover page of Kwamena Ahwoi's 'Working with Rawlings'
The founder of the opposition National Democratic Congress, former President Jerry John Rawlings, has descended heavily on Professor Kwamena Ahwoi over the latter’s controversial book ‘Working with Rawlings’.
According to the former President, the book, described by NDC’s running mate Prof Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang as containing “honest account”, is “riddled with countless fabrications and assumptions ascribed to said individuals who were thought to have more honour.”
He notes that even though the book attempts to chronicle the history of the role Kwamena Ahwoi played as his appointee, it “disappointingly employs fabrications and grapevine accounts to paint a denigrating picture of President Rawlings and his colleagues.”
A statement issued from the former President’s office, yesterday, and signed by Kobina Andoh Amoakwa, said the “book appears to have no aim of serving history with facts”, but rather “reads as an opportunistic and calculated attempt to ridicule President Rawlings and former First Lady Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings, using the personality of the late President John Atta Mills as the bait.”
“From the inception, the author has harboured his own parochial agenda which clashed naturally with the integrity and accountability of Rawlings. Those of such ilk will continue to attempt to rewrite history to suit their selfish ends, but discerning minds will no longer be reticent of, nor willing to tolerate such political trickery and subterfuge,” the statement said.
Credibility crisis
Responding to allegations levelled against him and his wife in the book, the NDC founder took time to address in details “the various factual inaccuracies” presented in the book.
The 10-page response, titled ‘THE INTEGRITY OF TRUTH’, states that the number of personalities that the author refers to, and others who have written publicly to disassociate themselves from the comments in the book, is “a clear indication of the credibility or lack thereof of its contents.”
“The book is generously economical with the truth given that President Rawlings supported President Mills consistently from the year 2000, much to the chagrin of many of those who morphed into his post-victory supporters in 2006.
“The truth is a debt owed to the memory of the departed as well as current and future generations. The true legacy of the PNDC into the NDC under President Jerry John Rawlings, is one that ought to be acknowledged if there exists a Fourth Republic that has endured,” it said.
