Should the National Electricity Power Authority be privatized?
Rawlings Accuses Obasanjo of Interference
• Kuffour: He just can't accept defeat From Olusegun Adeniyi in Accra, 12.08.2004
Ghana Polls
Ghanaians went to the polls yesterday to elect a new President and members of Parliament with former President Jerry Rawlings accusing Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo of undue interference in the electoral process. Specifically, he alleged that the Nigerian government brought in soldiers to help get the incumbent President John Agyekum Kufuor re-elected through manipulation. But the Ghanaian President, in an exclusive interview with THISDAY at his personal residence in Accra, shortly after voting yesterday, dismissed Rawlings' claim as the mere ranting of a politician who cannot accept defeat graciously. Rawlings who said he does not believe the election would be free and fair had alleged that Obasanjo "like he did four years ago, has been giving undue support to President Kufuor" and asked what interest the Nigerian President was pursuing in Ghana. He also made several specific allegations of how Obasanjo has been interfering in the democratic process in his country. Although Rawlings was not a contestant in yesterday's election, having served the mandatory two-term, his former Vice, Professor John Evans Atta Mills, is the candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), the same man who was defeated by Kufuor of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) after the second round of voting in 2000. While campaigning for his party at the weekend, Rawlings had also said the only way Kufuor could win re-election was by rigging the polls through stuffing ballot boxes with already thumb printed papers, warning his party's supporters to be vigilant. "For the first time in the history of this country, a very corrupt, dictatorial, brutal and primitive government is going to be removed, not by a coup d'etat, but by the electoral box. Let us protect it, and make sure that it happens," he said. In dismissing the claims of Rawlings, however, Kufuor said the allegation that Obasanjo sent in soldiers, unfounded. "You have moved round and if Ghana has been militarised as he claimed, you would have seen the evidence, have you seen any soldier in town? You cannot even notice any police presence at the polling stations." President Kufuor said the problem with Rawlings is that he cannot see anything good in his administration because Ghanaians rejected his party and candidate at the polls four years ago and he cannot live with that. "I think the former president is taking too long to adjust to the reality that his party lost power. He could not just take the fact that the people rejected them at the polls, through the ballot box. They are just bad losers, disgruntled elements", he added. On whether he is being supported by Obasanjo, Kufuor told THISDAY that Nigeria and Ghana are like brothers and he (Kufuor) enjoys a special personal relationship with President Obasanjo that goes beyond their respective offices. "President Obasanjo and I are more like brothers than fellow African leaders, we have an excellent relationship and some people would want to put a negative slant to that," he added. In his final campaign at the weekend, Kufuor had taken a swipe at Rawlings who he said wants to impose a puppet on the electorate. "We would not sit down for anybody to impose any koliko (puppet) man on us, only for the person to state - I will consult Rawlings 24 hours - when his boss, Rawlings talks, he thinks that is final, and expects that nobody should talk back. He thought the land of Ghana is for his father, and so, he will rule forever. No way; gone are the days when Ghanaians feared to talk; they are discerning, and I know they will not allow such people to sit on their happiness." Rawlings, however, led the campaigns for his party and this was used by the opposition to mean that Professor Mills would be a mere puppet such that in Ghana, one of the campaign slogans of the incumbent government was: "Vote for Mills, get Rawlings for free." Kufuor had campaigned on his record and he told THISDAY that he has succeeded in turning around the economy of the country. He also spoke on sundry issues like the subsidy on fuel price, the problem within the West African sub-region and the political travails of the current United Nations Secretary General, Mr Kofi Anan, who is a Ghanaian. Asked whether he would win the election, he did not mince words: "I am very optimistic I will. I invite you to come tomorrow (today) for a double celebration because that is also my birthday." Kufuor, an Oxford trained lawyer whose wife sat with him while the interview lasted, is 66 today. Results were trickling in yesterday in what was generally regarded as a peaceful exercise even though pockets of violence were reported on the radio. Police presence was minimal while the ballot boxes used were transparent plastics improvised for the exercise and there was no restriction of movement for either persons or vehicles
Axiom PSI Yam Festival Series, Iri Ji Nd'Igbo the Kola-Nut Series,Nigeria Masterweb
Norimatsu| Nigeria Forum |
Biafra | Biafra
Nigeria | BLM | Hausa Forum
| Biafra
Web | Voice of
Biafra | Okonko Research and Igbology| | Igbo World | BNW | MASSOB | Igbo
Net | bentech | IGBO FORUM
| HAUSANET (AWUSANET) | AREWA FORUM
| YORUBANET | YORUBA FORUM
| New Nigeriaworld | WIC:World Igbo Congress
