<< The following article may be found at:
http://www.africaonline.com.gh/independent/200615/topnews1.htm
RAWLINGS STANDS ACCUSED
The lives of men who take up arms and make their way into history will
always be dogged by controversy.
That is what the story of former Chilean military strongman, General
Augusto Pinochet Ugarte has shown and that is what is most likely to be
the fate of Ghana’s former military ruler, now the
constitutionally-elected head of state, Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings.
From London, the first Prime Minister of The Gambia, Sir Dauda Jawara,
who was overthrown in 1994 by current Gambia leader, Yahaya Janmmeh is
accusing Libyan leaderMuammar Gaddafi of masterminding his overthrow.
Sir Jawara does not stop there, but goes on to accuse President
Rawlings, whom he cynically refers to as”our friend in Ghana” for also
playing a “sinister role following the coup in the Gambia”. Speaking to
AFRICA NOW, a premier African magazine edited by the veteran Nigerian
Journalist Peter Enahoro, which is back to the newstands after years in
the limbo, the man who led The Gambia to independence and ruled for over
two decade, blames Mr. Gaddafi for his overthrow.
He accuses Gaddafi and Libya as being responsible for destabilizing
activities in several countries in the sub-region.
According to him Ghana was used as transit quarters for flying
dissidents from The Gambia for training in Libya.
On the role of Ghana and President Rawlings in his overhrow and the
stabilisation of the Janmeh regime, Sir Jawara who lives in exile in the
UK had this to say:
“Our friend in Ghana - Rawlings - he too played a sinister role
following the coup in The Gambia. As chairman of ECOWAS he went to
celebrate with the coup-makers in The Gambia. Immediately after the coup
when Gaddafi hijacked the coup Rawlings was one of the instruments of
Gaddafi in actually entrenching the boys into position.
They soon visited Rawlings in Ghana. He didn’t receive them in Accra. He
met them in Akosombo because there he could talk with them without
having the media around. So the boys came back. They selected some
Gambians and sent them to Ghana to give them two or three weeks of
training. His Minister of Local Government at the time and Kojo
Tsikata trained them. The security agency we used to call the National
Security Service changed its name to the National Intelligence Agency to
conform to the Ghanaian’s. They sent lawyers, they changed our
constitution, made it a copy of the Ghanaian set up and so on. They
drafted all the decrees. It is to my knowledge that Rawlings was acting
in collusion with Gaddafi.”
Sir Jawara says in the interview that Gaddafi supported Charles Taylor
in his war of insurrection in Liberia and Foday Sankoh, the leader of
the Revolutionary United Front of Sierra Leone which is blamed for the
primitive and criminal activities against the people of Sierra Leone.
Asked to comment on the above allegations, a highly placed government
official who pleaded anonymity, dismissed the allegations of Sir Jawara
as unfounded and even “nonsensical”. “It is true that President Rawlings
paid a visit to The Gambia and even hosted Lieutenant Jammeh. It is also
true that Ghana offered some assistance to The Gambia including helping
them to set up a Citizens Vetting Committe headed by Bright Akwetey, but
such bilateral assistance does not amount to Ghana having helped to
legitimize the coup in The Gambia”, he said.
Another source at the Minitry of Local Government said whilst the then
Minister, Kwamena Ahwoi ran a similar Citizens Vetting Committee in the
80s he had no hand in training any cadres of the Gambian coup. Attempts
to reach Captain Tsikata however proved futile. In the exclusive
interview, the first that Sir Jawara has granted in the years since his
overthrow and exile in London, the former Gambian leader talks about a
wide range of issues including his conversion to Islam, his legacy to
The Gambia, his record on human rights, position on the death penalty
and the future of democracy in West Africa.
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