President Akufo-Addo explains his bromance with late Rawlings
President Akufo-Addo has explained his unusual bromance with former president Rawlings who died Thursday aged 73.
“He and I had a tempestuous relationship over many years but I believe that we came to see values in each other at the end,” he said as he received a delegation from the late president’s family
Akufo-Addo was a fierce critic of the Rawlings government between 1992 and 2001. He was the spokesperson for the Kumi Preko demonstration against the Rawlings-led NDC government in 1995 over the planned introduction of Value Added Tax (VAT).
Nana Akufo-Addo and other leaders of the demonstration such as Akoto Ampaw, Charles Wereko-Brobby, Kwesi Pratt would later co-author a book, “The Kume Preko Demonstrations: Poverty, Corruption and the Rawlings Dictatorship”, criticising the Rawlings regime.
In 2002, the NPP government which took over from Rawlings-led NDC government withdrew protocol courtesies from Rawlings who was planning to travel to Washington D.C. The Kufuor government cited extreme provocation and ‘unguided utterances’ as the main reasons.
The Foreign Minister at the time was Nana Akufo-Addo.
In a September 2003 letter signed by Nana Akufo-Addo, the NPP government explained that: “It makes little sense to continue to accord courtesies to someone, who persistently refuses to reciprocate them, as his recent utterances in Nigeria vividly illustrate. Accordingly, it is not possible at the moment for the government to grant the requests in your letter.”
Jerry Rawlings had been lampooning the Kufuor-led NPP government, accusing it of corruption and nepotism.
He would also campaign against Nana Akufo-Addo after he was elected NPP presidential candidate for the 2008 elections.
Rawlings toured the country rallying support for the NDC presidential candidate, John Evans Atta Mills.
“Whether Prof. Mills or that short man, what is his name, Nana Akufo-Addo, the electorate should watch against politicians who fabricate deceit and lies and rather vote for the one who is imbibed with integrity to lead the country,” he said in Manhyia, in November 2008, a month to the crucial presidential elections which Nana Akufo-Addo eventually lost.
But this hostility melted away after the 2008 general elections. Rawlings began to take on the NDC government led by Prof. Evans Atta Mills.
He gradually began to warm up to Akufo-Addo ahead of the 2012 presidential elections.
In July 2016, he said “fortunately for [the NPP], they have a leader [ Akufo-Addo] who is not known for messing around with material things.
His criticism of former Ghanaian leaders appeared to have ended with Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. The founder of the National Democratic Congress found problems with the late President Atta Mills and former President John Mahama – both from the NDC.
John Agyekum Kufuor, his successor in 2001, endured heavy criticisms. But Nana Akufo-Addo, the 4th President after Jerry Rawlings, appeared to have dodged a bullet.
Rawlings-Akufo-Addo bromance took many by surprise and irked the NDC, a party the former president founded in 1992.
Akufo-Addo had only weeks ago visited Rawlings to offer condolences after he lost his mother.
But on Thursday, it was Rawlings family which now visited AKufo-Addo to inform him of the death of his one-time political arch-rival.
“I am extremely disturbed and saddened by his death, he was a man of great vitality, dynamism, and energy but one thing that all of us must get used to is the Almighty has his own plans for each one of us”.
“It is a moment for reflection and to continue to believe in his purpose because he has a purpose for each one of us and as it appears that the former president’s purpose on earth has come to an end” he noted.
Extending his deepest condolence to the family, the president announced that Mr. Rawlings would be given a state burial.
“He is not an ordinary Ghanaian; he was the first president of our fourth republic and therefore his passage has to be a matter for the Ghanaian nation… so the Chief of Staff will be in touch with the Agbotui family and Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings for us to agree on everything,” he said.
The Agbotsui and Rawlings family had visited the president to formally inform him of the passing of Mr. Rawlings.
“We are here to formally inform the presidency about the death of our brother and as tradition demands, we came with drinks,” the family spokesperson said.