Rawlings is treating Mills’ Gov’t unfairly – Haruna Iddrisu

Haruna Iddrisu, Communications Minister Communications Minister Haruna Iddrisu has lashed out at ex-president Rawlings on his uncontrolled public criticism of the Mills government. He said the former president is being unfair to president Mills and the entire National Democratic Congress (NDC) government, and called on him to bear in mind that it is in his own interest that his party is in power. Mr Iddrisu explained that the ex-president enjoys a better and peaceful life under the Mills government than he did under the Kufuor administration which he claimed humiliated Mr Rawlings. The Minister was reacting to statements made by Mr Rawlings when a delegation from the Upper West Region called on him. The ex-president told the visitors he did not know what message of hope he would tell Ghanaians in the next general elections because the Mills-led government had taken away the “sense of hope.” But Mr Iddrisu said he recalls that under the ex-president’s leadership there were problems confronting Ghanaians which eventually led to the NDC’s defeat in the 2000 general elections. He catalogued some of the problems that existed while Mr Rawlings was in power as unemployment, disillusioned party foot soldiers some of whom felt they had been left out of government largesse, and the real or perceived injustice that some people felt were being meted out to them. The minister indicated that the challenges facing the Mills administration were nothing peculiar to the NDC III administration because such was the case during the NDC II and NPP I & II administrations respectively. He was speaking on Metro TV’s Good Morning Ghana programme Thursday. Assuring that any objective observation coming from the ex-president would be welcomed by government, Mr Iddrisu directed Mr Rawlings to use the appropriate platform to air his grievances. “But to say that people will give up on this government, I don't think that is the best,” he said. He advised the former president to continue to support the government because “the NDC is his legacy”. Meanwhile, Editor-in-Chief of the New Crusading Guide Abdul Malik Kweku Baako, who was a co-panelist on the programme, was happy that a leading member of the NDC has openly condemned the former president for his public outbursts. He declared that “this is the first time an NDC [guru] has spoken so frankly”. By: Dorcas Efe Mensah/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana