Audio Attachment:Listen to Kwesi Pratt Jnr, Managing Editor of the Insight newspaper, describing the paying of ex-gratia to former Presidents and Public Service holders under Article 71 of the constitution as madness, crass nonsense and totally misplaced. |
Managing Editor of the Insight Newspaper and leading member of the Committee for Joint Action (CJA), Kwesi Pratt Jnr., has taken former President, Jerry John Rawlings to the cleaners, accusing him of political �dishonesty and undermining� the Mills� administration.
The outspoken socialist also had issues with President John Evans Atta Mills, disagreeing with his assertion that Mr. Rawlings�s criticisms of his leadership style are a mark of healthy democracy in the NDC.
President Mills, in answer to questions from journalists on the occasion of his first year in office, at the Castle, Osu, Thursday, concerning his reaction to criticisms by his mentor and founder of the NDC, Flt Lt J.J. Rawlings, President Mills maintained that criticisms of his government by Mr. Rawlings and some members of the party will not weaken but strengthen the party and the government since their contributions would go a long way to enhance "our democratic dispensation".
�If members of the previous government had benefited from this example of internal democracy, they would have avoided some of the pitfalls that caused their downfall� President Rawlings is not a pain in my neck and will never be a pain in my neck. For 19 years he toiled hard to stabilise this country; no Head of State is more experienced than President Rawlings, so I welcome his criticisms,� he stressed.
But the CJA firebrand thinks otherwise.
He posited that President Mills should not have been diplomatic about how he felt regarding Mr. Rawlings� comments.
Contributing to a panel discussion on Radio Gold�s political talk-show, �Alhaji and Alhaji� on Saturday January 9th, Mr. Pratt tongue-lashed the former President, describing him as the �Chief Spokesperson� for the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP).
According to him, most NPP activists now feed on Mr. Rawlings�s often negative outbursts and throw them back in the face of the NDC.
�How can this level of dishonesty and downright undermining of the administration be described as simply part of the democratic effort?...,Sometimes, I get really embarrassed by some of these developments,� he fumed.
"Ex-Gratia Is Madness & Crass Nonsense"
Touching on the issue of the controversial ex-gratia, he described it as �madness and absolute nonsense.� According to him, considering the level of poverty in the country, �the debate about ex-gratia is totally misplaced and useless�.
�Look, I agree with Chuck Kofi Wayo. Go around the capital city�and see the level of destitution, see the naked and excruciating poverty that our people go through on the daily basis, and then come back and tell me that former presidents, with all the privileges they had, are entitled to pension in addition�are entitled to 1million US dollars to set up an NGO�are entitled to travel twice a year to any part of the world that they like, Cosmokai, Afghanistan, Greenland, anywhere they want�with their spouses, bodyguards, drivers, �komininis� at the state�s expenses�,� He stated.
He continued; �What madness is that? Somebody should explain this madness. And our airwaves are filled with justification for this and discussion about whether somebody has received his or not. This ex-gratia is not something which should have been there in the first place�What is this?...So this ex-gratia debate is totally misplaced and useless. We should not be talking about it,� he said.
A clearly livid Kwesi Pratt also lambasted Members of Parliament for leading the crusade for ex-gratia.
�You what annoys me even more? The Parliamentarians�People teach in rural communities and under deprived conditions for 38 years. They go home with less than 10million cedis. What is so special about Parliamentarians that we have to treat them like Arabian Kings�?...The intellectual class and so on, they don�t feel ashamed when they come and sit on radio to justify this nonsense, this absolute nonsense, crass nonsense. You cannot understand it. I cannot understand it,� an infuriated Pratt said.
Source: Alex Ofei/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana
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