Former President Rawlings went haywire recently, and described some of the ministers serving in the Mills� government as �greedy bastards�. This follows an opportunity offered him by the Greater Accra regional chairmen of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), who had called on the Founding Father of their party to complain about their alleged neglect, and the refusal of President Mills to grant them audience.
The Chronicle finds the use of two words as being very offensive, and was expecting some of the leading members of the NDC to have nudged and plead with him to apologise, but this never happened.
When Mr. Rawlings burst into the political scene in June 1979, he was a young man, and with his background as a military officer, he was fond of using foul language against his opponents, but nobody complained, because, as we noted, he was seen as a young man whose comments must not be taken serious.
But, 30 years down the line, a lot has changed. Mr. Rawlings is now sporting grey hairs; he has also served twice as a constitutionally-elected president of this country. With this development in the life of our former president, one would have thought that he would put his youthful exuberance aside, but this is not what Ghanaians are experiencing - he is still exhibiting his past traits.
The Chronicle does not believe that Mr. Rawlings, his beloved wife and children, some of whom are now lawyers and medical doctors, would be happy people if somebody in the NDC, or outside the party, should call him a bastard.
If so, then why should he, as an elderly statesman, be using such offensive words? The biblical Paul once said that when he was a child, he thought like a child, and as an adult, he thinks like an adult.
Mr. Rawlings should note that what he used to say in his hey days and went scot free, must not be repeated this time round, because he has gone past that stage.
We at The Chronicle are concerned with Mr. Rawlings� behaviour, because as a former president, whatever he says has implications on people of this country. No Ghanaian outside this country would be happy if he or she hears people condemning the former president for using insulting language. We reiterate our position that the use of the words �greedy and bastards� should not have come from the mouth of a former president, and must therefore swallow his pride and render a public apology.
Whilst calling on the former president to apologise for the use of such words, we also call on his communication team to devise a strategy that would minimise the impact of such �boom� words.
If the man goes public with insulting language that is unpresidential, there is no need to justify such a statement. There is no doubt that being a spokesman for somebody like Rawlings is a difficult job, but if comments he makes outside the cameras are well handled by the PR team, most of his irritating statements would be stopped from entering the ears of the world.
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