Mahama must 'tame' Rawlings – Pratt

Source: myjoyonline.com  -  Kwesi Pratt has called on President John Dramani Mahama to 'tame' former President Rawlings to avert any further harm done to his memory to the memory of his predecessor, Prof. Atta Mills and his family.

He says suggestions by former President Rawlings that the NDC would have lost the 2012 election if the late John Mills was the presidential candidate are distasteful.

The Managing Editor of the Insight newspaper said the former president was unfair to the family of the late president.

In his view, Mr Rawlings should have thought about the effect his comment would have on the family of the late president John Atta Mills before making them.

Mr Pratt’s observation is in relation to media reports that the former president said the death of the late president was good omen for the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

Prof. Atta Mills, who was the NDC's presidential candidate died in July 2012, few months to the general elections. John Mahama, the then Vice President was acclaimed the party's presidential candidate barely four months to the elections.

In a statement, the former president said “why deny him [Mahama] his due? Many of us live in a state of self-denial because we seem to have an aversion for unpleasant situations. It is important for us to develop a historical memory of events. I said it over and over, NDC would have lost terribly had God not called the Prof [Mills].”

Mr. Rawlings said this in reaction to an impression that he at a recent meeting confessed to not campaigning for President Mahama in 2012, which he said was twisted.

But Kwesi Pratt says Rawlings’ comment was cruel.

In his view, the former president should have at least considered the consequences of his comment on the son of the late president before he spoke out.

“How will the late president’s son – who might not be in Ghana, feel if he tunes into his radio and hears that these comments are being made about his father,” he queried.

“Imagine the consequences for Naadu Mills (widow of the late Mills) and his brother Cadman Mills, imagine them hearing this being said about the former president”.

He questioned how Mr. Rawlings would have felt if he was a member of the family of the late president.

He said even if the late president was the worst the country has had, comments of such nature are unfair to his memory.