How the long-standing Rawlings-Kufour feud started

But for the intervention of the media, occasioned by calls from a former aide to the late former president, Jerry John Rawlings, President John Agyekum Kufour would have had his predecessor arrest and persecuted.

Victor Smith, who is a former aide to the late former president, recounted incidences of how the official residence of Rawlings was surrounded by security operatives, in attempt to arrest him.

He said that this happened on June 8, 2001, only months after Rawlings had successfully handed over power to his successor, John Kufour, but it took interventions from him and some close aides of the late president to get the attention of the media, and eventually the public to the situation.

This, he said, was what helped to quell what he assumed was going to be the beginning of a process to prosecute his late former boss, leading to the seeming feud that existed between the two former statesmen for a long time.

“Rawlings under Kufuor suffered some indignities, people have talked about withdrawal of his courtesies for a former President or a very senior personnel in our country, in the first 6 months of President Kufuor coming into power, on June 8 his house was surrounded and they wanted to take him, they wanted to arrest Rawlings but for the intervention of some of us in terms of calling the media and the public about this development Friday the 8th of June may be things would have been terrible for Rawlings at the time,” he said.

He continued that, “He [Rawlings] thought that it was an agenda so he wanted Atta Mills to [also] pursue Kufuor’s ministers for the same reason. What I know is that he felt there were a lot of injustices against him. Atta Mills did not pursue people and that led to a bit of friction between him and Rawlings.”

He stated further that after that failed attempt by the Kufour-led government on Jerry Rawlings, the heat was then turned on former appointees who served under the former president.

“Some of his ministers were incarcerated. Kwame Peprah and the rest and so he thought the then government decided to pursue his appointees,” he narrated.

Victor Smith was speaking on TV3’s Key Point program and monitored by MYNewsGh.com. Read Full Story