The office of former president Jerry Rawlings has denied a Daily Guide account of a meeting he held with chiefs from the Volta Region last Tuesday.

A statement issued by Kobina Andoh Amoakwa, Communications Director of the office of the former president said the report headlined ?JJ TELLS MILLS VOMIT WOYOME CASH? cannot be a true reflection of proceedings of the meeting because the former president did not make any such demand.

Below is the complete rejoinder from the office of the former president.

REJOINDER TO DAILY GUIDE: ?JJ TELLS MILLS VOMIT WOYOME CASH?

The Office of His Excellency Jerry John Rawlings has read with disdain the front-page report of your April 26, 2012 edition captioned ?JJ TELLS MILLS VOMIT WOYOME CASH?.

We wish to state categorically that the report authored by Charles Takyi Boadu is false.

While we do not wish to delve into the details of what was discussed in deference to the delegation of chiefs who requested for privacy in the full glare of the media including your reporter, we have to state that at no point during the meeting did President Rawlings issue conditions and ultimatums to the NDC government.

President Rawlings?s contributions at the meeting were summarized by his spokesperson, Mr. Kofi Adams and we find it unprofessional and absurd that your reporter attempted to question the veracity and accuracy of the presentation by Mr. Adams.

The former President has throughout the tenure of President Mills been unequivocal about the need for the Mills government to uphold the tenets of probity and accountability and re-investigate serious infractions during the tenure of the NPP. He did not hesitate to bring up those issues once again.

There is no doubt that President Rawlings is extremely unhappy about goings-on within the country under the administration of President Mills, but that does not mean he will acquiesce to falsehoods linked to his name even if they are critical of the current government.

This Office wonders if the report is not a conspiracy by certain political elements to generate misguided animosity within the current political dispensation designed to court the usual political sympathy for the government.

The crux of President Rawlings? message during the meeting on Tuesday April 24 was the fact that he wished the NDC would win the 2012 elections but that opportunity had been squandered due to the abandonment of the party?s values.

We wish to urge the Daily Guide and all members of the media to make it a point to crosscheck information picked up from unofficial sources before going public as such distortion is untenable.


Signed: Kobina Andoh Amoakwa
(Communication Director)