Rawlings refutes allegations of a coup plot

Former President Jerry John Rawlings on Thursday denied soliciting for funds to stage a coup d'etat in Ghana and said he had never and would never solicit for funds to stage a coup in Ghana. Former President Rawlings was reacting to allegations made against him by President John Agyekum Kufuor at separate rallies at Abofour and Kokote to round off the parliamentary by-election campaign of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Offinso South Constituency on Sunday.

In a speech read on behalf of Former President Rawlings by Mr Victor Gbeho, a Former Minister of Foreign Affairs, he said he did not know where the allegation was coming from. He said the allegation was so wild that it did no credit to the country’s intelligence service, “which has been under pressure to manufacture stories to discredit the NDC Party".

Former President Rawlings said as far as his recent trips abroad was concerned, the media had widely reported his speeches in Euskirchen and Hamburg in Germany and at the South Bank University in London to convince Ghanaians that he was not on a coup trip.

"I have noticed over a period that President Kufuor has developed the habit of attacking me personally whenever his administration is in trouble and so I am not surprised at this recent attack." Former President Rawlings said President Kufuor had targeted him and his family for prosecution but he would not be intimidated and would continue to expose the wrong doings of his government.

President Kufuor had said he was not happy about the behaviour of Former President Rawlings, adding that he and his government had no time for him now but would reply him at the appropriate time. He said Former President Rawlings did not want to hear the success story of the NPP and was using various avenues to discredit his government.

He expressed concern about the negative attitude of Ex-President Rawlings destroying the good image of the NPP government abroad; begging for funds to destabilise the country and finding loopholes to divide the people at the local level.