LUNCH WITH FORMER PRESIDENT JERRY RAWLINGS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ACCRA 001308

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/07/2016
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL ECON GH
SUBJECT: LUNCH WITH FORMER PRESIDENT JERRY RAWLINGS


ACCRA 00001308 001.2 OF 002


Classified By: PolChief Scott B. Ticknor for reasons 1.5 d and e.


1. (C) Summary: The Ambassador hosted former President
Rawlings, his wife, and four aides for lunch on May 19. The
Ambassador explained at the start that the Embassy made it a
policy to meet with all major party leaders in Ghana. She
encouraged Rawlings and his entourage to share their vision
for Ghana, and also solicited their comments on the state of
the country. Rawlings delivered an emotional and
disorganized critique of the current government of Ghana,
stressing that average Ghanaians are suffering economically
due to the current government's policies, and that President
Kufuor has mishandled his relationship with the military.
The entourage expressed disappointment with the recent praise
that President Bush gave Kufuor in Washington. They assured
us, however, that they are not anti-American. The Ambassador
noted the U.S. interest in broad political dialogue in Ghana,
adding that Embassy reporting and interaction with the
government is balanced and fair. End summary.


2. (C) On May 19, Ambassador hosted lunch for former
President J.J. Rawlings, his wife Nana Konadu
Agyeman-Rawlings and four of his aides. DCM, EconChief,
USAID Director, Consular Chief and DATT briefed the Rawlings
entourage on their roles in the Mission and on how they see
Ghana. The Ambassador told Rawlings that the USG has had an
ongoing dialogue with his National Democratic Congress (NDC)
party and that it is a matter of mission (and USG) policy to
interact with all political parties in Ghana. We recognize
that he and the NDC have contributed to Ghana's successes,
she said, and urged him to offer his thoughts on the state of
the country and on the U.S.-Ghana bilateral relationship.


3. (C) Rawlings was rambling and at times emotional, making
the following main points:

On Politics: Kufuor is persecuting the Rawlings' and the
NDC. Mrs. Rawlings described Kufuor as "vicious and
vindictive", alleging that he was working to undermine her
and her December 31 Women's Movement, and claiming the NPP
has depicted her as a thief, which has hurt her ability to
raise funds. She said the ongoing court case alleging she
was involved in corruption is politically motivated without
basis in fact. In response to a question about the seemingly
growing rift between the NPP and NDC, Rawlings stated that
Ghanaians are not polarized. Rather, they are united against
the NPP.

On the Economy: Rawlings and his group praised the role of
women in development and society. However, they insisted
that the average Ghanaian has not seen an improvement in his
or her pocketbooks. Schools are overcrowded. Corruption is
rampant. Prices are high. In an emotional outburst, Ms.
Rawlings accused the current government of manipulating
economic statistics to create an illusion of economic
progress, arguing that growth was much lower and inflation
higher than the official reports. She rejected EconChief and
USAID Directors' suggestions that the Ghanaian economy and
government economic policy were moving in the right
direction, stating that international donors' compliments of
the GOG's handling of the economy are unwarranted and
uninformed. She disagreed that Ghana is enjoying
unprecedented economic opportunities due to high gold and
cocoa export revenues, increasing donor assistance, and sound
macroeconomic policies. Instead, she and other member of the
Rawlings group suggested outdated protectionist and statist
policies as alternatives to the current government's economic
policies.

On the Military: When asked about possible unhappiness in
the lower ranks of the armed forces, Rawlings recounted in
great detail his role in the coups of 1979 and 1981, making
the point that the lower ranks were angry and had threatened
significant violence. He justified the decision to execute
senior military leaders as required to prevent even greater
violence. He alleged that Kufuor has not handled the
military particularly well, removing a large number of senior
enlisted men -- some of the best in the military -- because
he questioned their loyalty.

On the U.S.: The NDC does not hate America, Rawlings stated.
He and his entourage pointed out that many of them have
family and educational ties to the U.S. and that strong
US-Ghana relations began under the Rawlings regime. However,
Rawlings was frustrated that the U.S. was squandering its

ACCRA 00001308 002.2 OF 002


power worldwide and was "not telling the truth". He opined
that we let Kufuor "upstage" us in his recent trip to
Washington.


4. (C) Rawlings' assistant Victor Smith expressed frustration
with President Bush's praise of Kufuor at the White House,
especially for Kufuor's efforts to curb corruption. He hoped
the Embassy was reporting corruption and governance problems
to Washington. Ambassador said she had seen Rawlings' public
criticism of the U.S. and President Bush. She assured the
former President that the Embassy reports on governance
problems here in a fair, balanced manner, including in the
Embassy's public reports, and that we raise these issues
publicly and privately with the government.

--------------
Comment
--------------


5. (C) Rawlings and his team were warm and engaging and
appeared to genuinely appreciate the dialogue. Rawlings
acknowledged the Embassy's earlier outreach to the NDC,
including making a birthday cake for the NDC Chairman and
calling on NDC leader Atta Mills in his office. He wished
other Embassies were as active -- an admission that few other
foreign missions deal with him regularly.


6. (C) Any encounter with JJ Rawlings has an element of the
bizarre. He booms forth his opinions (which are often overly
emotional and difficult to follow),and then makes sure to
ask others for their views. He loses track of his thoughts,
grabs people around him (he grabbed the Ambassador's arm on
several occasions),and fumbles with the two pairs of glasses
dangling from his neck. He combines charm with a subtle
sense of menace and confusion. None of his entourage offered
intelligent opinions on economics or Ghanaian politics writ
large. They lacked the polish of many other NDC leaders,
such as the Atta Mills, the NDC's Presidential candidate in
2000 and 2004. Their main focus was the Rawlings' very
personal, deep sense of grievance, which does not augur well
for reconciliation with the NPP or Kufuor. The NDC
leadership still harbors anti-American sentiment and
misperceptions, which this lunch and our other outreach
efforts helped to address.


7. (C) Despite his volatile nature, Rawlings is still a
powerful political force in Ghana, and his magnetic but
mercurial personality attracts ordinary Ghanaians, as
evidenced by the line the Ambassador's staff formed to take
pictures with "the leader," as his supporters call him.
Given this influence, and his open animosity towards the
current regime, it is easy to understand why the NPP is still
afraid of him and his followers. End Comment.
LANIER