Former President Jerry John Rawlings has finally broken his silence over circumstances that led to his firing his former Secretary Victor Smith from working for him.
The former Ghana High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and Ireland who served under the Mr Rawlings as in Secretary in 2008 was allegedly fired via a text message over what was not known at the time.
He was subsequently asked to vacate his official residence with a letter to the Chief of Staff at the Castle, notifying the State, since he was on the payroll of government.
Victor Smith recently said he cannot forgive Rawlings because he is “pained” by some actions of former President Jerry Rawlings including his sack.
According to him, he was dismissed because he supported the candidature of John Mahama as running mate to late Prof John Atta Mills.
Even though the office of the former President had been very quiet about the dismissal, Victor Smith said he is still hurt.
On Sunday however, the former President broke his long silence indicating that his dismissal had nothing to do with him supporting former President John Dramani Mahama but over some monies.
“I used to have a secretary called Victor Smith; we fell out. It wasn’t so much because of disagreement over John Mahama and yet that’s what he’s touting. And yet I guess he like a few of us who want to be president have stepped back being promised, of course that he will make them running mates, I presume.”
“Listen, why did I turn against this boy called victor smith?” the former military ruler asked. “He (Mr Smith) was my Secretary. Some Nigerians invited us to the USA – I had left office – to come and give a talk and commission some business for them.
We went. When we returned, subsequently – months or how many years later – when Prof Mills was our flag bearer, then this Nigerians decided to help, so, they were dealing with my office, Mr Victor Smith.
Now I subsequently heard about it because there was a to-and-fro over this money, contribution issue till somebody finally called me that this is what is going on: ‘They know me, they want to give me the money and I can pass it on, not give it to Victor Smith and Victor Smith is saying that: ‘no, he would take it to the prof, [because] I’m not the one who is going to be the candidate,’ blah blah blah blah that type of rubbish. So, they come out through somebody and said: ‘This is what is going on.”
“Eventually, the contribution did not even come. It did not come. I did not receive any contribution from them, through Mills, through Smith, or directly through the person who came to see me also and I don’t believe that they sent it to Mills and I don’t believe that Prof Mills received any money from that place because I think they got fed up with the way this man was behaving.”He added
“And yet, when the time to pour poison on me started, this secretary of mine was telling the world on radio stations that contribution was coming for a certain nationalistic duty and he had stopped it and diverted it to the flag bearer. In other words, he had stopped it from coming to me.
I was disgusted that this guy would make up such a story. And you know the one who angered me the most? Our Prof Mills who knew the truth but kept quiet for this poison to burn me – I was fraudulent,” An angry Rawlings recounted
