Former Special aide to late Jerry John Rawlings, Victor Smith has opened up on how he lost his job as the then president’s right-hand man.
Victor Smith narrated in an Onua TV interview that JJ Rawlings asked him to write a letter stating that he has been relieved of his duties as Special Assistant.
The former Ghanaian diplomat stated that he refused the instruction from Rawlings only for the president to send a message to Joy FM announcing that he had fired him.
Victor Smith said that he was seething with rage and wanted to react to the dismissal but he received wise counsel from some senior citizens who told him that it will be suicidal for him to go up against Rawlings.
“Rawlings asked me to write a letter sacking myself but I refused to write the letter. He told me to write the letter and bring it to him then he will sign that he has sacked me. When I refused he forwarded a message to Joy. I got a call from Joy stating that a letter that was addressed to me had been sent to them by Rawlings. I wasn’t sure so I asked to mention the number and it was his.
“I asked them to do whatever they want to do it so they went to town with it. I got a call from some elders begging me that I don’t shouldn’t go after him. They said that it will not be good for me politically. If you had an opportunity to work with such a person and you start to expose him, they will be a problem. Someone I don’t know from anywhere came through my wife telling me not to speak because Jerry is very annoying. Until today, I’ve never spoken ill of him,” he said.
On what led to his dismissal, Victor Smith attributes it to some misinformation Rawlings and then First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings received.
He recounted how an investor, who later turned out to be a fraud, reached out to him about supporting the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
In the course of his interaction with the person, a request was made from the person that he (Victor Smith) make some payment to him (the alleged investor) to facilitate the process of getting the money but he (Victor Smith) realized it was a fraudulent scheme and said no.
Victor Smith claims the alleged fraudster traveled to Ghana and made some allegations against him to the Rawlings family and that led to the collapse in his relationship with the family.
“I still will like to be her friend. We still don’t talk at all. Even the children none of them wants to know me including Zanetor. Maybe an allegation was made against me on an issue. President Rawlings himself commented on it in Wa.
“Someone wanted to bring some money to him and the party but I told the person to give the money to Atta Mills. The whole story was not true. I wanted help for the party and I was talking to the person but that person turned out to be a con person and he tried to extort money from me.
“I told him I don’t do that and he went behind me to tell Mrs. Rawlings that I’m hinting that Rawlings will misuse the money and he got angry with it. That is when they planned to get rid of me. We meet at gatherings and exchange pleasantries, that’s all,” he said.
ghanaweb.com
