I read the above award to Rawlings in your March 16/2005 edition with dismay and have concluded that the organizers who came with this idea are enemies to the intellectual community and to democracy..

As a reminder to Ghanaians and your readers Rawlings took arms to over throw the Limann because he was unable to feed his family with his pay because of his own inability to manage his pay and was borrowing and crediting the common man's food - yoke gari After tasting power in 1979, he lined all those who came to power like him and killed all of them.

This did not end there; he took his guns to the Makola Market, the economic backbone for the ordinary person. He broke down the economic base of the Makola Market, which was employing over a million people in direct and indirect economic activity. He did the same to the Tamale Central Market.

As a dictator he terrorised his own people. Have we forgotten when at gunpoint any one with over fifty thousand was asked to deposit it in a special account?

Has the money been paid to those who deposited these sums? Was any interest paid? These were the same people sustaining the Ghanaian economy. He took all their money made their lives miserable to the disadvantage of their children.

So the best award to give to Rawlings is to let the people judge him to see if he deserves this award because when he came to power he was called Junior Jesus.

He was a self -centered dictator without remorse. His leadership brought only selfish gain to himself and his close cronies. Like all dictators, events and time will judge and award him his just deserts as it has done to other dictators.

This award is a disgrace not only to Ghana but to Africa and the intellectual community of the world.

Nick Candu