Mr Rawlings recounted his commitments and the grave sacrifices he had made for the NDC to get to its current high-profile pedestal.
In the interview, he decried the actions of the “elements” in the NDC who were allegedly pretending to show their commitments to the party, yet secretly, their activities worked to the detriment of the party.
According to the NDC founder, these “elements” should rather be the ones expunged from the party.
Jerry Rawlings is being hounded by his party for showing up at the delegates’ congress of the NDC’s breakaway party, the National Democratic Party (NDP), in support of his wife, Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings who was elected unopposed as the NDP’s flagbearer.
Some of the party members said that he had been bewitched and that he was under a spell cast by Nana Konadu.
Nana Konadu had, for several months, been linked to the NDP, but there was no official confirmation of this speculation until she was finally given the top job of the party last Saturday at the Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi at the delegates’ congress.
To pave way for her flagbearership, Mrs. Rawlings resigned her membership of the NDC and relinquished her executive position as a vice chairperson.
By virtue of his wife’s association with NDP, Jerry Rawlings was also linked to the party, but he had denied this, even though he maintained that he would give his wife all the necessary support in her political endeavour.
He was the special guest at the Saturday event where he predicted doom for the NDC.
Since the NDC recaptured power in 2009, Jerry Rawlings has been at daggers drawn with the party he founded because he believes there are some corrupt elements within the party who are actively working to make the ruling party unpopular.
He has variously described those people as “Greedy Bastards,” “Old Evil Dwarfs,” and “Babies with Sharp Teeth.”
He said the activities of those faceless people had driven him to the point where he had become the strongest critic of his own party.
Caught Between Two Choices
Jerry Rawlings is caught in a dilemma between showing loyalty to his NDC party and showing his unflinching support for his wife.
In the past month, Jerry Rawlings has featured prominently on all the major activities of the NDC.
First, he was made the special speaker at the party’s extraordinary delegates’ congress that endorsed President John Mahama as the NDC’s flagbearer in Kumasi.
A few weeks afterwards, he was given the prime spot at the launch of the NDC’s manifesto in the Volta Region. From the two events, it became clear that Jerry Rawlings still mattered and counted within the NDC
Before he featured at those two events, the fate of Jerry Rawlings in the NDC was almost uncertain as many party supporters thought he was going to part ways with them, given his caustic criticisms.
Last Saturday, however, his appearance at the NDP congress in Kumasi threw the hierarchy of the NDC off their guard.
His utterances were particularly seen by some NDC executives as a direct assault on the governing party.
On the podium, the first president of the Fourth Republic declared that several aspiring Members of Parliament on the ticket of the NDC were going to lose their seats. “Can you imagine the number of MPs on the NDC front that are [sic] going to lose? It is not my wish for the NDC to lose and lose badly, but because people want to out their own agenda [sic],” he said almost incoherently.
He said the party was desperate to win the December polls at all cost because “they are afraid if we go into opposition, they will taste injustice”.
On Monday, executives of the NDC met to decide the fate of their founder, a former military dictator who later embraced democracy.
Leading The Charge
The NDC General Secretary, Johnson Asiedu Nketia, a former rural banker in Seikwa, virtually handpicked into politics by Rawlings, appears to be leading the charge for the ouster of his former Godfather.
He was quoted on Monday as saying that he had issued a notice to Jerry Rawlings that his fate in the party would be determined after the executive meeting.
The NDC believes that Mr Rawlings’s appearance on the NDP platform amounted to conflict of interest. “We will wish him well,” he said.
Mr. Asiedu-Nketia, when asked about the possible outcome of the meeting, said, “Nobody flouts NDC constitution and gets away with it.”
According to Mr. Nketia, Rawlings was not above the law of the NDC.
“We do not have any individual in the NDC who can be called permanent members. We are all subject to the party’s constitution so the same laws that govern our membership, govern everybody else. We will listen to the evidence and then the National Executive Committee (NEC) will meet and then we will proceed from whatever decision the National Executive Committee will take,” he almost predicted the decision of the NEC.
The Deputy Minister of Energy, Inusah Fuseini, a trained teacher and lawyer, has vowed to lead a crusade to expel the NDC founder for supporting his wife.
According to the Tamale Central MP, the NDC founder would be violating the laws of the very party he formed by his actions, hence, the need for his name to be expunged from the party’s register.
Under Witches Influence
Meanwhile, the NDC echelon is extremely confused about the game plan of Mr. Rawlings, an astute former pilot and two-time coup maker.
Haruna Alidu, a presidential staffer, has offered an explanation for Mr Rawlings’s antics. According to him, the NDC founder was no longer a man of “his own self, neither is he a man of his own mind”.
Speaking on the breakfast show of e-TV on Monday, Alhaji Alidu concluded that there was something supernatural about Jerry Rawlings’s actions.
“What he has been doing is not natural; he is not doing so on his own; he is under a spell… and has been blindfolded; JJ is suffering from witchcraft attack. Jerry is a smart person and I don’t think he is doing what he is doing with his clean eyes [sic]. You endorse a new party, but you won’t leave your own party. Look at the confusion! You meet Nana Akufo-Addo, and you don’t think there is something wrong? You make allegations without proof.
“Rawlings needs the prayers of all NDC members. Even men of God are influenced by spells. Even Prophet Mohammed suffered witches’ attack, and Rawlings is a man and not more powerful than the Prophet, so he can suffer witchcraft attack. He needs prayers,” stated a bemused Alidu.
However, President Mahama said Nana Konadu’s wish should be respected.
Speaking on his arrival at the Kotoka International Airport from his tour of the Volta and Northern regions yesterday, President Mahama stated that every Ghanaian had the right to support and join any political party of their choice.
“I think one of the cardinal principles in our constitution is freedom of association and so people are free to belong to any party or associate with any party that they want.
“I don’t think that it’s a big deal, but I think we must respect their human rights to associate with a new party if they want to. I believe that our campaign is going well and God is on our side and I believe that we are going to be victorious,” he said.
source: Daily Guide
0 comments:
Post a Comment