Nana Konadu Agyemang-Rawlings
The National Democratic Party (NDP) has accused the National Democratic Congress (NDC) of scheming to profit from the sudden death of former President Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings through sympathy votes on December 7.
The NDP led by Nana Konadu Agyemang-Rawlings, former Frist Lady and wife of the deceased ex-President who founded the NDC, broke away from the party to form the NDP in 2011 after an acrimonious party congress in Sunyani, and the two have not seen ‘eye to eye’ ever since.
NDP General Secretary, Alhaji Mohammed Frimpong, said at a news conference in Accra yesterday that “if John Mahama managed to profit from the death of President John Evans Mills, he should not be allowed to do same with the demise of our beloved President Rawlings and Ghanaians should not and will not oblige him that.”
Notice Served
He said, “We want to serve notice that the NDP will make it a point to expose those who are making feverish attempts to rewrite their despicable opinions about President Rawlings and readjust their abhorrence for the man after all the sacrifices he made for them. And now, upon his demise, they are seeking the limelight for more personal political gain! How dare they!”
He also parried the claim that the flag bearer, Mrs. Rawlings, has withdrawn from the election, barely two weeks into the final contest and said it could be coming from people who did not wish her well.
Crocodile Tears
He said the NDC was clearly ‘shedding crocodile tears’ over the demise of Mr. Rawlings because he insisted that when he was alive they (NDC) did not like him.
He said NDC bigwigs including their flag bearer, former President Mahama, disrespected Mr. Rawlings and desperately wanted to silence him, adding “and now that he is no more, they want to utilize his death to galvanize support for their failing political campaign ahead of the 2020 general elections.”
“We are troubled that some of these same persons, upon the demise of President Rawlings, now seek to lead in mourning the man; they have begun to shed crocodile tears. They spent thousands of dollars to sponsor videos made in Washington DC by one Kelvin Taylor, who is tipped to be Information Minister in the event of a Mahama comeback, to insult President Rawlings in words, some of which we dare not repeat, and posted them all over the world through Facebook, WhatsApp and other social media platforms,” he said.
Kevin Taylor
Alhaji Frimpong also accused Mahama and the NDC of endorsing the misdeeds of Mr. Taylor against Mr. and Mrs. Rawlings, saying, “With the apparent endorsement of John Mahama and the NDC leadership, Kelvin Taylor said, and I quote, ‘Rawlings is a modern-day Judas and a hypocrite. He and his sleazy wife are greedy. He behaves as a lapdog to the NPP government and always kisses the ass of Nana Akufo-Addo anytime he gets the opportunity to speak about corruption.’”
Alhaji Frimpong said “Kevin Taylor also also went on to say, and I quote, ‘JJ Rawlings is not God, he is a bad national and a modern-day Judas… and such a man does not even deserve to be a Statesman.’ ‘JJ Rawlings is a coward… (you are) a hypocrite and a disgrace on the lap of a midget.’” The NDC sat unconcerned for the young man to abuse the founder.
Rawlings Wishes
The NDP urged the electorate, particularly loyalists of Mr. Rawlings, to identify the wishes of the late President and ‘honour’ them as a way of showing their last respect to him.
The party said that one of the main wishes of Mr. Rawlings was to see Mahama and the NDC to lose in the 2020 general elections, saying “as a matter of fact, Jerry John Rawlings was eager to see Mahama lose in the 2020 elections because he believed Mahama and his cohorts had departed from the very ideals of probity and accountability upon which the NDC was formed.”
“When Mahama was elected as the flag bearer of the NDC for the 2020 general elections, JJ was blunt about Mahama’s intentions. According to JJ, Mahama’s intentions are not to win the 2020 general elections. His intentions are to simply hijack the NDC with his money in an attempt to show up again as the party’s flag bearer in 2024.”
The NDP therefore advised ‘true believers’ in the ideals of Mr. Rawlings not to do anything that would go against the wishes of President Rawlings.
“Ladies and gentlemen, clearly, if you are a true believer in JJ, you cannot honour his memory by choosing a candidate who together with his backers, sowed discord between JJ and the party he founded and worked hard to discredit Mrs. Rawlings, his lifelong defender, partner, counsellor, pillar, friend, confidante, comrade and soul-mate,” they added.
NDC Order
After the NDP presser, it turned out that the NDC had barred its communicators from commenting on the issues raised by the NDP
A statement signed by NDC National Communications Officer, Sammy Gyamfi, directed all communicators “not to comment on the press conference held this afternoon by the NDP, which is intended to divert our attention from the stinking Agyapa scandal, Martin Amidu’s resignation and matters arising from same.”
“Under no circumstance, should any communicator or party official, comment on the content of the NDP’s presser,” the statement said.
“Let’s focus on propagating the superior policies and programs that Mr. Mahama and the party have for Ghanaians. Also, let’s focus our energies on amplifying the stinking Agyapa scandal, Martin Amidu’s resignation and death threats on his life and other corruption and nepotistic scandals being supervised by President Akufo Addo,” he added.
By Thomas Fosu Jnr.