Rawlings Supports Wife’s Acclamation As NDP Presidential Candidate

The Founder of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Jeremiah John Rawlings, was the guest of honour at the ceremony to acclaim his wife as the Flagbearer of the also-ran National Democratic Party (NDP), in what has sent shivers down the NDC.

Even though the event was virtual due to the raging Covid-19 pandemic, Mr. Rawlings made sure to grace the occasion. Rawlings antics have been interpreted as divisive by some worried members of the main opposition NDC who refer to the glaring absence of the party’s founder during the acclamation of the presidential candidate, John Dramani Mahama.

Nana Konadu founded the NDP in bitterness and after she failed in the contest for the flagbearer of the NDC in the lead up to the 2012 elections. The humiliating defeat to then-President Mills had sent Rawlings on a path of choosing between his wife and the party he founded “with his blood”.

Mrs. Rawlings, who together with her husband had become very critical of Mills over Mills’ refusal to prosecute corrupt former appointees of the John Kufuor government then formed the NDP, which at the time many believed was aimed to diffuse NDC votes, but then the perceived plan failed badly because the NDC and John Mahama went on to win the 2012 elections.

The NDC has since also lost the 2016 elections but Mr. Rawlings and his wife’s antics at the NDC may present a difficult reconciliation for the NDC which is struggling to claw back from opposition.

Meanwhile, the founder and newly confirmed flagbearer of the NDP, Mrs Rawlings says her political journey is borne out of a sense of service to humanity rather than personal ambition.

 “The upcoming general election is really not about me or my individuality but about our nation and our future. We should try to refocus our lenses as a people on long term national development visions,” she said.

The NDP had been disqualified from contesting in the 2012 Presidential elections after it became obvious they were not prepared for that election. Again, in 2016, the party barely polled 17,000 votes out of over 12 million votes and scoring an insignificant 0.16% of total votes cast nationally for the presidential elections.