General News of 2012-10-12

Konadu quits NDC

After weeks of speculations and suspense,the former First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, has resigned from the National Democratic Congress(NDC).
The move is to pave way for her to contest the flag bearership race of the party slated for Kumasi on Saturday.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic, the former First Lady said her resignation was to pave the way for her to begin the process of filing her nomination to contest the flag bearership race of the National Democratic Party (NDP).
Asked whether she has picked the nomination form, she was not definitive.
“Well, it is not completely decided yet. I have to go through some processes,” she told the Daily Graphic in a telephone interview.
Meanwhile, a Deputy General Secretary of the NDC, Mr George Lawson, told the Daily Graphic that Nana Konadu was yet to tender in her resignation.
According to a Deputy Communications Director of the NDP, Dr Hilarius Abiwu, the resignation was timely, as the party’s filing of nomination was to end at midnight Thursday.
The decision of the former First Lady comes as a good news to anxious supporters of the party, who for weeks, were expecting her to declare her intention of leading the NDP into the 2012 election.
Earlier at a meeting former President J.J. Rawlings had with Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the flag bearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in Accra yesterday, he (Rawlings) gave a glimmer of hope to anxious supporters of the NDP in a rather proverbial way.
The former President’s message to Nana Akufo-Addo was a pointer to the fact that the NDP presidential ticket for Nana Konadu was still a possibility.
He said while he expected either President Mahama or Nana Konadu to win the elections, he asked Nana Akufo-Addo to ensure the personal liberty and freedom of NDC supporters were secured under his administration should he emerge the winner.
Earlier in the day, although the NDP leadership had been touting Nana Konadu as the candidate of choice for weeks, there was no show at the party headquarters. It was widely anticipated that the former First Lady would pick the NDP nomination forms yesterday (Thursday).
The dozens of journalists who turned up at the NDP headquarters, ostensibly to cover Nana Konadu’s picking of nomination forms, left the Kokomlemle office disappointed.
A trusted source within the party had maintained that the former First Lady was a mature politician and suspense was part of her game.
According to the source, even though Nana Konadu had not picked the forms, she would certainly do so.
Under the party’s guidelines for flag-bearer nomination, the deadline for picking forms is 48 hours to the congress, but it appears the NDP is willing to bend the rules to crown the First Lady to lead them into the 2012 elections.
Giving a rather interesting twist to the matter, the source said, “She may not come physically for the forms but I can guarantee that she will contest on Saturday.”
While Nana Konadu continues to dribble her way around the NDP and keeps its supporters in suspense, the clock is ticking fast for the party to announce its other candidates for the position.
According to the source, in the most unlikely event that Nana Konadu failed to pick the nomination forms, the party would be forced to put up its wild cards — the two candidates who had picked the forms but still remained unknown.
The NDP goes to congress on Saturday in Kumasi to select its presidential candidate just in time to meet the Electoral Commission’s October 17-18, 2012 deadline for filing nominations for the presidential and parliamentary elections.
Some 3,500 delegates are expected to converge on the Baba Yara Stadium to pick a presidential candidate for the December elections.
The congress, which is on the theme, “Transforming our Nation’s Future Now”, will also be used to confirm the NDP’s national executives and outdoor its manifesto and constitution.