Cash Splits Konadu Boys

In spite of attempts by government and its functionaries to create the impression that all is well between incumbent President Atta Mills and his one-time mentor, former President Jerry John Rawlings, there are strong indications that a form of frosty relations between the two personalities exists as Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings said it yesterday.

As members of the Friends of Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings (FONKAR) virtually throw blows over the continued relevance of the group, Nana Konadu says it is too early to hang her gloves for the December 2012 presidential elections.


The former First Lady told Joy FM last night that ‘never say die’, like Hearts of Oak, when it comes to the 2012 polls, saying it is “too premature to say no”.


According to Nana Konadu, she was not a soothsayer to predict what would happen tomorrow, suggesting that she had her eyes strongly fixed on the 2012 elections.


She however did not explain the platform to actualize the dream as President Mills looked forward to December for re-election for another four years.

Nana Konadu’s FONKAR boys are already fighting over the group’s continued existence as some members are said to have been bought.


One of the boys is said to have collected GH¢15,000 from a prominent individual who played a key role in the NDC transition team in 2009.


“We will like to appeal to this renegade group, led by Ransford Chatman-Vaani-Amoah, that FONKAR, as it stands now, is bigger than what they supposedly founded, and if they have joined the ‘fair weather friends’ to earn their ‘gargantuan share’ they should better shut up and enjoy their booty rather than be going round peddling falsehood about FONKAR because whatever malicious agenda they have been rented to carry out will fail,” a group loyal to Nana Konadu had said in a statement circulated to the media.


Sometime last week, some disgruntled members of the FONKAR, who had switched camps to join the Mills team including Ransford Vaani-Amoah, the man who claims that he founded the group, and his colleague Dela Coffie, who since his exit from the group had been calling himself Efo Dela, issued a statement in which they claimed “FONKAR has with immediate effect dissolved the group in the supreme interest of the NDC, ahead of the December polls.” They claimed the decision was taken at an extraordinary meeting since the seeming factionalism within the party was not healthy as they geared up for the 2012 elections.

But a counter statement was issued by some leading members of the group including its Deputy National Organiser, Ibrahim Hardi, Northern, Upper West and Upper East regional secretaries, Abdulai Majeed, Salifu Ali and Kamil Jefaru, in which they rubbished their colleague’s claim while pledging their unflinching support for the Rawlingses.


“We are stating categorically that no such meeting has taken place with any of the three northern regions’ executives of FONKAR and we are appealing to our numerous members and supporters of the former First Lady to treat it with contempt,” the counter statement said.


They insisted, “FONKAR still exists and is even growing daily by the numbers.”


That, they said, was because “ Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings is the life patron by virtue of our use of her name in our activities and the final authority in terms of whether or not the group continues to operate or not.”

The die-hard supporters of the Rawlingses indicated that they were appalled by the attempt by a few individuals to drag Mrs Rawlings, the life patron’s name into disrepute by falsely announcing the dissolution of FONKAR when they had no such authority whatsoever.


They had since asked the supposed founder of FONKAR and his colleagues to render an unqualified apology or incur their wrath.


On Tuesday, March 6, 2012, Mr Rawlings, NDC founder and his wife, Nana Konadu honoured an invitation extended to them to observe proceedings of the 55th independence anniversary celebrations at the Independence Square where they shared the dais with President J.E.A Mills and other important personalities.


That deal was said to have been brokered by Brig. Gen. Joseph Nunoo-Mensah (rtd), National Security Advisor, allowing Rawlings and his wife to attend.

Government officials have interpreted that as a mark of the cordial relations between Mr Rawlings and President Mills.


Mr and Mrs Rawlings sat quietly throughout the programme, occasionally sharing some thoughts and smiling in the full glare of television cameras.


But the mood and faces of the two individuals changed at the end of the programme when President Mills and other government functionaries rose to shake hands with them.


The expectation was for them to be smiling as they shook hands with the President but both wore long faces to the surprise of many.