Editorial: Mills, JJ, Time's Up

MILLS, JJ, TIME’S UP

…to listen to each other and unite the party

So much has taken place within the National Democratic Congress, NDC, since it came to power for the second time with President Mills as its leader as well as the President of the Country.

Even before the party went to the December congress held at Legon where Mills was elected as Presidential candidate of the party, there were signs that the future relationship between him and party Founder, JJ Rawlings, did not look good.

Once the NDC came to power, despite attempts to sweep under the carpet the drifting apart of these two personalities, time was only waiting to expose it. Today, no one in the party can say all is well between the two, a situation which has got genuine the blood pressure of followers of the party zooming up especially with the NPP so desperate to come to power.

The NDC is today is a divided house and since it is a fact that a house divided against itself will fall, it is clear that unless the rift in the party is resolved quickly, it will go back into the political wilderness called opposition.

For as at the Daily Post, the rift can be healed if only the Founder of the Party, JJ Rawlings and the current leader, President Mills, sit down and have a heart to heart talk without anybody present.

Rawlings ought to listen to Mills. Mills also ought to listen to Rawlings. Of course, listening here means hearing the other person out and genuinely trying to build bridges.

But truth be told, the cause of all this rift should be laid at the feet of Mr. Ato Ahwoi. When he says it is over his dead body that Spio Garbrah will become a Minister in the Mills government, then he is telling the whole world that he wields more power than the President. The Daily Post is no fun of Mr. Ekwow Spio- Garbrah but it is wrong for Mr. Ato Ahwoi to make such comments about a fellow party member. But the comment goes to show the kind of vindictive politics that some people around Mills are playing. As far as we are concerned, it is the likes of Mr. Ato Ahwoi who have forced a gulf between Rawlings and Mills. It is he who has deployed the CJA boys notably Okudzeto Ablakwa, Kwesi Pratt, Omane Boamah as well as the likes of Raymond Archer to embark on a smear campaign against Mr. Rawlings. How these people think that the rest of the NDC can sit unconcerned while these things happen must be the ninth wonder of the world.

The likes of party chairman, Kwabena Adjei and General-Secretary, Asiedu-Nketiah have shown gross incompetence by standing aloof while the pummeling of Rawlings by these CJA boys continue.

As somebody remarked, they have not only stood aloof but have also enjoyed it. But, their stance is not surprising because they suddenly belong to the school of thought within the NDC that strangely holds that Rawlings is no longer relevant to the fortunes of the party. Any one who thinks than the NDC can win more than 10% of the votes if the party goes into the 2012 elections without Rawlings is only fooling himself.

Comments Ben Ephson has been making in recent times both on radio and in his paper, The Dispatch, about the relevance of Rawlings in the NDC with regards to the outcome of the Tamale congress is laughable. We at the Daily Post are not unaware that he and a colleague met a senior security operative of the party about three weeks and were given the contract to churn out polls that will indicate that a Nana Konadu Presidential ambition will be a disaster for the NDC in 2012. Every discerning Ghanaian knows that Mr. Ephson does not conduct any opinion polls in this country. What he churns out is either a figment of his imagination or BNI reports (under Kufuor). No wonder, his assertion that Akufo- Addo will win the 2008 polls turned out to be one big hoax.

If President Mills’ men, in their wisdom, believe that they can hire Ephson to churn out fake polls to suit their cause, then they must be living in a banana republic.

Of course since it takes two to tango, Former President Rawlings can not escape blame for the rift between him and his protégé. It is Rawlings who marshaled everyone in the party to support Mills for victory 2008. As a result, today, in the year of our Lord 2010, whether Rawlings likes it or not, the Head of Government and President of Ghana is Atta-Mills. At present, if anyone who comes to this country wants to talk to us, wants to do business with this country and wants to see who is ruling the country, he or she will go to Atta-Mills. So, it is not palatable if Rawlings uses certain words to describe Mills even if his grievances, many of which we share anyway, are right.

Of course, this also does not give Pratt and his gang the effrontery to attack Rawlings. If they do, of course they should expect a taste of their own medicine from others.

So, time’s up for Mills and JJ to be the men they are, meet eye ball for eye ball and settle any issues between them amicably. Let Mills, from henceforth, as leader of the party and President of Ghana, be the ones to bridge the communication gap between him and Rawlings. And, let the two use the platform to provide a united leadership for the NDC. More importantly, let the two leave out all third parties as they meet frequently to jaw-jaw about the state and the party.

Mills, JJ, the ball is in your court; the party’s supporters are in pain. Don’t disappoint them. Let’s allow bygones to be bygones!