Barring any unforeseen circumstance, former First lady Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings is expected to renounce her membership of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) any moment from today.
This would enable her to respond to calls for her to contest for the newly formed National Democratic Party (NDP), most of whose supporters are disgruntled members of the NDC.
Dr. Nii Armah Josiah Aryeh, interim National Chairman of the NDP, dropped the hint when he announced the extension of the filing of nominations for the party's presidential candidature.
Dr. Aryeh told Joy FM yesterday that even though NDP members were calling on the former First Lady to contest on the party's flagbearership, she could not do so because she was still a member of the NDC, expressing the hope that she might quit the ruling party by the close of the week.
Sources close to Mrs. Rawlings, whose husband, former President Jerry John Rawlings, is the founder of the ruling party, told Daily Guide that the only thing left was for her was to communicate her decision to the leadership of the NDC.
That, according to sources, was part of reasons the interim national executive of the NDP had to postpone its congress and launch to enable Nana Konadu and other potential aspirants to file their nominations.
She is said to have already received the blessings of her husband who is equally not happy with developments in the party he founded and also fought tooth and nail to return it to power after eight years in opposition.
The interim National Chairman of the NDP, a former General Secretary of the ruling NDC, Dr. Aryeh, who spoke on the issue, said, “The former First Lady now remains a member of the NDC. She has not and I stand to be corrected: she has not publicly resigned her position but if she resigns, then of course like anybody else, she could join us”.
According to Dr. Aryeh, who spoke on Accra-based Citi FM, the party initially planned to close nominations tomorrow and hold congress on Saturday, September 29.
“We have taken a second look and decided that congress should be on the 6th of October”, he stated, indicating that the rescheduling of the congress was due to the flagbearership contest.
For this reason, he said the closure of nominations had been extended.
$5m Handshake
Nana Konadu dismissed media reports claiming she had demanded $5 million from the NDC to abandon plans to lead the NDP into the 2012 general elections.
Mrs. Rawlings insisted she had not had any discussion with anybody from the NDC about rumours circulating that she was set to lead the NDP against the party her husband founded, let alone haggling over how much would be enough to change her mind.
The pro NDC Al-Hajj newspaper edited by Alhaji Bature Iddrisu reported last Thursday that the former First Lady had demanded $5 million from the NDC if she was to be persuaded to step down as a possible flag bearer for the NDP.
The newspaper claimed Nana Konadu made those demands when mediators from the NDC impressed upon her to drop her ambition of contesting the crucial elections, a scenario which could split NDC votes.
Nana Konadu, who was the special guest of honor at the 6th anniversary celebration of the Women Encounter in Tema, said the speculations would not deter her from achieving the purpose for which God created her.
“Before coming here, I had to go and meet a certain gentleman who is writing some article for me. And then he asked me 'Oh there's this about you going to collect $5m so that you keep your mouth shut. I said what are you talking about? Then he said let me get the paper from my car.' he went and picked the paper from his car.
“It was sad for me. They write things that I do not even recognize myself in the papers. Nobody has spoken to me about anything like that. I haven't told anybody about anything like that. But the man (author of the story) was emphatic. He wants to destroy the purpose for which God has brought me onto this earth, and I will not agree to it”, she declared to a loud applause.
Meanwhile, pressure is mounting on Nana Konadu to respond to the overtures of her friends of Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings (FONKAR) and become the flag bearer of the NDP.
In an interview yesterday, FONKAR Operations Director Owusu Bempah was optimistic the lady would be so overwhelmed by both the internal and external overtures that she would have no option than to succumb to the popular wish of her admirers.
The silence of the former First Lady has been a source of concern to political pundits who are unable to decrypt the conundrum surrounding her future, a situation worsened by her husband's presence at the NDC conference in Kumasi.
The NDC last week dared the former First Lady to declare her position without further ado, as to whether she was going to maintain her membership of the party or change her status and join the party she is rumored as being behind.
Owusu Bempah told Daily Guide, “We shall be there and the country, we are optimistic, would be treated to a major political development when the former First Lady would break ranks with the NDC and take up the leadership of the NDP. We are still entreating her to consider our demand.”
She has of late been active in Kumasi in what political observers think has to do with her political future and the country's.
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