Majority Leader in Parliament and Minister for Parliamentary Affair Mr. Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu has said the sudden demise of the Former President Jerry John Rawlings would not offer any advantage to the National Democratic Congress (NDC) ahead of the December 7, 2020, polls.
“Even while he was living, the NPP won the polls with that resounding victory. Even 2012 when we thought we had won because all indications showed we had won yet Rawlings was alive. Therefore I don’t see how it is going to affect us as far as the election is concerned”. Hon. Osei-Kyei-Mensah said this in an interview with Kumasi-based Angel FM monitored by MyNewsGH.com.
“I’m not too sure his death would have any impact on the upcoming elections”, he added while speaking to Kwame Tanko on the show “Angel in the Morning”.
The Suame legislator noted that, it would be difficult for any political party to cash in on sympathy votes in the December 7 election which is barely 21 days to go.
In fact, he became much instrumental in the party’s victory during the 2008 election when Former President John Agyekum Kufuor was leaving office.
However, after the 2008 election, the late J.J Rawlings begun distancing himself from the party.
In fact, a few years after his death, he was virtually no more with his own party.
Ghana’s former President Jerry John Rawlings died Thursday morning [November 12, 2020] at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) in Accra at the age of 73.
Mr Rawlings had been on admission at Korle Bu for about a week for an ailment.
Mr. Rawlings’ last public appearance was during his mother’s burial ceremony on October 24, 2020. Mr Rawlings was born on June 22, 1947. Mr. Rawlings’ father was Scottish whilst his mother was Ghanaian.
Jerry John Rawlings ruled Ghana from 1981 to 2001 and also for a brief period in 1979. He led a military junta until 1992 when he founded the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and then served two terms as a democratically elected President.
The late Former President Jerry John Rawlings after leaving office in the year 2001 became very instrumental in the campaign of his party National Democratic Congress (NDC) when the late President was the presidential candidate.