Martin Amidu narrates how Rawlings was 'snubbed' in the nomination of Prof. Mills' running mate in 2007

Martin Amidu, the former Minister of Justice and Attorney General, has narrated supposed events that transpired during the selection of former President John Dramani Mahama as the running mate of Prof John Evans Atta-Mills, the then flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), in 2007.

According to him, the late Jerry John Rawlings (JJ), the founder of the NDC, was snubbed in the nomination process of Mahama.

Martin Amidu, who made these claims in an editorial copied to GhanaWeb, said that after he had some discussions with the late J.J. on the running mate of the late Prof Mills, the founder of the NDC sent him to speak to the then President of Burkina Faso about ‘the nominee’.

He urged J.J. to ask Prof. Mills if he had offered the running mate position to the nominee.

“A situation that brought conflict within the NDC occurred on 24 December 2007 when former President Rawlings caused Victor Smith to invite me for a discussion to undertake a mission on his behalf to Burkina Faso to underscore to my bosom friend President (Captain) Blaise Compaore the efficacy of the identified Vice-Presidential candidate to Prof. Mills and my insistence that he establishes whether Prof. Mills had indeed made the offer to the nominee,” Amidu narrated in his editorial.

The former Attorney General said that he returned from the mission J.J. sent him on, only to find out that the founder of the NDC was snubbed when he went to make the enquires about whether Mills had made the offer to the identified nominee.

He added that it was after the late J.J. was snubbed that the nomination was eventually made.

“I picked the return air ticket to Ouagadougou at the KIA for the mission on 26 December 2007 only to learn after my return on 30 December 2007 that the former President had been snubbed when he went to make the enquiries, I had urged on him.

"The offer of nomination was made after the snub to former President Rawlings and was the beginning of intense acrimony within the NDC,” he said.

Amidu, a former special prosecutor, made these remarks while reacting to the handling of the choice of the running mate of former President Mahama for the 2024 elections.

He was not happy about the party announcing that Mahama had made his running mate nomination without announcing who the person was.

He indicated that the practise is that as soon as the nomination is made, the person should be announced.

“The problem with the manner the NDC Press Release was couched is that from my personal experience whosoever has been nominated by John Mahama as his running mate must have been invited and offered the nomination and he or she must have accepted the nomination already. In my case, on 3 September 2000, Vice-President Mills who had to present his running mate to the NDC the same afternoon told me that if his nomination of me was not acceptable to the Council of Elders and the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the NDC he would not run himself as its Presidential Candidate.

“This was before Prof. Mills had to visit Alhaji Mahama Iddrisu, the current Chairman of the NDC Council of Elders, to persuade me to accept the nomination.

Prof. Mills’ nominee for running mate for the 2004 election was also approved and announced the same day the nominee was offered and accepted the nomination,” Amidu wrote.

Read his full editorial below:

BAI/OGB

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