Former First Lady and President of the 31st December Women's Movement (DWM), Nana Konadu Agyeman- Rawlings, has asserted that the Mills’ administration cannot expect to acquire First Class in an examination by using an organization tainted with corruption and negativity, stressing that until the government does “a house-cleansing exercise, the rest will be history”.
Mrs Rawlings however added that she cannot determine if the NDC leadership will heed the call by the party’s founder, Flt Lt Jerry John Rawlings for a “house-cleaning” since the leadership of the party has chosen to go in a certain direction.
“What the party founder said is clear and we all understand it…you cannot use an organization that is tainted with corruption or negativity and expect to get a first class in any examination...it is not possible so until they do that house cleaning, the rest will be history," she asserted.
The former First Lady was speaking in an interview with SaCut Amenga-Etego host of the ‘NEW VOICES’, a political talk show on an Accra-based radio station XFM 95.1
It would be recalled that whiles addressing party supporters last Wednesday at the National Theatre as part of events to mark the 30th anniversary celebration of the 31st December Revolution, ex-president Rawlings stated that the NDC needed a ‘house cleaning exercise’ to rid the party of corrupt officials.
The NDC founder decried the manner in which President Mills and member of his administration were running the country with corruption at its highest peak but however added that it was not too late for leadership of the party to go back to the grassroots and listen to the foot soldiers, stressing that “the level of despondency amongst our support base is largely due to the detachment of our leadership from the people.”
Asked by the host if she (Nana Konadu) expects the ‘house cleaning’ to come to pass in the NDC, she replied; "I’m not a soothsayer otherwise I would’ve told you about so many things…It would be foolhardy to try to answer a question like that knowing the current prevailing conditions in our party."
Touching on the party’s National Delegates’ Congress held last July, Mrs Rawlings accused the NDC leadership under President Mills of failing to acknowledge the problems and short-comings that characterized the congress in Sunyani.
She alleged that over 500 delegates who are her supporters were denied accreditation to vote.
"First of all before you can handle an aftermath, you have to accept that you did the right thing or the wrong thing…you have to accept that there were mistakes before you can handle the aftermath. If you cannot accept that there were mistakes, how do you handle an aftermath? And I have over 500 people who were denied accreditation to go and vote even though they are constituency executives so if you don’t accept there are mistakes, you cannot attempt to correct the mistakes…They know all what they have done that is right or wrong and they have to deal with it by first accepting that there were mistakes," the former First Lady said.
The one-time NDC flagbearer aspirant also took the opportunity to wish all Ghanaians a reflective New Year saying that even though many people had their dreams curtailed in the past year due to hardships, it is her hope that this year, things will get better.
In a related development, the NDC has refrained from commenting on assertions by Mrs Rawlings that the National Delegates’ Congress held in Sunyani was marred with some inequities.
The Deputy National Organiser of the party, Joshua Hamidu Akamba, when contacted for the party’s reactions, refrained to comment.
According to him, reacting to “his mother’s” concerns will not bode well for the party’s peace and unity process.
