Moves In NDC To Sideline Rawlings?

With elections 2004, some 15 months away, the sensibilities of stakeholders and supporters of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) seem to have been bristled by some recent unsavoury remarks made by the party’s Founder, Flt Lt Jerry John Rawlings, which some party chiefs fear is causing more harm than good to the party.

In a move perceived by many as a panic measure, The Independent newspaper says it gathered that with almost all his speeches on national issues spreading panic amongst party members (and at times the entire country) there are frantic moves within the NDC to detach the former Flt Lt from mainstream activities of the NDC.

But deputy NDC scribe, Baba Jamal told the Independent that to the “best of my knowledge, there is no official position in the party to change the role of the former President in the NDC”.

Baba however conceded that just like the larger Ghanaian society, there are people within the party (NDC) who might not be happy about some of the utterances of the former President and might therefore want him to take backstage in the party’s activities.

But the paper says the move to consign the former President to the fringes of the NDC activities was corroborated by an impeccable source within the campaign office of the NDC.

The source disclosed that the party’s Council of Elders has been consulted on the need to convince the former President to bring to bear the experience he acquired during his UN Mission on AIDS and the fight against Malaria in a number of deprived areas in Ghana.

Inside sources hinted that apart from easing pressure that some of Rawlings’ utterances would have on the NDC, the new role being offered, if accepted by the former President, could be one of the many strategies being considered by the NDC to woo more electorates into its fold.