My parents make a 'good team' – Zanetor Rawlings

Former President Jerry Rawlings and ex-first lady Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings make an “amazing” couple, their daughter, Dr Zanetor Agyeman Rawlings has said.

The first child of the Rawlingses told Fiifi Banson on Kasapa FM’s Anopa Kasapa that her parents “make a very good team.”

“They met in primary school, and so they’ve known each other for a long time, and they have a long-standing friendship.

“I think they have an amazing partnership,” she said.

Dr Rawlings, who is aspiring to unseat incumbent Klottey Korle MP, Nii Armah Ashittey, however, said “…at the end of the day, the only persons who can judge a marriage are the two people involved.”

She is running on the ticket of her father’s National Democratic Congress (NDC), which her mother broke away from to form the National Democratic Party (NDP) in the lead up to the 2012 general elections.

She said though her other three siblings – Yaa Asantewa, Amina and Kimathi – are just as “politically aware” as she is, she could not tell if they also nursed political ambitions.

Asked if she thought the Rawlings brand will shore up her chances, Dr Rawlings said it was not in her plans to “ride on my parents back, but it looks like I cannot do away with that.”

“I just cannot divorce myself from my parents because of politics. Beyond who my parents are, I must also be able to convince people to vote for me. There may be people who may not like me because of who my parents are. These are the people I must try to get on my side,” she said.

She said she opted for the Klottey Korle constituency rather than her father’s home region – Volta – where the NDC enjoys a lot of support, because she is a resident of the area and can also speak a fair amount of the indigenous Ga language, relative to her father’s Ewe.