Nana Konadu Takes The Lead

... the week that was in Ghanaian politics

The much talked about and perhaps over hyped national delegates congress of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) came to a successful end at the Coronation Park in Sunyani last weekend with delegates saying Yes to sitting President Mills as their preferred candidate for the 2012 election in Ghana. It will be an understatement to say the NDC congress was the talk of town in the last one month prior to the congress on July 8 to10 2011and was the 'must talk about' issue on all media networks in the country and sometimes outside the country.

Why so much interest? If you are new in the country then you can be pardoned for that question but the answer is simple, Ghana¹s Margaret Thatcher and the only 'Iron Lady' of our time was going to battle. Under the campaign message of 'BE BOLD¹, she indeed utilized the meaning of the word and was bold enough to go against not just a member of her own political party but a sitting President at that, the first in the political history of the country Ghana.

However, the much media furore was also because the candidate in question was not only a woman but the wife of an ex president and one of the most celebrated leaders on the African continent, the enigmatic J.J. Rawlings. For JJ, it was a case of principle and perhaps a test of loyalty, for the love of a wife or a party born on the wings of the man who is loved by many and hated by a few , arguably.

Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings, no doubt scored 80% percent this time round as far as the 'media war' was concerned. There is no doubt that she single handedly dominated headlines in all the major newspapers in the country over the past week during and even after the congress in Sunyani.

So much was the interest that press men were counting the minutes to her much publicized press conference in Accra after the congress and virtually thronged the 31st December offices in Accra to hear her 'roar' about how things went wrong and the way forward but they were disappointed because Mrs. Rawlings was the lady she is and decided to let her 'council of elders' speak on her behalf.

There is no doubt Mrs. Rawlings was the winner this time round if it was a contest for the 'headline grabbing' person between him and the Professor since from all indications, the Rawlings name definitely triumphed over that of the Mills's and one can safely say that in the week under review, the former first lady is definitely the winner with over 80% coverage.

by Nana Mensah/ XFM95.1/ACCRA/GHANA