‘Nana Konadu can’t join NDC’

Alhaji Awudu Ariff, a national executive committee member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), has explained why Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings cannot return to the ruling party despite alleged appeals by her husband to do so.

Nana Konadu, a former first lady and wife of the founder of the NDC, Jerry John Rawlings, had the desire to lead the NDC for the presidential election in 2008, but lost during the party’s primaries to the late President John Evans Atta Mills.

After that she formed and led the National Democratic Party (NDP) with intent to take part in the 2012 presidential election, but the party was disqualified by the Electoral Commission (EC).

At the 8th National Delegates’ Congress of the NDC in Kumasi, Konadu’s husband and former president, Jerry John Rawlings, appealed to her to consider a return to the governing party.

Responding to the appeal, the former first lady, who is the current leader of the NDP, emphasized that she was not returning to the NDC.

She explained that the ruling party had thrown away the core principles of the party – probity and accountability.

Alhaji Awudu Ariff has however, indicated that Nana Konadu wished to join the NDC, but it had become difficult for her to do so.

He asserted that the former first lady could not re-join the party because of the processes she would have to go through before she could either be accepted or rejected, since she resigned from the party.

Speaking on Takoradi-based Kyzz FM yesterday, Alhaji Ariff, who doubles as a member of the Complaints and Conflict Resolution Committee of the NDC stated, “If Nana Konadu wants to come back to the NDC she has to send her application to the branch executives for the branch executives to forward it to the constituency executives.”

He disclosed that the constituency executives would also have to forward the application to the regional executives, then to the national executives before the national executive committee would sit on it to either accept or reject it.

Mr Ariff, who was commenting on the speculation that the Minister of Trade and Industry, Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, was poised to contest President John Mahama in the presidential primaries of the party, noted that Mr Spio-Garbrah cannot be in the race if it turns out that he resigned from the party.

“Spio was once a vice chairman of the NDC but I can’t tell whether he resigned or not,” Mr Ariff said, adding that any member who qualifies to contest the president would not be restrained.

“If it comes out that he resigned, then he cannot contest because he has to reapply to join the party; and that is what has become a problem for Nana Konadu,” he asserted.

Meanwhile, Spio-Garbrah is reported to have come out publicly to deny having any intention to contest President Mahama in the primaries.