Panic Over Konadu Party

The seat of government, the Osu Castle, was said to have been thrown into a state of shock yesterday when news of the formation of a new political party, the National Democratic Party (NDP), by some of its disgruntled members was made public.

Sources at the Castle said influential members of government made several calls to Dr Nii Armah Josiah-Aryeh who has been named Interim Chairman of the NDP (shares name with Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak’s party) yesterday in a bid to get him and his colleague founding members to rescind their decision.

Dr Josiah-Aryeh is said to have described the NDC as a cancerous disease. “They say they intend to find cure for the disease, but they don’t know they are the disease themselves,” he was reported to have said.

A meeting was said to have been hurriedly organized at the plush presidential resort, the Peduase Lodge at Kitase near Aburi in the Eastern Region for NDC strategists to fashion out ways to neutralize the effect of the new party.

But Dr Josiah-Aryeh was said to have turned down the invitations and propositions from the Presidency.

The yet-to-be launched NDP, linked to the Rawlingses, is gradually taking shape with the emergence of the names of some interim officers to steer its affairs.

Dr Josiah-Aryeh and Dr Rockson Mamboa have been named its interim Chairman and General Secretary respectively.

Member of Parliament for Lower Manya, on the ticket of the NDC, Micheal Teye Nyaunu, who spoke on Citi FM, said, “I’m in the tracks, running fast towards that place” in response to the question of whether he intended to join the breakaway party.

He would resign from the ruling party when he finally takes a decision to join the NDP after consultation with his constituents.

The Electoral Commission has confirmed receiving the application from the promoters of the NDP.

Sources said latest news of the move undertaken by the former NDC members to register the NDP came as a surprise to government since many thought of it as a mere threat to scare the NDC.

The NDP has as its logo a dove holding the ‘Gye Nyame’ (Except God) symbol with its beak in the same black, green, red and white colours as the NDC’s.

Officials of the NDC are jittery about the formation of this new party and are tight-lipped over the issue.

Fear factor

NDC National Chairman and Propaganda Secretary, Dr Kwabena Adjei, and Richard Quashigah declined to comment when DAILY GUIDE reached them for their thoughts in view of the fact that most of the founding members of the NDP were from the NDC.

“I have to know what is coming out first…I say I want to know what is happening first; I won’t respond now. I wish them good luck,” said Dr Adjei.

Mr Quashigah, a former reporter with Radio Ghana, noted, “Well, it is of no consequence to me so I have no comment…I don’t think the NDC has anything to do with some individuals who are believed to be forming a political party. After all, everybody has freedom of association.”

Sources said the decision to form the NDP by the disgruntled NDC members was borne out of frustration and the neglect of the core values of the ruling party by the Mills administration as often said by the NDC founder, Jerry John Rawlings and his wife, Nana Konadu, who had virtually become strangers in their own party.

They said the party had been hijacked by “greedy bastards”.

Founding members of the NDP are tight-lipped over details about its leaders.

Dr Josiah-Aryeh, a law lecturer, is a former General Secretary of the NDC.

Shortly after the 2004 elections, he was suspended from his position following allegations of intended defection for pecuniary gains.

He had since not been too active in politics though he was occasionally seen at functions organized by the Rawlingses.

Little is known about the political background of Dr Rockson Mamboi except for the fact that he is considered one of the political strategists for Mrs. Rawlings.

Former NDC Parliamentary candidate for Ayawaso Central, Dr. Kwasi Ofei-Agyeman, who is part of the founding members of the NDP, indicated that they were waiting for the issuance of a certificate from the EC to roll out their next plan of action and begin an effective campaign towards the 2012 elections.