Rawlings To Contest Mills

On March 29, 2010, the Daily Dispatch carried a front-page story- NDC’s 2012 Slot, Will Rawlings contest Mills? (reproduced below): Since then, events have answered the question and it is looking very likely that the former First Lady Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings will face President Atta Mills at the NDC Congress to elect its 2012 presidential candidate.

Nana Konadu is also one of the six vice chairpersons of the NDC.

An investigative Desk Report

There are credible indications that a member of the Rawlings family is likely to challenge President John Atta Mills at the Congress of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to elect its 2012 presidential candidate. That person is likely to be Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, former First Lady and currently, one of the six Vice-Chairpersons of the NDC.

The lot falls on Nana Konadu because legally, it is not possible for her husband, ex-President Jerry John Rawlings, to be President of Ghana again.

Article 66(2) of the 1992 Constitution states, “A person shall not be elected to hold office as President of Ghana for more than two terms.” The possibility of Nana Konadu Rawlings contesting for the slot was first dropped by an NDC Member of Parliament (MP) whose open letter to members of the NDC was published in last Friday’s issue of The Daily Dispatch.

The MP, whose identity has been withheld, wondered aloud, “some of us are finding it difficult to come to terms with the way and manner the Founder of the Party has been causing disaffection for President Mills. Word going round is that, it is possible that the Founder wants to create so much disaffection for the President that many of the delegates may not want to vote for President Mills. The question ex-President Rawlings would want to ask himself is will Nana Konadu appeal to floating voters?”

The NDC MP was frank regarding the Rawlingses and Ghanaian politics, “I belong to the school of thought that ex president Rawlings is vital to the NDC but his appeal among floating or swing voters has been declining over the years.

We need to bear in mind that in 2010, as an incumbent President, he campaigned for the then NDC’s candidate, Prof. John Atta Mills but lost in the 2000 run-off elections. In 2004, as the immediate past President, Rawlings also campaigned for the Prof. but Prof. Mills lost. The Party’s Founder again campaigned for Prof. Mills in 2008 and he won. That means, something more than the Rawlings magic won the elections for Prof. in the 2008 run-off.”

He also explained that even within the NDC, ex-President Rawlings is still popular but his influence in the Party has been waning.