Rawlings foresees NDC’s defeat – NPP

Former President Jerry John Rawlings foresees his own party losing this year’s elections, the main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) has said.

NPP’s acting General Secretary John Boadu, who addressed a press conference at the party’s headquarters in Accra on Wednesday, 17 August, said: “The NDC’s own founder, President Jerry John Rawlings, can foresee the electoral defeat that awaits his party.

“To him, the NDC has lost its way. To him, the party is suffering from integrity crisis. And, this sentiment is shared by many perplexed NDC supporters who, to use the common phrase, ‘cannot think far, cannot think madness’. They are suffering just as much as the average Ghanaian and cannot understand why,” he underscored.

Mr Rawlings, who spoke at the NDC’s campaign launch in Cape Coast on Sunday, 14 August, cautioned his party not to underestimate the NPP in this year's elections.

He said: “What is ahead of you is not an easy task…don’t allow undue provocation to create undue tension…

“There are certain weaknesses that we have to deal with. …The NPP cannot be underestimated, you know it. They’ve been in existence for a long time and have been changing their name up to today. The nature of who they are, what they are, where they’ve come from, is something they are happy with, and they will be there for a long time.

“The calculation I want to put before you is that by virtue of what and who they are, that will necessarily give drive to what you and I are in the NDC. In other words, by virtue of who we are, where we come, how we came into being, I keep saying we cannot afford to fight them on their terms, it’s important that we fight them on our terms, let’s not mimic their behaviour…” Mr Rawlings warned.

According to him, if only the NDC can hold on to the principles that gave birth to the party, then the NDC will enjoy many years of victory. “…We will override any obstacle,” he said.

As far as the NPP is concerned, the warning from Mr Rawlings is evidence of his lack of confidence in the party’s electoral fortunes in the December polls.