Rawlings not NDC founder – Obed Asamoah

Former National Chairman of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) Dr. Obed Yao Asamoah has said former President J.J Rawlings is not the founder of the party.

According to him, at the time of filing for the NDC at the Electoral Commission, ex President Rawlings was still serving in the Ghana Armed Forces which prevented him from representing any district as a founding member as stipulated by law.

The former Attorney General, in an interview with Joy News explained that after the NDC was formed the party inserted a clause in its constitution to recognize his contribution to the ideals on which the party was established.

“I dealt with the application from the NDC to the Electoral Commission for registration. The law was that and I think the laws are the same that you must have founders from different districts and I think at that time you must have one founder from each district to sign the papers and I can show you the duplicate of the papers, they are here right now because I dealt with that whole process and ex President Rawlings’ name is not on that list. The reason he was not on that list is that at that time a law that the PNDC itself passed and he himself signed, if you were an active member of the military you couldn’t be a member of a political party and he didn’t resign from the military until about just a few week before the elections of 1992. From that point of view, he’s certainly not a founder. But when we set up the party we realized the need to recognize his contribution to the whole idea.”

The ex President has come under heavy public flak from a section of the NDC for his consistent attack on former President John Mahama and his administration claiming that government presided of corruption.

The likes of Alhaji Bature Iddrisu have called for Mr. Rawlings’ dismissal from the party as some comments made by Rawlings before and after the 2016 general elections have brought the party into disrepute.

“President Nana Akufo-Addo and the NPP have demonstrated that nobody is beyond discipline in any political party. They took disciplinary action against high ranking members of their party and yet convincingly won the election. NDC can do the same, nobody is beyond sanctions in NDC, not Jerry Rawlings, not Martin Amidu. And if any founder of the party including Jerry Rawlings and Martin Amidu is bringing the name of the party into public ridicule and disrepute, they deserve to be hauled before the party and sanctioned accordingly,” he stressed on Eyewitness News on Tuesday.