Rawlings Scare Hits NDC Over Mills' Campaign

There is increasing scare within the ranks of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) as to whether that Party’s Godfather, ex-President Jerry John Rawlings will accept the inclusion of at least three key personalities on the Campaign Team of Prof John Evans Atta-Mills.

The scare puts Prof. Mills’ hollering lately to the effect that “I am my own man” to serious threat and NDC bigwigs are waiting with bated breath to see if ‘Team Mills’ will change with Rawlings’ arrival from England soon.

The three personalities whose membership of Team Mills is at the centre of the scare are Messrs, Joshua Alabi, Rojo Mettle-Nunoo and Elvis Afriyie-Ankrah of the three Joshua Alabi is the campaign Manager whilst Rojo Mettle-Nunoo is the Director of Communications with Elvis Afriyie-Ankrah who until recently was a Special Assistant of set to be reined – in as Deputy Campaign Manager.

Unimpeachable sources within the belly of Team Mills told this paper that Rawlings is averse to the appointment of the three gentlemen because of personal differences whilst his wife Nana Konadu also has problems with the third. In the case of Joshua Alabi, this paper was informed that his woes started when he backed the candidature of NDC Chairman Dr Obed Asamoah during lat April’s Congress, which saw Dr Asamoah holding his own stoically against Rawlings favourite Alhaji Mahama Iddrisu to the chagrin of Rawlings.

So bad was the situation at the time that at one instance Rawlings virtually sacked Joshua Alabi from his (Rawling’s) Ridge residence when the former called to pay him an unscheduled visit. On Rojo Mettle-Nunoo, our sources said Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings who is also referred to as ‘Madam’ in NDC lingo is at daggers end with him over differences in support for her 31st December Women’s Movement (DWM) by the Non-Formal Education Division of the Ministry of Education, where Rojo was head during the NDC days.

Enter Elvis Afriyie-Ankrah, a Young Turk in the NDC whose meteoric rise in the NDC is largely as a result of his declaration for the NDC as a student leader at Legon. That ‘vote face’ of Afriyie-Ankrah was at a time that it was almost a crime of ‘high treason’ on Legon campus for a student to openly declare support for the NDC, let alone a President of the SRC, which Elvis was.

That ‘betrayal,’ according Legon contemporaries of Elvis (this Reporter is one) effectively cost him the Ayawaso West Wuogon Parliamentary Seat, within whose domain Legon falls with several polling stations at the various halls of residence. The consensus amongst the student population is that the ‘betrayed’ the student movement at the time and does not deserve the support of present generation of students.