Nana Konadu Is The New Arkaah Of The NDC

After many months of following the internal politics of the National Democratic Congress, particularly, the relationship between former President Rawlings and President Atta Mills, and pronouncements coming from the Rawlings’ house and camp, I have come to the conclusion that we are seeing a new development in the party that is along the same lines as that which developed between the President Rawlings and Mr. Kow Nkensen Arkaah, his Vice President in 1995. It looks like Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, is the gradually becoming the new Arkaah of the party. Readers who may not understand what I am driving at my need some reminders.

Sometime in the 1995, just when the campaigning for the 1996 elections were starting, the then Vice President Arkaah decided to encourage the company of opposition political party members whiles remaining the Vice to President Rawlings. He was reported to have attended meetings with the leadership of the NPP and leaked sensitive information on decisions taken at cabinet meetings which he presided over as Vice President. As expected, NDC and its followers as well as many independent minded Ghanaians did not like it and called on the Vice President to resign his position. Then President Rawlings personally and correctly took it hard and it is reported or rumoured that he got so incensed and punched him during a cabinet meeting on December 28, 1995.

In a press conference on December 29, 1995, Mr. Arkaah said that Cabinet meetings of the NDC government "had become the forum for corrupt and unscrupulous plans". Though Mr. Arkaah could not substantiate the allegation het refused to resign and styled himself the “stubborn cat”. Many Ghanaians on both aisles of parliament and independent groups branded the vice president as an opportunist of the highest order. In fact, I coined the word “Arkaahism” to represent the highest and most treacherous political opportunism in Ghanaian or African politics and I still stand by it. This is because Mr. Arkaah became the leader of the Convention People's Party formed by the merger of the NCP and the People's Convention Party and stood against his own government in 1996 whiles still serving as Vice President to President Rawlings.

I remember at the 1996 Independence Day celebration, then President Rawlings showed so much disdain to Mr. Arkaah who was sitting on the platform with him and never referred to him as his Vice, but instead as his then “running mate”. All during his speech that day he referred to Mr. Arkaah’s behavior as touching on “the fundamental basis of democracy, basic common sense and time-honoured principles that men of honour would normally respect” (PANA, 1996). In the speech, President Rawlings posited that the quality of leadership provided by his government led to its ability to sustain stability, and declared that it was the government's COMMITMENT TO DEMOCRACY AND THE RULE OF LAW WHICH RECEIVED APPLAUSE AND INVESTMENT FROM OVERSEAS.

On many occasions since President Atta Mills came to power, former President Rawlings and his camp have been using the same language Mr. Arkaah used to describe the then cabinet to describe members of President Mills’s government. He and his wife Nana Konadu have not let any occasion go by without heaping insult on the President and his government all because, Atta Mills has refused to become the poodle of the Great Strongman Rawlings and his Honorable wife. It has been reported many times with any refutation from the Rawlings household that Mrs. Rawlings is planning to stand as a presidential candidate in the coming general election to compete with President Mills and does not mind if she goes independent.

During the recent June 4th anniversary celebration, Mr. Rawlings, for the first time, declared that Nana Akuffo Addo can win the 2012 elections, and went ahead with a litany of negates of President Mills and his government, the greatest of which was the grievous sin of not listening to him. On that platform and many times at previously meetings, he has extolled how great Nana Konadu will be as President. In other words, his wife will do better as President than President Mills. This is coming from the founder of the party and sole selector of Atta Mills and creator of Atta Mills’ presidency, less than six months to the next elections. All because, Atta Mills has respected the same “fundamentals basis of democracy, basic common sense and time-honoured principles that men of honour would normally respect” in dealing with the opposition and investigating rumours of corruption without facts coming from the Rawlingses. To them President Mills has failed to prosecute corruption but they have not found out that may be it is because of his “commitment to democracy and Rule of Law” which was bequeathed to him by the great rule of law advocate that Rawlings is.

My question is, does Mr. Rawlings realize that he is copying from Mr. Arkaah’s notebook? Has he noticed that his house has become the center for nurturing Arkaahism? And that it may not stop until Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings becomes President of Ghana and leader of an NDC Government. Does he know that his actions and inactions in recent times is aiding and strengthening the opposition? Or in order for him and his wife to get what they want, they will not mind to get the NDC defeated so they can get rid of Atta Mills to pave the way for Nana Konadu.

I believe very well that the former President and his wife know exactly what they are doing and they don’t care about the consequences so long as they will win back their “lost” political power. All the talk of probity and accountability is a charade. I have come to this conclusion because the former President's criticisms of the NDC government have turned into attacks, insults, intimidations, and victual condoning of the actions of the opposition forces. I am surprised to realize that Nana Konadu is such a bad politician, in fact so infantile. As somebody whose political power was bestowed on her by virtue of her relationship to Rawlings, she thinks she can still get everything including becoming the President of Ghana as an entitlement. She is behaving like a spoilt child who uses crying and tantrums to get what she wants. All of a sudden she does not understand why she of all people got such bad support for her candidacy to replace President Mills from NDC delegates at Sunyani. She is aggrieved that the government has not retired the debt she accrued from her defense against NPP government’s persecution. She is mad that she is no more the center of attention at NDC functions. So what does she do? SHE WANTS HER UMBRELLA SYMBOL BACK! Jesus.! And in her mind, if she achieves that, she will get rid of the “traitors” in the NDC and she will be voted the leader of the party by the loving foot soldiers and party faithful who love “probity and accountability”. And strangely, she is doing all these with Rawlings in tow.

I may have to revise my thinking and seriously consider replacing ARKAAHISM WITH SOMETHING LIKE “KONAD…..ISM”.

OH HOW ARE THE MIGHTY FALLEN. JERRY, SHOW ME YOU ARE MORE THAN THIS. SOME OF US LOVE YOU TOO MUCH TO THINK OTHERWISE.

Kwame Yeboah

gyeboah@harding.edu.