Rawlings Is Neither The Founder Nor The Owner Of NDC

But A Member Of The Party.

“A single bird cannot fly the sky and a single fish can equally not swim the sea.”

Dr. Spio Garbrah and some Ghanaians, especially some members of the NDC party must get it clear that constitutionally a political party cannot be formed or registered by a single person or operate under just one name. AT LEAST 5 PEOPLE are constitutionally required to register or form a political party. Therefore no political party can be accredited to a single person neither can any single person claim ownership of a particular political party. There is of course a leader of a party but there is no owner of a party. The word “Party” clearly speaks for itself.

Don’t let us always get confused with the constant statements and claims which most Ghanaian people rampantly make that Rawlings is the founder of the NDC party and he is therefore the owner of the Party.

According to Dr. Obed Asamoah, Rawlings later became a member of the NDC party, but he, Obed Asamoah is among the FOUNDERS OF THE NDC PARTY, and therefore the former President Rawlings should not be credited as the founder of the NDC since he was not directly involved in the formation of the party.

He said “at the time that the NDC was formed he, Rawlings was still in the army and under the Constitution he couldn’t have been the founder of the party. In fact his name being linked with the founding of the party did not arise until later, after his term of office was coming to an end and we then felt to find a role for him after he left office. In this case he cannot claim to be a founder pertaining to the Political Party’s Law”

Speaking on Adom FM, Dr. Obed Asamoah explained that the Constitution of the party was amended to indicate that the party was founded on the ideals of former President Rawlings, adding that “it was founded to promote his ideals but he, Rawlings was not a founding member in the sense of the political party’s law.’ According to Obed Asamoah, Mr. Rawlings and other elements in the PNDC were even not in favour of the establishment of a party. “Some elements did not want a party to be formed. But people like me felt that we should form a party.

The NDC Party was then formed largely through the ideas of some of us. The question arose as to whether we should just leave the scene and allow political parties to be formed or whether, there was something in the revolution itself which needed to be preserved.” There was therefore a justification for setting up the party to promote some of those ideals of the revolution. This became a matter of disagreement among members of the government of the day.” he added.

Dr. Asamoah says while in office he maintained a professional relationship with the former president as they both had mutual respect for each other. He said his (Asamoah’s) influence on the party was great. As such, I was virtually in charge of the party even though there were officials occupying various positions.

Dr. Asamoah indicated that he fell out with Mr. Rawlings because the former president did not like the idea of another person standing against Mills those days but he, Dr. Asamoah chose to support Dr. Kwesi Botchway. He stressed that he supported Mills’ candidature when Mills was chosen as the running mate to Rawlings in 1995 and therefore has no problem with Mills.

Dr. Asamoah lamented, his tenure as the chairman of the NDC was difficult because he was constantly under attack by opponents. “People who did not want to see me as the chairman of the party were doing anything to undermine my authority.

FRANCIS TAWIAH (Duisburg – Germany)