Adom-Otchere blasts Asiedu Nketiah over ‘derogatory’ comment about Rawlings’ wife

Ghanaian media personality and former Board Chairman of the Ghana Airports Company Limited (GACL), Paul Adom-Otchere, has lambasted the National Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, over comments he made about the late Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings, wife of the late founder of the NDC, Jerry John Rawlings.

Speaking at a campaign rally in Nima ahead of the Ayawaso East by-election, Asiedu Nketiah criticised a former party stalwart, Mohammed Umar Sanda for contesting the election as an independent candidate, urging him to rescind his decision or face consequences.

He referenced Nana Konadu’s departure from the NDC to form her own party while she was alive.

He stated, “Our late father Rawlings who brought the party, his wife decided to form her own party. She herself left, so the one who brought the party even left and the party didn’t collapse. So, you in Nima, what makes you think that leaving the party will collapse it?”

However, the comment did not sit well with Adom-Otchere, who described it as derogatory and unnecessary.

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Speaking on his Good Evening Ghana show on February 27, 2026, he called on Asiedu Nketiah to retract the statement.

“What worried me was the reference to Mrs Rawlings. It was so unnecessary and even derogatory. This is a woman who spent the best part of her adult life establishing a party that you, Johnson, benefit from. And now that she has passed, this is what you say about her,” Adom-Otchere said.

He further praised Nana Konadu for her principles, noting that she left the NDC due to issues such as vote buying, manipulation and intimidation in internal party contests.

According to him, these were matters she firmly opposed, as she came from the “unadulterated NDC of probity and accountability.”

Adom-Otchere emphasised that Ghanaians continue to respect Nana Konadu for her values and contributions and therefore her memory should not be disparaged.

“This is what you can say about Mrs Rawlings. I am not a member of the NDC but I admire Mrs Rawlings for the works she did. Everyone misses Mrs Rawlings for the works she did. And everyone admires Mrs Rawlings for the principle on which he left the NDC, vote buying, vote manipulation, intimidation in internal party contest, vote buying, votes manipulation, intimidation and internal party contest.

“These are the matters that drove Mrs Rawlings away from the NDC. These are principles that she firmly stood by, because she's coming from the unadulterated NDC of property accountability, “he added.

AM

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