Will Rawlings, Nana Konadu be at the NDP Congress on Saturday? , pg 32

 After months of canvassing and sorting out its official documentation with the Electoral Commission, the National Democratic Party (NDP) is wrapping up its preparations for its National Delegates Congress scheduled for Kumasi on Saturday.

Barring an unforeseen intervention, the Baba Yara Stadium in the Ashanti regional capital will be enveloped in the green, black and red colours of the NDP.

While speculations continue to build as to whether former President J.J. Rawlings will throw his weight behind the NDP, that possibility appears to be on the horizon. However, sources told the Daily Graphic that former President J.J. Rawlings will be the special guest of honour at the event.

This has been collaborated by a full page coloured advert which appeared in the Daily Graphic confirming that Flt J.J. Rawlings will be the special guest of honour.

Unlike the convention where aspirants for a party’s presidential ticket are well known ahead of the congress, the NDP’s presidential race is shrouded in controversy. While the party’s leadership maintained that the former First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, would contest the party’s flag bearer race,she has remained tight-lipped on the issue.

However, hints of Nana Konadu leading the NDP into the December elections became obvious on Tuesday when the former President dropped the bombshell that he will support his wife if she got the NDP nod.

Nana Konadu’s relationship with the NDC soured ever since she contested and lost the NDC presidential bid against the late President J.E.A Mills. While the former President has lately been seen at some NDC events, the former First Lady has not attended any activity organised by the party her husband founded and led into the 1992 and 1996 elections.

Indications are that barring any unexpected circumstance within the next 48 hours, the former First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, will resign from the NDC to contest the NDP presidential ticket.

Notwithstanding the endorsement of his wife’s candidature, the former President said he would not leave the NDC.

 The NDP goes to congress on Saturday in Kumasi to select its presidential candidate just in time to meet the Electoral Commission’s October 17-18 , 2012 deadline for filing candidates for the presidential and parliamentary elections

Some 3,500 delegates are expected to congregate at the Baba Yara Stadium  to stamp the ticket of the party’s presidential aspirants for the December elections.

The choice of Kumasi as the venue of the congress is weighty in many ways. First, the Ashanti Region is the home of the former First Lady who the leadership of the NDP has since its formation maintained would lead the party. Kumasi is, therefore, an appropriate ground to test not only her popularity but also the strength of the party in the main opposition, the New Patriotic Party(NPP), backyard.

Secondly, the NDP which is a breakaway party from the NDC, would want to shrug off the tag that it could only do well in NDC strongholds. A fact echoed by a Deputy Communications Director of the NDP, Dr Hilarius Abiwu, who said “people have said we want to destroy the NDC, it is the Volta Region that is the stronghold of the NDC but we want to demonstrate that we can equally do well in the opposition stronghold.”

Apart from choosing its candidate for the presidential election, the party is expected to confirm its national executives, outdoor its manifesto and its constitution.

 Dr Abiwu told the Daily Graphic that contrary to media speculations, Nana Konadu had not picked the nominations but rather had given signals that she would contest the party’s ticket for the 2012 election.

“The former First Lady has not picked her nomination forms, but we have credible signals that she will pick the forms.”

According to him, there had been elaborate discussions with the former First Lady and from all indications; she would be resigning from the NDC, a decision, which would be communicated to the NDC and the media very soon

He said the NDP was bent on making Nana Konadu its flag bearer because of a wider consultation with the electorate.

“From what we have gathered from the field from our seven teams that went across the country, because of the relatively short time, we have to find someone and our people want someone we know. That person happens to be the former First Lady who is well known.”

He said talks had been concluded with the former First Lady to write to the NDC of her resignation and the NDP of her intention to contest.

Asked what competition the former First Lady faced in her quest to lead the NDP, he said two other candidates had picked forms for the race.

He was, however, tight-lipped on the names and indicated the two had asked that their names be kept out of the public domain until it was confirmed that Nana Konadu would be contesting for the party’s ticket.

He said the deal would be for one of the two contestants to become the running mate for the party in the event that the 31st December Women’s Movement president became the flag bearer of the party.
The former First Lady’s candidature for the NDP received a major boost  on Tuesday  when she received endorsement from her husband, former President Rawlings.

“I will support her as I do, you know, [to] a good number of other candidates,” the former President told Joy News on the fringes of a lecture delivered by Mr Festus Mogae,  a former President of Botswana, on credible elections.

To justify the stance of his wife, the former President said “To be quite honest, when you’ve walked in the shoes that she has been through since 79 etc, you might probably do exactly what she is doing. However, I believe the decision has not finally been taken and we all may have to sit down and examine whether she should or not.”

The former President also indicated his preparedness to support the NDP.“I will support any party with a high level of credibility and integrity, and that I know they (NDP) have.’
But in a rather contradictory twist during the interview, he said “That doesn’t mean I am leaving the NDC either.”

Speculations about her involvement with the party have been rife ever since the NDP received its provisional certificate in August.

After weeks of campaigning and overtures to her, the General Secretary of the party, Dr Joseph Manboah-Rockson, gave hints last month that the President of the 31st December Women’s Movement might be the candidate to contest the December elections.

Described by many in Ghanaian politics as the ‘Iron Lady’ — Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, sparked excitement and controversy when she contested the late President J.E.A Mills last year for the NDC’s flag bearer position.

While her supporters saw her decision to contest the flag bearer position as a breakthrough for women, her critics were concerned about the prospect of an entrenched political dynasty.

But Nana Konadu has remained unfazed; the woman of steel cut her political teeth while massing up thousands of Ghanaian women behind her husband during the days of the revolution and beyond.
That notwithstanding, connoisseurs of the political scene believe that she has a tall order to twist fate to favour her in the upcoming elections.

Konadu’s aspiration follows an emerging trend of former first ladies trying to step into the shoes of their husbands. A trend not restricted to Latin America, and partly inspired by Hillary Clinton’s 2008 bid for the Democratic Party’s nomination in the United States of America (USA).

Hillary Clinton failed to make the transition, but former first ladies in Latin America, and now in Ghana, are following in her footsteps and campaigning to become presidents, in what may become a fresh wave of female heads of state.

While some pundits hold the view that the emergence of the NDP could affect the NDC’s chances of winning the 2012  elections, given the slim margin the party recorded in winning the 2008 elections, others including some leaders of the NDC hold the view that the NDP is only barking and would not be able to bite.

The NDC went into the 2000 elections with the headache of a splinter party, the National Reform Party, and eventually lost it. In 2008 while in opposition, the Democratic Freedom Party emerged from its ranks but the NDC managed to win the election with the slimmest margin in the history of multi-party democracy in Africa.