PHOTO: Rawlings for National Chairman posters pop up

• Posted on March 1, 2017
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

Some campaign posters with the photographs of former President Jerry John Rawlings, founder of the National Democratic Congress, (NDC) have popped up in parts of Accra.

It is not clear who are behind the posters, with the inscription: “Papa J for National Chairman…Probity and Accountability,” and with his beautiful picture to match.

The former president, who has continuously said the NDC needs cleansing in order to restore the values of integrity, probity and accountability, has not publicly said he wants to be become NDC national chairman – a position currently being held by Kofi Portuphy.

Previous posters of Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur, immediate-past  vice president and Sylvester Mensah had earlier surfaced, joining the NDC presidential race. But they came out to deny it.

Blame Game

After the NDC’s defeat on December 7 last year, some party members, including Greater Accra Regional Organiser, Anthony Nukpenu, blamed Mr Rawlings for helping then opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) to win the elections.

Mr. Nukpenu and his compatriots have said the NDC founder “did not just stay out of the campaign,” but also “did a lot of things which resulted in voter apathy in the Volta Region and other areas to ensure that we lose the elections.”

Mr. Nukpenu told Adom FM on December 13, 2016 that Mr Rawlings “deliberately worked against the party in so many ways to undermine the integrity of the NDC and its flag bearer to make sure we were defeated at the polls.”

31^st December

On the occasion of the 35^th Anniversary of the 31st December ‘revolution,’ Mr. Rawlings, who had always been accusing his own party’s leadership of losing the ‘core values’ that endeared the NDC to the masses, said, “… Some handlers and manipulators, who have profited from our past two governments want to promote a lie about the reasons for our failures in order to perpetuate their hold on the NDC party.

“I don’t think I was the only one who saw the writing on the wall. Many people from our very own party I believe, could see the writing on the wall that we were going to lose this past election. It was obvious a long time ago that we wouldn’t make it. Our general negativity, impunity, disrespect and corruption were taking us further and further downhill.

“About the time when most were living in the painful reality with stress and anger, that’s when some of us chose to be more impervious to reality. We had lost so much goodwill.

“I kept providing the warning whenever and wherever I could, and in public as well. But no, once again the uncouth and uncultured in our party and government chose to insult and disrespect some of us. The genuine and true founders and elders (warriors and youthful fighters) of what has transformed into the NDC were being disregarded and disrespected way back from 2008 after victory was delivered on a silver platter.”