Former first lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, has waded into the ongoing brouhaha between Dr Ekwow Spio Garbrah and some top NDC government officials over the latter’s comment that the Mills led-administration was sluggish and not assertive on matters bordering the nation.
Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, Former First Lady
Ex-President Jerry John Rawlings and Dr Ekwow Spio Garbrah a couple weeks ago accused President John Evans Atta Mills of making ‘mediocre appointment’ and running the country with what he described as ‘team B players whilst the A squad were being sidelined.’
In an interview with Citi Fm, an Accra based radio station, last Tuesday: Mrs Rawlings minced no words in stating that both men did not erred in passing those comments, adding that ‘it was a fair air comment.’
Nana Konadu, who has carved a notorious name for herself in the political arena due to her domineering attitude towards her subordinates during her husband’s reign as President, further stated that the NDC does not need a soothsayer or an oracle to tell them that there is growing disenchantment among party members.
“We don’t need a prophet to tell us that Ghanaians are gradually losing confidence in the Prof. Mills led-government and that if something urgent was not done to salvage the situation the party would be shooting itself in the foot,” bluntly stated Mrs Rawlings. She went on to stress that ‘criticisms are crucial to the development of every institution.”
Mrs Rawlings also discounted claims that there was a sinister attempt by certain people including Mr Rawlings and Dr Spio Garbrah to smear the Mills administration, saying “I always laugh when I hear people pass those comments because you and I know (referring to the interviewer) that it was through my husband’s (Mr Rawlings) efforts that Prof. Mills had the chance to become the presidential candidate of our party.
So those claims are neither here nor there, every Ghanaian has the right to comment on any issue of national importance.”
She intoned that his husband, as the founder of the party, reserves the right to make his views known to party members and, more importantly, to the world if something is going amiss in the government.
“It was through the efforts of my husband and few others that the NDC has gotten to where it is and would be preposterous and outrageous for anybody to think and say that he has a hidden agenda to destroy what he had suffered to build.
I sometimes find it ridiculous and hard to understand if people say that my husband is working behind the scenes to destroy people he helped to make them what they are today. As I said earlier, the party belongs to every member so nobody can gag anyone.”
Against the background, Mrs Rawlings that Dr Spio Garbrah in making those statements breached no law of the party neither did he violate any law of the country, adding that ‘people should let him have his peace.”
She further seized the chance to formally declare her intention to contest for the position of 1st Vice Chairman in the impending national congress of the NDC later this year.
She said her resolve to contest for the position was as a result of the numerous complaints her office have been receiving from party members who feel left out now that the party is in power.
“I don’t want to put myself in the future, but I believe that my presence at the national office of the party will change a lot of things within the rank and file of the party,” asserted Nana Konadu.
BY STEPHEN DARKO
