Flagbearer of National Democratic Party (NDP) and former first lady, Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings, has rubbished suggestions that she harboured long term ambition to become president hence her incessant attacks on the government of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
Nana Konadu said she had never thought of becoming a president until now, revealing that she declined an opportunity to partner the late President John Evans Atta Mills in the run up to the 2000 elections.
At the NDC’s delegates’ congress held over the weekend at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium, the former President, Jerry John Rawlings stated that it was never her wife’s ambition to contest for the presidency and that it was because the NDC, a party he founded, had departed from the real ideology and the basic foundation of justice, accountability and integrity upon which the party was formed.
But some leading member of the ruling party insist the former president and his wife’s criticism of the ruling NDC was not borne out of genuine desire for good leadership but that they had intentions of subverting the party for their personal aggrandizement.
The former first lady however insists that the assertion was a figment of the NDC’s own imagination, contending that if it was her intention to become president under the NDC, she would have done so long ago.
According to her, it was not until 2009 when things started going wayward when this country was thrown into despondency, poor leadership and corruption in the highest order that she decided to enter the scene and to try and collect the wrong doings in the society.
She revealed in an interview with Omanhene Yaw Adu Boakye of Kessben 93.3FM that in 1999, some top ranking officials of the NDC, who are now playing active role in the government under John Mahama came and pleaded with her to partner late Prof. Mills to contest for the 2000 elections but she declined, explained that she wanted to be by her husband and the family deal with post election stresses.
“I wanted to be by my husband and help him and the family go through the psychological aspect of being out of government; my intentions had never been about becoming a president as being speculated,” she explained.
Even though the former first lady declined to mention names of the two supposed leading members of the NDC who approached her, Mrs. Rawlings said those two know themselves and cannot in anyway deny it.
The NDP flagbearer also made mockery of the ruling NDC’s claims of chalking unprecedented success under its four year reign, stressing that the government can continue to tickle itself and laugh but Ghanaian voters would be the ultimate decider.
“Salt does not praise itself, if they say their performance is unprecedented, let them show us, Ghanaians will judge them,” she noted.
The former first lady also bemoaned what she termed as total insolence within the NDC, arguing that the ruling party lacks discipline and respect for the elderly.