A group calling itself NDC Zongo Women has declared its unflinching support for the former first lady Nana Kondau Agyeman Rawliings’s presidential ambition.
The group which is made up of NDC Zongo women across the country held a press conference in Kumasi on Saturday and declared its unalloyed support for the candidature of Nana Konadu as the party’s presidential candidature for the 2012 elections.
Wearing ‘T’ shirts bearing the name and photograph of the President of the 31st December Women’s Movement (DWM), the group members said the former first lady was the best person to lead the NDC for victory in the 2012 polls.
Hajia Hadiza Abubakar, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the group, noted “we have gathered here today for an important and historical ceremony to advocate and rally our support for the first woman President for Ghana through the NDC party.”
She stated: “As women in the Zongo communities who are known to be the largest support base of the NDC, we are aware that people are hungry for a woman to make history in Ghana and we want to declare our support and campaign for Nana Konadu Agyeman.”
Hadiza Abubakar stressed that their support for the candidature of Nana Konadu did not mean that Prof Mills was not doing well but because of their firm belief that judging from the realities on the ground the former first lady was the best candidate to retain the NDC in power.
She argued that Nana Konadu was the ideal candidate for the ruling party because she was the only woman in the NDC who could help Ghana make history by having a woman as its first president to answer the cry of the majority of the people who are yearning for a woman president.
More so, the PRO contended that the competence and the appealing nature of the wife of the founder of the NDC coupled with her trustworthiness and her ability to deliver on her promises were visible attributes to make her a better candidate for the NDC and president of the nation.“There is no doubt that Nana Konadu is very inspirational and has the ability to bring on board every member of the NDC for a sweet victory in the forthcoming elections,” Hadiza Abubakar noted amid deafening claps. “Konadu Agyeman Rawlings as the former first lady of Ghana is the most popular person among all others who may be qualified to contest and therefore does not need much marketing to the voting public.”
She said “Nana Konadu is well connected locally and internationally and so will be able to raise the needed funds for campaign in 2012 coupled with her well versed statecraft after being a first lady for 19 years.”
Hadiza said the former first lady had already proved herself in the political field and will therefore not be a trial and error president.
“For these reasons and many others, we the Zongo womens for Konadu 2012 are calling on the former first lady to come out and declare her intentions because she will get all the support not only from Zongo women but also from Ghanaian women as a whole” Hadiza stated.
Hadiza Abubakar dismissed the perception that Zongos would not vote for a woman as President, stressing even if a Muslim-dominated country like Pakistan could elect a woman as a Prime minister, why can’t Ghanaians do same. “We the Zongo women for Konadu 2012 will also like to call on the former President and founder of the NDC Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings not to stand in the way of the former first lady to contest the NDC presidential primaries since such action will amount to violating her right to take part in our democratic dispensation,” the women warned.