Source: The Chronicle
Barring any unforeseen circumstances, Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings will have her picture on the ballot paper as the flagbearer of the newly-formed National Democratic Party (NDP).
Confirmed reports indicate that Mrs. Rawlings will be running on the ticket of the National Democratic Party, a party formed by disgruntled members of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC).
Yesterday, the General Secretary of the NDP, Dr. Joseph Manboa-Rockson, put the rumours to rest, when he admitted in an interview with Joy FM, a local radio station in Accra, that Mrs. Rawlings would indeed, be contesting the party's flagbearership race.
The news of Nana Konadu running against the NDC on the ticket of the NDP does not come as a surprise, as rumours and speculations linked the party to the former first family, right from its birth.
When the NDP goes to congress this Saturday at the Kumasi Sports Stadium, it is likely tMrs. Rawlings will be acclaimed the consensus candidate, without a contest.
Although others have also shown interest in contesting the flagbeareship of the party, its General Secretary is optimistic they would come to a consensus to allow Mrs. Rawlings go uncontested.
Mrs. Rawlings' wranglings with the NDC, a party her husband founded and sealed with his own blood, became more evident after her defeat at the Sunyani Congress, where she contested the then sitting President, John Evans Atta Mills.
Nana Konadu had heavily criticised the conduct of that election, and expressed concern about at the level of insults, intimidation and vindictiveness that characterised the period leading to the congress, and during the event itself.
Her husband, Mr. Rawlings, thereafter, intensified his criticism of the NDC and the leadership style of the then President Mills, stating among others that the party had deviated from its core values and principles.
To him, the country was being led into the abyss by persons within the NDC, who he had described in various terms, with the latest descriptions being "Greedy Bastards", "broken and rotten planks", "babies with hard teeth" and "same old evil dwarfs."
It is, however, not clear whether Mr. Rawlings himself will defect to the side of his wife in her political adventure, but coming events will be an interesting case study for political science students, as the Konadu-led NDP battles it out with the NDC, with Mr. Rawlings lurking on the horizon.
Political pundits are of the opinion that Mrs. Rawlings' presidential adventure with the NDP will be the last straw to break the NDC's back in the coming elections, considering that fact that Mrs. Rawlings, as leader of the 31st December Women's Movement, commands a large following.