Posted: Daily Guide |Monday, 21 June 2010
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
SUPPORTERS OF the ‘Konadu for 2012 Campaign’ are mad at individuals and groups of persons who have sought to pour cold water on the intention of the former First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, to contest for the NDC 2012 presidential slot.
The group, known as Friends of Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings (FONKAR), is particularly not happy with comments made by Communications Minister Haruna Iddrisu, whom they described as ‘a mere tramp.’
The group called Deputy Minister of Information Samuel Okudzeto-Ablakwa and Deputy Minister of Science and Environment Dr Omane Boamah hypocrites for criticisng Nana Konadu.
“We also do not understand why any individual or group of persons in the NDC would have any issue with Nana Konadu if she really had an intention to run for flagbearer in the 2012 elections since President Mills himself boldly came out to declare his intention to seek re-election in 2012 barely six months into his four-year mandate,” the group said.
A statement issued and signed by Ransford Vanni-Amoah, founder and leader of FONKAR, stated:
“We have silently watched for far too long the insolence and temerity with which the likes of Haruna, Ablakwa and Omane Boamah sought to play their politics.
The friends of Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings have noted with deep concern the revival of insults, treachery and hypocrisy in national politics”, with the most recent being a persistent onslaught by “certain nomadic minds within the NDC to discredit the character of the Rawlingses.”
They recalled how Haruna Iddrisu, for instance, entreated party members to disregard the former first family since in his opinion, the constant criticism of President Mills by Rawlings was a grand design to make Mills unpopular and pave way for Nana Konadu to take over as NDC candidate for 2012 elections.
In the light of that, Haruna was reported to have said that the last thing the NDC, as a party, would do is to substitute President Mills with Mrs. Rawlings because the latter would not only divide the party but also send it into opposition.
On Thursday, June 10 2010, Dr. Omane Boamah was said to have launched a scathing attack on the Rawlingses on Metro TV’s ‘Good Morning Ghana’ show, stating that the action of the Rawlingses was a calculated attempt to draw a wedge between his god-father (Prime Minister Ato Ahwoi) and President Mills.
On the same programme the previous day, Okudzeto-Ablakwah also questioned how the so-called poor NDC footsoldiers managed to get money to print banners and also pay for their transport to Tamale for the commemoration of the June 4 anniversary which they (Ablakwa and his other colleagues) boycotted.
He noted that he was disappointed in Nana Konadu for not coming out to disassociate herself from the movement.
Responding however, FONKAR said “such comments are reckless, irresponsible, very reprehensible and unbecoming of Ministers of State.
We find it unacceptable, the behavior of these Ministers and call on lovers of decency in our great party to come down very hard on the ‘filth’ associated with these Ministers.”
FONKAR has therefore sent a note of caution to President Mills to call his boys to order since “we, the entire FONKAR membership, will no longer allow these inexperienced chaps to cast aspersions at the former First Lady and her husband.”
They have vowed to forever protect and defend what they called the ‘good legacy’ of the Rawlingses.
“If there is anyone to insult the Rawlingses, it should not have been this reprobate called Haruna Iddrisu who benefited greatly from the Rawlingses.
Without the Rawlingses, you would have been nobody. They sacrificed their whole lives for you to become a minister,” Mr Vanni-Amoah noted.
If nothing at all, the group said they have seen the emergence of a similar group like theirs in Kumasi called ‘Atta Mills for 2012’ boldly inscribed on a saloon car.
He said there were other groups advertising ‘Atta Mills for 2012 and John Mahama for 2016’ on Facebook, asking “is Ablakwa telling us that he is not aware of that”.
In the light of this, the group queried: “Are our leadership hypocrites? Does it mean if you are the president you are definitely a candidate for the next election?”
This, FONKAR said, was the reason why “a mere tramp like him (Haruna Iddrisu) can today insult and slight them (Rawlingses)”, asking whether Haruna Iddrisu knew how the NDC was formed.
“He needs to be tutored that Nana Konadu was even more responsible for the formation of the NDC they now belong to than even her husband,” they said.
FONKAR has therefore called on the leadership of the party to halt the attacks on the Rawlingses or else “the repercussions will be heavy for the NDC to bear.”