Rawlings rejects Kwabena Adjei

Notwithstanding the seemly confusion and crisis facing both the NDC party and government, its national chairman Dr. Kwabena Adjei is busily looking for ways to retain his position as chairman, than resolving crisis confronting his party and government.

To ensure that delegates of the party renew his mandate in the next congress, which will also enable him become the first person in the history of the party to be elected three consecutive times, the former Biakoye MP is assembling all his arsenals towards that goal.

Though party followers believe it is time for a serious and dedicated person to run the affairs of the party ahead of the 2016 general elections, Dr. Adjei, who was first elected in 2005 after defeating Dr. Obed Asamoah in an acrimonious contest, is not ready to relinquish his position.

Dr Adjei is marshaling resources from every angle to entice delegates to vote for him in the next congress. Dr. Adjei's team denied our earlier story about him promising to give vehicles to all regional chairmen and women organizers; the former majority leader is alleged to have imported motor bicycles into the country in furtherance of his third term bid. The motor bicycles are to be distributed to delegates and his campaigners across the country.

They are already working in the Ashanti region, the region with the highest number of delegates in the country. Dr. Adjei is facing serious competition from the NDC director of election, Mr. Kofi Portuphy, who is also a vice chairman of the party. Other people who are planning to contest the NDC chairmanship position includes former Local government and Rural Development Minister, Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, who has been excluded from the NDC election reform committee being chaired by Dr. Kwabena Adjei.

President Mahama's brother-in-law and trusted friend of Mr. Rawlings, Alhaji Hudu Yahya is still testing the grounds whiles Dan Abodakpe has abandoned his ambition. Political analysts believe the contest is between Mr. Portuphy and Dr. Adjei, but emphasizes that the incumbent chairman has a major obstacle to overcome.

Almost all the power brokers who stood behind him in his last two elections have deserted him. A source within the NDC said unlike the 2005 contest which was a battle between NDC and Dr. Obed Asamoah, seen at the time as an obstacle to the political progress of the late President Mills; this time, Dr. Adjei would have to depend on his on strategy and few loyalists who do not have much influence within the NDC.

The power dynamics in the party is changing, and this would greatly affect the incumbent chairman, seen as fine gentleman, who has lost control over the running of the party. The last congress held in Tamale was also a battle between the Rawlingses and the government led by the late President Mills; Dr. Adjei overwhelmingly crashed the candidate of Mr. Rawlings in the person of Dr. Asamoah Tuffuor.

Our source within the party said the NDC founder has declined to meet with his chairman, and our information is that in June this year, the former president virtually walked Dr. Adjei out of his house.

According to our source, Dr. Adjei was part of a team that had gone to visit Mr. Rawlings in his Ridge residence, but the former president was alleged to have asked the team to either walk the NDC chairman out or the delegation leaves his house.

At the just ended nationwide outreach programme, the NDC chairman who led the delegation to the Volta region is said to have incurred the anger of the MPs and ministers from the region for his lack of seriousness to the programme.

Already, the NDC in the Volta region is divided over his re-election bid. Some are of the view that Dr. Adjei should step down after serving his second term whiles others insist he should be allow to go unopposed.

Youth groups in the Volta Region are rooting for Mr. Portuphy. This paper will soon publish a major financer of Dr. Adjei who has brought so much shame to the NDC.