NDC Plot Exposed

Credible information reaching the Daily Guide newspaper indicates that former President Jerry John Rawlings and his camp in the National Democratic Congress (NDC) have begun a silent revolution to oust some Members of Parliament (MPs) ahead of the crucial 2008 elections. Meetings have been held in various constituencies in the country to actualise the plot, signs of which are beginning to manifest in some parts of the three northern regions.

The meetings are being coordinated by some former ministers who owe their loyalty to the Rawlingses. Penciled for the Rawlingses’ immediate attention are 15 seats in the Northern Region. Indeed, far-reaching arrangements have been put in place to support the internal revolution. Three seats in the Northern Regional capital, Tamale have been earmarked for capture, and meetings have been held with constituency executives, a move which has received open condemnation from party headquarters.“It has come to the notice of the National Headquarters that some people are going round the country, especially in the Northern Region, claiming to have been sent by the National Headquarters to prepare grounds and supervise primaries of the election of Parliamentary candidates.

“The Headquarters wishes to bring to the notice of the general public, especially NDC Regional, Constituency and branch executives, that no such persons have been mandated to perform any duty on behalf of Headquarters. The Headquarters is therefore cautioning that any person who makes such a claim should be reported to the Headquarters immediately.“The NEC wishes to remind all concerned that the ongoing exercise is in respect of orphan constituencies only. A separate timetable will be issued for constituencies with sitting MPs in due course. Prospective candidates for constituencies with sitting NDC MPs are warned to desist from any form of campaigning, whether overtly or covertly, until further directives are received from the National Headquarters,” the warning stated.

The Daily Guide newspaper can confirm that the 15 parliamentary seats include those of Minority Leader and MP for Nadowli West, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin; Spokesman on Communications and MP for Tamale South, Haruna Iddrisu; Spokesman on Energy and MP for Nabdam, Moses Asaga; Alhaji Abukari Sumani, MP for Tamale North; Inusah Fusseini, Tamale Central and Hajia Mary Boforo, MP for Savelugu.

Also on the hit list are Mahama Ayariga, MP for Bawku Central; Amadu Seidu, MP for Yapei Kusawgu; Imoro Yakubu, MP for Kumbungu; Zakari Alidu, Walewale; Dauda Karaga; Dr Alhassan Yakubu, MP for Mion; Mohammed Abass, Bimbilla and Mubarak Mohammed, Asawase. The move is seen by observers as a resuscitation of what appears to be a suspended previous exercise to shake up some executives of some constituencies in the Northern Regions.

Hon Moses Asaga, the economist, lost his position as minority spokesperson on finance and economic planning to Hon Benjamin Kunbuor who, even though a lawyer, is seen to be inclined to fitting into the political strategy of the Rawlingses. One of the objectives of the revolution is to ensure that the party’s strategic seats, otherwise known as safe seats, strewn across the Volta and Northern Regions are secured and kept directly under their control.

The new effort is to ensure that the handpicked and financially supported MPs owe allegiance to the party’s financiers, otherwise it will remain cash-strapped. Some of the targeted seats are areas hosting persons identified as pro-Obed but who have not yet decamped to the DFP because they do not want to lose their parliamentary seats now. This agenda, treated as a classified strategy in Rawlings’ circles, is being coordinated by former ministers. In the Northern Region, the group reportedly met with an ex-convict minister, who later arranged a meeting with the executives.

The ‘coup’, which is scheduled to cover all the three Northern Regions, was exposed when a few weeks ago, emissaries were sent to the Tamale South constituency to meet with some constituency executives at the residence of an opinion leader and elder of the NDC in the Northern Regional capital.The emissaries included John Adams, the man who got busy on radio programmes, defending a soldier being held in detention for his alleged engagement in political activities.

The emissaries persuaded the executives to accept the overtures of Founder Rawlings to have more loyal personalities in the next House of Parliament than those perceived to have sold their birthrights to the National Security Minister, Francis Poku. The Founder has been unhappy with their inability to oppose more drastically, the Kufuor government. Rawlings’ aim, by the new unfolding arrangement, Daily Guide learnt, is to reduce the authority of flag bearer Prof John Evans Atta Mills whose campaign team is already complaining of not getting support from the founder as well as some National Executive Committee (NEC) members.

Some NEC members, however, feel otherwise as according to them, it was Prof Mills who was marginalising them by, for example, ignoring them in his “I Care for You” programme. The “I Care for You” programme was initiated by the ailing law professor to enable him have interactive sessions with a cross section of Ghanaians. However this is being carried out without the involvement of National Campaign Committee chaired by Alhaji Mahama Iddrisu.Prof Mills is being accused of preferring to deal with persons who lost National Executive elections. Kofi Portuphy, Antwi Boasiako and Nii Lante Vanderpuije are examples of those who lost in the internal polls but who are prominent in the Mills’ fold.

Included in the list of those the former first couple want dropped come next elections, is Hon. Abdul Rauf Ibrahim Tanko, the MP who made headlines recently when he dramatically slapped his colleague MP. He has subsequently been suspended from party activities by the national executive. However, critics say the decision was belated since Parliament is on recess. It would be recalled that the Mills’ campaign team has been rubbished on several occasions, with some top leaders in particular not showing any affection for the former law teacher even after efforts at mending broken fences.

The Coco Beach Hotel NDC family meeting in the first quarter of this year put Mills on the spot for what the founder and his loyalists consider to be a lackluster campaign on his part. Perhaps this informed the unfolding of the “I Care for You” house-to-house movements by the NDC flagbearer, which has subsequently drawn a snag from party leaders.