Mills milled by Rawlings, Spio and Bagbin

Tuesday, the National Democratic Congress held an all-day "family meeting” at the Coco Beach Hotel, Nungua, Accra. NDC founder Jerry John Rawlings, according to our information, tore into John Evans Atta Mills, the party leader and flagbearer, saying, “Prof will sleep and rest till thy kingdom come,” and that he will never become President unless “you go and get it by force.”

Mr Rawlings even poured scorn on his party leader over the late Ga Mantse funeral, saying he was received more loudly by the crowd than Prof Mills. This was to suggest that Prof Mills was struggling to lure the populace to his side. Mr Rawlings also, our checks indicate, accused NDC chairman Kwabena Adjei of failing to live up to expectations. He further lambasted both the Minority in Parliament and the party's national executive for being meek and behaving as if they"d all been compromised by the government. “Your salaries are meagre,” he said of MPs in a show of sarcastic sympathy.

He told his party leadership to see the New Patriotic Party not as “political opponents” but as “sworn enemies.”

But, it was not the former President alone who took on Prof Mills. Alban Bagbin and Prof Mills’ closest rival by some distance for the flagbearership also had a dig.

However, speaking to The Statesman yesterday, Prof Mills said he left the marathon meeting early after he had delivered his speech. He said he stayed there for not more than three hours and had left before Messrs Rawlings, Bagbin and Ekwow-Garbrah spoke.

Mr Bagin, The Statesman can report, gave flak to the NDC leader for sitting in the capital, instead of touring the regions. He said Prof Mills should not be compelled only by funerals to get out of Accra, saying it had to take a funeral for the party leader to visit the Upper East.

But, speaking to The Statesman yesterday, a source close to Prof Mills has described the Bagbin criticism as unfair, saying after the North Nkoranza by-election mauling, the NDC presidential candidate travelled to all three northern-most regions, to thank party members for successfully supporting his bid to lead the party for the third time.

Even then, the Minority Leader was unhappy with visits made by his leader to some NDC-controlled constituencies, without informing the respective MPs. The man who was humiliated by Prof Mills in the NDC contest last December also added his voice to the denunciation. Spio Ekwow-Garbrah devoted his speech to carp at the NDC’s apparent lack of resources to fight the 2008 general elections. He went further to say that the situation of the party’s logistical inadequacies is draining it of the will to take the fight to the NPP. Dr Ekwow-Garbrah, our sources disclose, linked the party’s problems to the decision to stick to Prof Mills. He told the family, "You gave your mandate to Mills; so how will resources come."

According to our information, it was at this point that the NDC flagbearer jumped in to say the leadership should stop the blame game and see how the bill of ¢650 million incurred at the December congress could be paid. Speaking to The Statesman yesterday, Prof Mills said he was not around by the time Spio delivered his speech.

But, the Prof had earlier in his speech mentioned the party debt and appealed to party members to donate old pick-up trucks for the 2008 campaign. In response, Spio said the priority was not the acquisition of pick-ups, but to find $20 million to win the next elections.

Mr Bagbin also questioned the seriousness of the NDC campaign under the leadership of Prof Mills. He told the gathering that for five years he had demanded of the former Vice President, a copy of his handing-over notes to the NPP in January 2001. But, in spite of his repeated demands, it was only in March 2007 that Prof Mills finally passed on a copy to the Minority Leader. Mr Bagbin famously was seen standing without a seat at the Independence Square on March 6. This Mr Rawlings explained was punishment for his sharpness in embarrassing Government when it took the Minority Leader to acknowledge the presence of former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan at the special parliamentary session on the night of March 5, to mark the nation’s golden jubilee anniversary.

Mr Rawlings even criticised Nii Lante Vanderpuye for not getting up to give his seat to Dr Mary Grant at the Independence Day celebrations. At the Coco Beach meeting, which went on till about five in the evening after starting at nine in the morning, questionnaires were passed around by a group of seven men, including four Europeans, who were described as political consultants. The group was led by Mike Obuobi of Maryland, USA.