Deputy Minister of Finance and a known Rawlings devotee, Fiifi Kwetey, has explicitly told the former president and founder of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) that the ruling party will not succumb to his incessant calls to prosecute or throw members of the opposition in jail just to “appease” him.

In what can perhaps be described as indicative of the waning influence of the Rawlingses over the party they once held sway over, Fiifi Kwetey was emphatic that he “does not want innocent blood on his hands” and the NDC would not for the sake of political expediency hastily embark on illegitimate ventures simply to make the founder happy.

Quite recently, the deputy Finance Minister, touted as a “Rawlings boy”, left his mentor in the cold and shocked political pundits into silence by reportedly endorsing President Mills’ candidature in the impending congress to elect a flagbearer for the party.

He is said to have urged supporters of the NDC to be bold and use the former president’s own principles of “positive defiance” as a yardstick against Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings’ decision to challenge President Mills’ bid to lead the party in the 2012 elections.

Addressing members of the Tertiary Education Institutional network (TEIN) of the NDC at the Methodist University College (MUCG), Dansoman Campus, during the swearing in ceremony of the newly elected TEIN Executive, the once staunch defender of the Rawlingses stated that the call for the defiance of Rawlings’ preference was not a show of disrespect or insult to him, but rather a demonstration of what the former President had taught the members of NDC; to always be bold and stand for what was right, truthful and appropriate for the party and Ghana.

Explaining the rationale behind his action in an interview on AdomFM, the outspoken Deputy Finance Minister stated without fear of contradiction that, “no government has been able to manage the economy” like President Mills has done within the two years of his tenure. According to him, from a totally collapsed economy, the Mills’ administration has been able to turn the economy back on track.

Known for not shying away from controversy, he wondered “how on earth anybody would want to change a winning team”.

He likened the accusations against President Mills’ lack of action and the goading of Nana Konadu not to relent in her desire to contest him (Mills) to individuals who are not in a boxing ring but are shouting their voices hoarse from behind their Television sets urging the boxer to “hastily” knock his opponent down.

“…all these people who are screaming today, do this…do this, if you (heed their promptings and) do it tomorrow and make mistakes, they will pretend they never said anything,” he added.