Mills' Woes Deepen As Obed, 'Bad Boys' support Botchwy

Barely a week after we published the likelihood of Dr. Obed Yao Asamoah's candidature, it is clearly emerging that he would not stand but actually throw his weight behind Dr. Kwesi Botchwey to snatch the NDC flag from Professor Evans Atta Mills.

We also can say that Paul Victor Obeng, the dynamic Presidential Advisor on Governmental Affairs, who was blackmailed out of office by the Fanti caucus, is also going to throw his weight behind Kwesi Botchwey.

If that is not sufficient to knock ex-Veep Mills out of contest, wait till you have learnt that Captain (rtd) Kojo Tsikata, who slipped into hibernation for years in South Africa and other foreign lands, has crept back to Accra - primarily to throw his weight behind Kwesi Botchwey.

But there is more bad news for Mills, the Gentle Academic: Augustus (Goozie) Obuadum Tanoh and all the "Reform Boys" are expected back into the NDC in anticipation of Kwesi Botchwey's candidature.

"Do you think that it was for nothing that Obed promised to bring Goozie, Kojo and Kwesi Botchwey on board when he was canvassing for the NDC chairmanship?" an ex-national executive of the NDC quipped while chatting with Chronicle.

It was further learnt that what would hammer the nail in Mills' coffin is the Nana Konadu ambition.

"The woman is still bent on contesting in spite of the repeated protestations and denials of her husband, Rawlings," a well-placed member of the party said.

What she added was, "A house divided against itself is bound to fall: The Rawlings-Fanti Caucus constituency is bound to be torn between Atta Mills and Nana Konadu."

To some small extent, though, Mills is his own doom. The man simply does not have a constituency and he lives in the shadows of the "thousands love, millions hate" Jerry Rawlings.

Readers will recall that in year 2000, Mills had less votes in the Central Region where he hails from than his main opponent, John Agyekum Kufuor, whose New Patriotic Party (NPP) had until then picked less than 40% of presidential election votes (in 1992 and 1996).

Another attitude of the former Veep, which he moved to change after December 7, when it was already a shade late, is the fact that he overly depended and still depends on the overblown stature of his mentor, Jerry Rawlings.

Mills' infamous, "I shall consult him (Rawlings) 24 hours a day" is still a kind of stigma on Mills that remains fresh in the memories of the electorate, including the about 2000 delegates who will elect a flagbearer for the desperate NDC in the third week of December, this year.

Presenting himself with a striking difference is Kwesi Botchwey, who events have vindicated as strong, independent-minded and assertive.

Many are those who consider him as principled, having resigned in protest over the reckless gambling the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) was allowed by the then President Rawlings to be thrown into.

Party faithfuls who still hold that the NDC lost the 2000 elections largely because of a worsened world economic order, blame the inability of the national economy to withstand the shocks of rocketing fuel prices and plummeting commodity prices on Kwame Peprah's ineptitude.

What they mean is that Kwesi Botchwey had built a firm base for the economy and if his successor, Peprah, had not messed up, Ghana's economy would not have been dislocated so much by external shocks. They, in fact, miss Kwesi Botchwey.

On their weaknesses, both Botchwey and Mills begot children out of wedlock with Mills taking permission from his wife. (Remember Botchwey's escapades with the Canadian Diplomat in Accra?)

Though both are academics par excellence, the exit of Botchwey from NDC politics some six years ago which afforded him a bigger world of academia, international relations and international politics, has left Mills streets behind.

And the electorate are on the quiet being canvassed to be aware of all such obvious advantages, Chronicle has gathered. If let loose in the countryside to fight, Kwesi Botchwey has five tongues to use: Fanti, Asante, Ga, Ewe and Hausa.

There too, Mills will be trailing behind, being handicapped in Ewe and Hausa. As for the English language it is child's play for both.

On or by December 22, this year, the NDC delegates will congregate at the University of Ghana, Legon, to decide between Mills and Botchwey, though other contestants might waste their time making some impressions.

Three months before the date, that is latest in October, they will be required by the NDC constitution to file their papers.

Analysts inside the NDC are optimistic that after the fight of the titans, Prof. Mills would be forced into retirement, rather prematurely, at age 57.