NDC Boss Pulls Gun Over Konadu

A meeting of the Kumasi branch of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) nearly turned bloody on Monday when the party’s chairman in the Bantama constituency pulled a gun in the middle of an ensuing confusion over the Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings presidential ambitions.

The alleged threat by Kwadwo Ratio Coffie aka ‘Show, Show unexpectedly ended the meeting which was held at the premises of the Ashanti Regional Co-ordinating Council (RCC), to prepare a response to the current crisis of the ruling party.

The meeting was to discuss the circulated posters of Nana Konadu announcing her bid to contest the presidential primaries of the NDC.

The confusion, Daily Guide gathered, arose when the Bantama NDC chairman descended heavily on Nana Konadu and her husband, ex-President Rawlings, raining all sorts of invectives on the former first family.

Ratio Coffie, the paper learnt, was uncharitable in his attacks on the former first family when he particularly indicated that President Mills was more knowledgeable than ex-President Rawlings.

He was said to have claimed that if President Mills was not well-informed, ex-president Rawlings would not have chosen him as his Vice in 1996, above all other leading members of the party, at the time.

The Bantama NDC chairman, Daily Guide learnt, also directed his anger at the President of the 31st December Women’s Movement (DMM), Nana Konadu, describing her intention to contest the party’s presidential congress as ill-advised.

He was alleged to have stated that the good people of the NDC would never allow the former First lady to unseat President Mills and lead the party into the 2012 elections.

Mr. Ratio Coffie, Daily Guide learnt, noted that the days when the former First family conducted themselves as ‘demi gods’ and always directed the affairs of the party in their own way were over. These uncomplimentary comments angered the NDC constituency organizer for Suame, Isham Alhassan, who reportedly picked a quarrel with Mr. Coffie.

In the resulting confrontation, the Suame NDC constituency organizer purportedly pounced on the Bantama chairmen in a bid to beat him up for speaking against the party’s founder and his wife but other members present restrained him.

When tempers were calmed, Mr. Coffie hurriedly rushed to his car and allegedly pulled a gun, which he brought to the venue of meeting, to teach Alhassan a bitter lesson. What could have been a bloody development was averted by the members at the meeting who abruptly ended proceedings.

When Mr. Coffie was contacted on the phone, he admitted to having a misunderstanding with Alhassan.“Oh, yes, when the misunderstanding broke and we were restrained, I went out but never pulled a gun from my car for the reason that I do not even have one,” he said, indicating that his chairman would have exposed him if indeed he did that.

On the issue of passing derogatory remarks on the founder of the NDC and his wife, the Bantama chairman responded, “No, I did not pass uncomplimentary remarks on ex-President Rawlings and his wife abut only advised them to calm down a bit”.

He explained that he could not have made disparaging remarks about the NDC founder because he (Ratio) had admired Rawlings and his wife since the days of the revolution.

Meanwhile, Alhassan has told Daily Guide that Coffie was not telling the truth because he (the Bantama chairman) pulled a gun from his car and threatened to kill him. He said he even reported the matter to the Suame Police who were prepared to arrest Coffie yesterday morning but some leading members of the party prevailed on him to withdraw the case for an out of court settlement.

According to him, being a dyed in the wool supporter of ex-President Rawlings, he was extremely angered when Mr. Coffie started attacking the founder and his wife, hence, his decision to pounce on him in a bid to beat him up mercilessly.“How can I allow somebody like Mr. Ratio Coffie to insult President Rawlings and his wife when I know for a fact that I can beat him mercilessly to teach him a lesson that will not make him insult the former first family again,” the Suame NDC organizer noted.

Alhassan challenged the Bantama NDC chairman to meet him at Antoa so that they could invoke the spirit of the ‘Antoa Nyamaa’ deity to ascertain who was telling the truth in the matter.