Rawlings Is A Captive In The Hands Of His Wife - Alhaji Bature

The Managing Editor of the Bilingual Free Press, Alhaji Bature, says a publication by the Daily Guide newspaper that Former First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, met with the NDC’s Council of Elders to make known her intentions to contest President Mills for the party’s 2012 presidential primary is indeed accurate. He therefore finds it rather atrocious that nobody in the entire ruling party is being bold enough to step up and acknowledge that fact.

Speaking on Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen programme, the known NDC sympathizer insisted that all the executives, including the Council of Elders of the party are aware that Nana Konadu declared her interest to contest the slot but are deliberately putting a twist on the issue.

According to him, the former First Lady did make the announcement at a meeting held last Tuesday and chaired by chairman of the Council of Elders, Harry Sawyerr, when the issue of the arrest of some individuals believed to be her supporters and said to be conducting opinion polls on her behalf was being discussed.

“What Daily Guide published is the truth and all those people who are running around defending the indefensible are all aware it is true. It is true that the council of elders summoned Nana Konadu to discuss an incident where her agents who were travelling to the Brong Ahafo region to do opinion polls on her behalf were arrested. She admitted that she was trying to test her popularity that was when she told the council of elders (of her decision to run)…This is true! What is this denial? For me, it beats my imagination,” he fumed.

An obviously irritated Alhaji Bature pointed out that there is nothing fetish or scandalous about Mrs. Rawlings’ intention to run as a presidential aspirant and so cannot fathom why National Executives of the party are dancing around the subject.

He strongly asserted that the Rawlingses are bigger than the entire NDC party thus virtually everyone in the party is afraid to stand up to them, hence the audible silence by the party hierarchy over current happenings.

“…the Chairman of the party will not own up; the General Secretary will not own up, even the presidency itself will not own up, so what is the conclusion… if they are not bigger than the party? The Presidency will not react; the party structure certainly will not react. So what is the meaning?” he rhetorically asked.

To him, no one can ignore the contributions of the Rawlingses towards the establishment and sustenance of the NDC, but that does not mean they should be regarded as being larger than the party.

“When that is done then the NDC ceases to be a party,” he added.

The former host of Radio Gold’s Alhaji and Alhaji programme admitted he preferred that the former First Lady makes good her intention to run since that will not only “bolster the NDC’s democratic credentials, but also serve as a lesson”. He was, however, of the firm belief that Mrs. Rawlings will not run and also added that her calculated ploy to cause disaffection for the presidency has backfired.

“Even President Mills’ fiercest opponents are empathizing with him (over what Mrs. Rawlings is doing),” he stated.

Alhaji Bature then questioned why ex-President Rawlings has been silent over the issue, and posited that the former president is now a captive in the hands of his wife, Nana Konadu.

“The question on the lips of everyone is; ‘In all these happenings, why has former President Rawlings kept so quiet over the wife’s obvious presidential aspirations? What is the position of Mr. Rawlings as a husband, as the head of the house, as a former President and as the founder of the party?...Why hasn’t he brought his wife to order? For his silence, what some of us will conclude is that he is now a captive in the hands of his wife... Because if your wife is doing something you don’t like, you will come out and publicly stop her. …indeed he is solidly behind the wife. He’s not said anything about it; what does it tell you?” he quizzed.