Rawlings is a loose cannon – Hannah Tetteh declares

Hannah Tetteh, Minister for Trade and Industry and former Director of Communications of the National Democratic Congress, according to the leaked US diplomatic cables, described the founder of her party and former President of the Republic of Ghana, Jerry John Rawlings, as a “loose cannon who sometimes loses sight of his role.”

She made these disclosures to the political officer of the United States Embassy in a US embassy cable with reference number 08ACCRA325, created on the 7th of March 2008 and signed by Ambassador Pamela Bridgewater.

The US embassy officials described former President Jerry Rawlings as a key player in the NDC campaign, a larger than life presence whose populist touch and bombast rouse crowds that reach beyond the party faithful.

However, Ms Tetteh was less diplomatic to her founder as she told Poloff that “Rawlings was ‘a blessing and a curse,’ vital to the cause for his charismatic appeal, but equally risky as a loose cannon who sometimes loses sight of his role.”

Despite such misgivings, she stated that the NDC had happily unleashed Rawlings as the attack dog on the NPP administration's shortcomings.

US embassy officials, in their view, believed that Rawlings would play a key policy role in an Atta-Mills government but Hannah Tetteh swiftly rejected that assertion.

She went on to describe the Mills-inner-circle view of Rawlings.

"Rawlings realizes his political days are over," Tetteh said, "and the party has definitely moved beyond him, but managing him is still a challenge."

Hannah Tetteh in another US embassy cable also gave reasons as to why the NDC opted for Joyce Bamford Addo as Speaker of Parliament, which have landed her in hot water.

“She [Joyce Banmford Addo] was seen as someone who would take orders and be malleable to party discipline,” Hannah Tetteh said.

She said that “for important votes, the party would remove Addo and put the First Deputy Speaker Edward Adjaho into her place as a stronger enforcer.”

The leaked cable further states that Hannah Tetteh had an inkling that the NDC’s National Chair would be replaced at the party’s post-election congress to elect party leaders, adding that it was probably because Dr Kwabena Adjei "...lacks maturity -- and I don't mean because of his age."

In another cable titled “NDC HOPES TO BRING MINOR PARTIES INTO THE TENT” with reference ID: 09ACCRA29, Hannah Tetteh divulged a wide range of issues ranging from governance, the role of President J. J. Rawlings to party (NDC) operations.

Most significantly, Hannah Tetteh described how the NDC had planned to merge the two most important minor parties--the Convention People's Party (CPP) and the People's National Convention (PNC) into the NDC fold, basically turning Ghanaian politics into a two-party system.

Hannah Tetteh also confirmed that the NDC had paid dearly to obtain the votes of the two PNC members in Parliament (reftel), saying that in addition to accommodating the party with district, commission, and ambassadorial positions, both MPs would be receiving Deputy Minister jobs in return for their agreement to sit with the NDC to constitute a legislative majority.

Enforcing party discipline on critical votes would still be a key objective, since the margin was so thin. She also noted that the party was courting Alhaji Saani Iddi, the independent MP from Wulensi in the Northern Region, but that so far his demands (for both position and money) were unreasonable, and he would "have to come back down to earth."

On the subject of neophyte CPP politician Samia Nkrumah (Kwame Nkrumah's daughter, who has joined neither majority nor minority in Parliament, and has pledged to vote on issues based on their merit), Tetteh simply shook her head and said "that girl is going to have a lot to learn."