At a crunch meeting yesterday between Eastern regional executive, all constituency executive members, the regional minister and party elders of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in Koforidua, most constituency executive members said that people at the Castle and those around President Atta Mills are just ‘fooling’ him and should be bold to tell him he cannot win the 2012 general elections.

According to them, it was time they told the President that he was no more popular with the rank and file of the party and that if there should be presidential primaries today, he would lose to whoever would contest him.

The constituency executive members from Akwatia, Kade, Lower West Akim, Upper West Akim, Ofoase/Ayirebi, Mpraeso, Nkawkaw, Afram Plain North and Afram Plain South openly vented their spleen on the regional executive members for ‘mortgaging’ the party for money at the meeting held in the regional Minster’s residence.

According to them, because they had been getting financial favours from the Castle, they wrongly defended the president and refused to tell him the reality on the ground.

The constituency executive members also accused the regional executive of ‘grabbing’ all the contracts that came to the region and that it was those ‘selfish’ party leaders who would cause President Mills’ downfall in the primaries.

The constituency executives also forced the regional chairman of the party, Julius Debrah, to render an unqualified apology to former President Jerry Rawlings, the founder of the party and his wife Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings for going on radio to insult them since, according to them, if the Rawlingses were ‘touched’, then the ‘eye’ of the party had also been touched.

The regional chairman therefore ate the humble pie and apologised to the Rawlingses for the comments he made against them on radio when Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings resigned her position as party vice chairperson to enable her to contest the party’s presidential primaries with President Mills.

Because of the acrimony that characterised the meeting yesterday, the party in the region could not come out boldly to support President Mills as was done by other regions.

The party said as far as the Eastern region was concerned, executives would remain neutral and not declare for any of the contestants.

The party in the region however appealed to the former First Lady, Nana Konadu, to re-consider her decision to contest the sitting president at the primaries since that could lead to deep-seated divisions in the party and also affect the party’s chances of winning the 2012 general elections.