FORMER FIRST Lady Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings has stated that nobody in the ruling National Democratic Congress(NDC) can stop her from offering constructive criticism so long as those at the helm of affairs fail to do the right thing.


“The reason why I chose to contest the presidential primary has not changed. Maybe I was not given the candidature…Whether I got or not, I will never stop speaking the truth about the rot and ills in our great party NDC,” she told a cheering crowd at the Nima Cluster of Schools in Accra on Saturday.


Addressing NDC members in her ongoing “thank you tour” to show appreciation to those who supported her to contest President John Atta Mills in the NDC primaries held in Sunyani in July, Mrs. Rawlings said, “Sunyani or no Sunyani, my brothers and sisters, nothing has changed.


“The position I held that certain ills and wrongs in our party and government should be corrected, I have not shifted from that position…We have to put our house in order so that the moral vacuum that has been created will be sealed.”


Accompanied by almost all leading members of FONKAR and her daughter, Yaa Asantewaa, the former first lady said, “I am surprised that some people are questioning what authority I have to embark on this tour to appreciate NDC delegates…Ei! Are we in Ghana at all?… If they do not know, I am doing this out of sheer decency.


“I know how people risked their lives and sacrificed for me during my campaign and I cannot be ungrateful to them. They were intimidated, persecuted and harassed especially by DCEs, MCEs and others in our party, yet some stood their grounds and gave me unflinching support.”


Mrs. Rawlings said there were those who were bold enough to tell DCEs and MCEs that “you do not control the party; rather it is the party executives who should direct affairs and not you”, adding, “I will forever be grateful for those who were bold enough to resist intimidation.”


She said the principles of truth, honesty and social justice on which the NDC was built, were still missing, adding, “Our people are stuck in abject poverty and when you complain they warn you not to dare speak about it.
“If the grass-roots and foot-soldiers complain and because of greed those at the top will always hit them with a sledge hammer, then it will be difficult for the party to stand,” she said.


She added: “The party has principles and these must be pursued. We have allowed money to destroy our ways and that is affecting the rank and file of our party.”
Kofi Adams, an aide to former President Jerry John Rawlings, said the Wikileaks had exposed the wicked intentions of the party’s leadership and called on the rank and file to resist any attempt to send the party to the fold of the Convention People’s Party (CPP).


“A lot of interesting things are happening in our party. It is up to us to ask ourselves whether we want to build on the principle that hold the foundation of the party or have a party that deals with people’s selfish interest and personal desires.”


Berrick Numburr, Coordinator of the Konadu Campaign, said instead of focusing on how to keep the NPP in opposition, “we are heavily bruising ourselves. We have soon forgotten that the NPP is fast gaining grounds”.
“Anytime Nana Konadu speaks people who are waiting to create mischief try to dilute what she says but she will continue to speak the truth,” he said.
Saint Osei, a leading member of FONKAR, said the NDC had compromised its principles of probity and accountability, stressing, “Nana Konadu is seeking to restore what we have lost as a party”.


Ruth Dela Sedoh, another FONKAR member, said the attempt to sideline the NDC founder (JJ Rawlings) would backfire because his contributions to the party would forever be there for all to see.
During the rally, the FONKAR distributed copies of documents purported to have come from Wikileaks cables that exposed what they called an agenda by President Mills and his group to obliterate the ideals, visions and principles of the NDC and take on those of the CPP.


Hannah Tetteh, as then Head of Communications of the NDC’s Transition Team, and now Minister of Trade and Industry, in a meeting with current United States Ambassador Donald G. Teitelbaum, was reported on January 13, 2009 to have described in detail how the NDC under President Mills planned to collapse two Nkrumaist parties, the CPP and PNC, and merge them into the NDC, thereby turning Ghanaian politics into a two-party system.


She told the Ambassador that the NDC would no more stand on a Rawlings ideology but instead adopt an Nkrumaist philosophy which is in contravention of Article 6 of the NDC Constitution which stated unequivocally that the party was established on the vision and leadership of President Rawlings