A former Information Minister and the Member of Parliament (MP) for Okaikoi South, Nana Akomea, has told this paper that the struggle for control of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) has affected the performance of the Atta Mills government.

According to him, President Mills now has divided attention, which is making it impossible for him to focus on the development of the country. In an interview with The Chronicle in Accra Wednesday, Mr. Akomea said whilst trying to fix the multiple challenges facing the economy, President Mills also has to deal with difficulty of containing Mr Rawlings, who is trying to block his re-election as the presidential candidate of the party.

“Because it affects the future of the President himself, he cannot sit down unconcerned, so he will be distracted right up to when the NDC elects its presidential candidate,” he noted, adding: “it is normal that when you have this kind of threat from, not less a person, than the founder of your party, it will naturally affect your performance.”

He however cautioned that if the NDC did not find ways to end this kind of strife, it could affect its delivery in subsequent years. The situation, he said, had become so bad that even before the end of his first year in office President Mills was compelled to come out to say that he would stand for re-election, since doubts had been expressed about his ability to seek re-election.

“Jerry Rawlings himself has said some time ago, that Mills should take his government and he will take the party. Subsequently, you have people like Spio Garbrah, who is perceived to be in Rawlings camp, and Mrs. Rawlings herself, all declaring their intentions to contest for executive positions in the NDC.

“This shows the intensity and extent of division and infighting in the ruling party,” he emphasized. He therefore stressed the need for the ruling paty to manage its affairs properly, since it was having a direct bearing on the country’s development.

Whilst admitting that what was currently going on in the NDC was internal democracy like that of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), between the Nana Addo and Alan Kyerematen factions, the Okaikoi South MP said, “the danger is that the division in the NDC is so deep, and the personalities involved are quite big ones.”

He further said one cannot equate what is going on in NDC to that of NPP, because the latter was not in government, but in opposition. “When we were in government, Kufuor didn’t have this kind of terrible factionalism in the party.”

Nana Akomea said the stake are higher, for the simple reason that the Founder and the President are at each other’s throats, saying authoritatively, “this is the first time that you have a sitting President being actively challenged for re-election in his own party.

He asked, “why should the Rawlings faction be trying to take over the party, and why would the Mills faction also be trying to resist them, it’s all because of the presidential primary. Obviously, Mr. Rawlings’ faction wants to take over the party, so they can use the party machinery to block Mills from seeking re-election.”