General News of Wednesday, 23 April 2003

Source: Evening News

Rawlings' credibility is destroyed

A leading member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Ashanti Region, Kwame Nsafoah has said that people should be bold to tell E.T. Mensah and others that they are doing a great disservice to ex-President Rawlings by telling him that he is still popular.

?They should actually advice him about people?s true perceptions about him,? he stated. Nsafoah?s pronouncement followed that recent trading of unfavourable words between the ex-President and Dr Obed Asamoah, the Chairman of the Party. Such confrontations tend to affect the structure of the NDC and create disaffection among members of the party.

He said the party needs someone who is bold and can speak the truth. ?In the presence circumstances, anyone who continues to tell the ex-President that he is still popular is not doing the party and the founder any good. Ghanaians have had enough of Rawlings.?

The NDC activist stated that the revelations coming out of the National Reconciliation Commission (NRC) had destroyed the former President?s credibility in the eyes of Ghanaians. ?We the activists of the party strongly support Dr Asamoah?s stand. Obed is able to call a spade a spade.

Rawlings? role in the NDC and Ghanaian politics must be redefined. If we continue to tolerate people who keep urging the founder to speak publicly on behalf of the party, then the NDC will die a natural death.?

Nsafoah said that as a founder of the party, Rawlings should support the party financially, but the day to day affairs of the NDC must be left to the party Chairman. As the founder, he should bring those who are undermining the work of the Chairman to order, these include the General Secretary and the so-called Women?s Wing.?

He said the NDC chairman had firm roots in the party ?if he leaves, he will take along a silent majority of NDC supporters from branch, constituency, regional up to Parliament and several top nuts throughout the country.?

He claimed that respectable members of the party such as Prof Twumasi, Mrs Amoako Nuamah, Appiah Dwumoh and several others had kept their silence because of indiscipline statements by some party members.

?We want those who have been speaking by heart to know that Dr Asamoah is a big force to reckon with. In fact, as far as politics is concerned, Dr Asamoah is one of the few people who cannot be ignored. The party executives must unite and work towards the success of the NDC,? he said.

The NDC, he said, at this time in its history requires an effective, tried and tested leadership to manage its affairs.