I was once told a story of a young man whose parents were trying to figure out what his future career would be, so they decided to give him a test. They took a twenty-dollar note, a Bible and a bottle of whiskey and put them on the table in the hall. Then they hid in a room, hoping he would think they weren’t at home, they had left a note anyway. The father told the mother, “if he takes the money, he will be a businessman, if he takes the Bible, he will be a pastor, but if he takes the bottle of whiskey, I am afraid our son will be a drunkard”.

So the parents took their place in a nearby closet and waited nervously. Peeping through the key hole, they saw their son drive home. He saw the note they had left, saying they will be home later. Then he took the twenty dollar note, looked at it against the light, and slid it in his pocket.

After that he took the Bible, flicked through the pages, and put it in his laptop bag. Finally he grabbed the bottle of whiskey, opened it and gulped some to be assured of its quality. Then he left the hall for his room, carrying with him all the three items.

The father slapped his forehead and said to his wife “damn, it’s even worse than I could have imagined.” What do you mean? His wife asked. “Our son is going to be a politician” replied the unhappy father.

From the young man’s father’s impression of what a politician is and what he is capable of doing, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings’s behavior exemplifies this odious phenomenon. If not what could possibly influence and inform the decision of any right thinking individual to after 19 years of being the first lady of this country decide to contest the sitting President to lead the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for election 2012?

I hope I am not labeled as a chauvinist, but if I may ask, what at all does that woman want? Her greed knows no bounds; she wants everything in this world, without specifically knowing what.

Your husband for 19 years has sacrificed his life for the country, provided selfless leadership and would forever be my idol; if there is anybody in this country, I would forever admire and lay my life down for it is Jerry John Rawlings. Yes, because of him a nobody like me and many of my likes can also feel a sense of belonging. I believe after sacrificing his youth and being away from his family, he would spend the rest of his life getting to know his family which includes his wife, so why does Konadu too wants to deny him this? I could only safely conclude; greed.

Is Nana Konadu living up to her Beijing Conference billing that what a man can do women can do better? Is she not satisfied with the performance of her husband as the Head of State for 19 years? Or they have some unfinished business after 19 years in office, which must complete? Or like the case of the former President John Agyekum Kufuor, where everybody to the extent that even Ministers who were fired or relieve of their duties for non-performance also decided to contest to succeed him, making governance look like a joke?.

His brother Kwame Addo Kufuor, a medical doctor also thought if his brother could be a President, why not him, I hope an analogy like this is not what is informing Nana Konadu’s blind insanity.

God makes leaders, leaders don’t impose or appoint themselves, and since time immemorial, the all- knowing God has chosen leaders to lead his people and the times determine who leads. I think if Nana Konadu were to be as spiritual as it is expected of every mother, she would have known that her ambitions are misguided and ill-informed. Her contribution as far as this country is concerned and the entrenchment of democracy was to be the first lady.

“Mills men rigged Sunyani Congress”, was one of the headlines I picked up on one of the websites. Nana Konadu is reported to have said this last weekend when the party had organized a Mammoth Rally which she and her husband boycotted.

“Even though we went to Sunyani, I did not want to break the party, so there were a lot of things that I did not want to talk about”. Nana Konadu is quoted as saying.

She went further to say “people who were not delegates were voting as delegates and I know all the delegates, more than a thousand were not delegates, they voted so i let it be, because if I wanted to deal with it, I will take the whole bunch to court, but I just decided no, it’s not worth it, let them steal if, if that makes them happy, let them steal it”.

This was what Nana Konadu told the students when she addressed the Women’s Wing of the Akuafo Hall Junior Common Room (JCR). Let them steal, if that will make them happy. I don’t think you are advising the students to condone crime where ever they encounter one. Do our leaders listen to themselves when they talk? We also need to be politically aware that this hypocrisy of allowing our political and opinion leaders say anything and get away with it, whiles we applaud them, is killing this society.

Why should the students who are the future hopes of this country applaud to such a porous and corrupt pronouncement? Nana Konadu must be told in the face that she is a disaster of a politician and by extension a mother. She is continually making a mess of herself and dragging the name of her hubby and the family in the mud.

Why must a mother mortgage the future of her children on a platter of unrepentant and unguarded greed?

Nana Konadu, is certainly not getting it, she does not have a constituency in the NDC. All the respect and recognition she gets is because of the respect members of the NDC has for her husband. If she is tickling herself and laughing, thinking that the audience she gets is because she is popular or has done anything to deserve it, she would soon realize that when the chips are down, and it would be too little too late in the day.

If her eyes and ears are closed, must I remind her that today when Chairman Rawlings speaks how many people listen to him, even him who is the founder of the party is going through what I will call a re-awakening and self assessment. Those who used to take instructions from him when he was the head of state without questioning are now challenging him. Young men in the party, who hitherto would not have the nerve to stand before him, can today insults him and gets rewarded or applauded, so Konadu must enjoy it whiles it last. When it mattered most and you needed support to win the primaries to lead the party, your only hope was left with small boys who swindled and deserted you, when it mattered most. Were they not in Sunyani?

The political neophytes only sat in Accra and spent your money.

An idiot and a known member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Owusu Bempah, came into Friends of Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings (FONKAR) and into your family, and used your platform to propagate the interest of the NPP and you tell me you are smart. I am sorry madam; you have let me and many young ladies who look up to you down.

What happened to you mantra of ‘Be Bold’.

The NDC is now a public entity.

Konadu be wise and wake up before it is too late. Have you thought about life without your husband?

A word to the wise is enough