For sometime a pattern has emerged that anytime former President Rawlings speaks some self-styled political commentators try to twist and give useless interpretations to his statements.

At the just-ended Kumasi Congress, President Rawlings offered pieces of advice to all and sundry on how to build a united front. President Rawlings also spoke about the need for all to join the campaign and decried the tendency of some people who do not play any active roles in campaigning but sit in their comfort zones waiting to enjoy when victory is secured.

As usual, the self-styled commentators have picked on these statements and have given them varying interpretations to the extent of even claiming they know the NDC people Papa J was referring to in Kumasi as rotten planks etc. It is true the Founder spoke in parables but it does not give the so-called commentators license to interpret his statements to suit their whims and caprices.

Mr Kwamena Ahwoi for instance served full time as Director, Research Department at the NDC headquarters from 2001 until taking up a teaching appointment at GIMPA in 2007. Even then everyone knows he continues to work behind the scenes for the party. So why would he be accused of abandoning the NDC? People play different roles for the Party. Some are effective working behind the scenes to get things done while others are on the field. In fact, there are many unsung heroes who are hardly seen or heard but do more for the party than we care to know. Who for instance told the so-called commentators that Hon Kofi Totobi Quakyi was one of JJ’s targets when he referred to people who used health as an excuse not to campaign in 2008. The Daily Post can authoritatively state that Hon Kofi Totobi Quakyi was in the thick of the 2008 campaign. He contributed significantly to the NDC 2008 campaign and produced many of the powerful 2008 NDC adverts. Indeed even in 2004, Mr. Quakyi together with Mr. Kofi Nyantakyi formerly General Manager of TV3 and a handful of others were in charge of the NDC’s campaign communications even when there were virtually no resources available.

Totobi was one of the brains behind the formation of the Committee for Joint Action (CJA) which organized the effective WAHALA demonstrations across the country from 2005. He is reported to have travelled outside for medical reasons in 2007 but was back in the country in 2008 The Daily Post can authoritatively state that throughout the 2008 election period morning, noon and night Totobi worked from Prof Mills’ Kuku Hill Campaign office effectively directing intelligence and campaign communications. Anyone in doubt should ask Richard Quarshigah, NDC Propaganda Secretary, Koku Anyidoho etc. This is the man who worked such long hours at Kuku Hill that one day he collapsed in his chair and but for the presence of Dzidzor Tay, Rojo Mettle-Nunoo and others would have died. It is an open secret that Totobi Quakyi has long-standing health issues arising from brutalities meted out to him as student leader in the late 70’s by the Acheampong regime and even spent a whole year in a hospital abroad at that time. Since then he has battled with health to the extent that even in 1995 while on medical treatment in the USA, it was front-page news in Ghana that he had died. Despite the health troubles Mr Quakyi has served the party and country well throughout the 1980s till now. He is one of the proven strategists and workaholics in the NDC who gets things done. Recently he brought honour to the NDC and Ghana as a whole when he led the Funeral Planning Committee to execute the hugely impressive funeral for the late President Atta Mills.

The NDC must learn to give credit where it is due. The Daily Post has in the past taken on officials in the party and government who do not accord respect to the Founder. A party that does not recognize the efforts of its hardworking members is not worth dying for. As we go into the 2012 elections let everyone be given his or her due. The self-styled commentators should not be allowed to attack hard working persons be they old or new in the party. It will end up dividing the front of the party.