By Dr. Michael J.K. Bokor

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Folks, in my many years of monitoring happenings in Ghana---and having spent 16 years of my life serving Ghana, the majority under the Rawlings' administration----I have no shred of doubt in my mind that Ghana isn't being developed as expected, clearly because those in authority are either unsure of how to do so or have placed personal interests and quests above the national ones. We know how our politicians (mis)behave when in power and how they do things to return to the limelight.
Nana Konadu Agyemang-Rawlings has gone down in history as Ghana's "longest-serving" First Lady. All that she did or didn't do when her husband was in power is in the public domain. Her profound influence on the society, using the 31st December Women's Movement, is ineradicable.
Scandals have also dogged her. The abduction and murder of the three High Court judges and retired Army Major Sam Acquah put her on the spot, but she survived.
Her role in the acquisition of the Nsawam Cannery by the 31st December Women's Movement landed her in court. But for the unexpected show of magnanimity by Kufuor a day before leaving office, her trial would have gone on for her Fate to be decided. She would have been sent to the slammer, though, granted that the matter had a huge political coloration as well.
We are even not talking about many other issues that would culminate in her leaving the NDC after being rejected as a flagbearer (She was already well-placed as a Vice Chair of the party before raising her political ambitions to a whole new weird level).
What happened thereafter may not be easily forgotten. We recall her vain attempts at damaging the interests of the NDC and why she would be more interested in joining hands with the NPP to bite the very finger that had fed her all these years.
The zeal with which she did things in the National Democratic Party (NDP) confirmed that she was avid for power. But she lost the bid because of technicalities that forced the former EC Chair (Dr. Afari-Gyan) to disqualify her. The rest belongs to history, one might say; but not so for Nana Konadu. She is still nursing an implacable grudge against Dr. Afari-Gyan as reported today. (See http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/Konadu-Rawlings-jabs-Afari-Gyan-388760).
In her comments, she revealed a secret that is shocking:
"She also disclosed that she is not the founder of the NDP as has been speculated over the years… I did not found the NDP. In fact, I had traveled and when I returned I was told that a new political party had been formed. I listened to their objectives, and they sounded different from all the rest that existed already, so I decided to join".
MY REACTION
So, who really formed the NDP for Nana Konadu to lead? Former President Rawlings? Who exactly did so? And why hasn't Nana Konadu bared it all till now?
Is Nana Konadu's revelation likely to expose the grand agenda of those gradually being fingered as the real brains behind the NDP? We hear from the grapevine that some bigwigs in the NPP were actually behind the formation of the NDP, but we have no evidence to support it. So, will Naka Konadu tell us the truth? We are all ears!!
Folks, do you see how the Rawlingses do things? For Nana Konadu particularly, this disclosure will rock her all the more. It is a throwback to the fate of the 31st December Women's Movement which she didn't form but took absolute control of to serve her political purposes. Those who staunchly rolled along with her in those days are now her bitterest enemies. Why should it be so?
Truly, then, we now know that she is leading the NDP just because whoever formed that party ceded everything to her. What for?
Jerry Rawlings is known as the founder of the NDC, even if he was deftly supported by many others all over the country or abroad. Until he was divested of the accolade as the "founder-and-father" of the party, everything seemed right for him and his household. He still remains in the NDC while his wife is in bed with the arch political rivals of the NDC and behaving as if she really matters.
Now that their daughter (Dr. Zanetor Rawlings) has staked her luck to have a place in the NDC, it is clear to me what the Rawlings want to accomplish and why they cannot just leave Ghanaian politics to others, having already spent decades doing it. They are planting their daughter to serve purposes that go beyond her representing Korle Klottey in Parliament.
From her campaign utterances, I can see much of her mother in her. She claims she is in politics on the ticket of the NDC to help solve problems in the party, some of which culminated in her mother's leaving the party. She has already begun accusing her opponents of sharing money to the voters. And at the launching of her campaign, she rode on horseback. I pray hard that she is rejected. Then, we will see more of the weird aspects of the Rawlingses.
We note that the Rawlingses are really adept at hiding their secrets, which is why despite all the efforts by their detractors (especially the NPP under Kufuor) couldn't expose them. Now that they have become attractive to Akufo-Addo and his cabal, it is clear that the plot will thicken all the more. By so doing, they hope to survive till Nature calls them unto its own. What happens thereafter is none of their business. Maybe, their children and their children's children will account for it all. What more are the Rawlingses hiding from us?
I shall return…
• E-mail: mjbokor@yahoo.com
• Join me on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/mjkbokor to continue the conversation.