NDC Meets Over Rawlings

Linchpins of the ruling national Democratic Congress (NDC) across the country yesterday converged on the Ashanti regional capital of Kumasi to hatch a plan to woo the Rawlingses to join the party�s campaign machinery for the 2012 polls. All ten regional ministers and NDC regional chairmen from the length and breadth of the country attended the emergency meeting held at the Regional Coordinating Council. The one-day meeting was chaired by NDC General Secretary, Johnson Asiedu Nketia, a deep-throat source at the meeting told DAILY GUIDE. It said the agenda for the crucial meeting was what the ten regional ministers and chairmen could do to help bring the party founder Jerry John Rawlings back to the party. The said the strained relationship between President Mills and the NDC founder was not auguring well for the party, hence they should patch up immediately to save the party from an imminent election defeat this year. The source hinted that those that attended the meeting had realized that indeed Mr. Rawlings and his wife, Nana Konadu, were not ready to campaign for the NDC in the impending polls. It said the closed-door meeting which started around 2pm and lasted deep into the night unanimously agreed that without the Rawlingses, the NDC could not retain political power this year. According to the source, the meeting also agreed that it was high time the arrogant members of the party that were fond of taking the Rawlingses to the cleaners were told to tone down. The NDC gurus said reports from the various constituencies in the country indicated that the party was not ahead in the coming elections, therefore they needed all hands on deck to face the polls. The source disclosed again that the NDC kingpins said they would soon send a powerful delegation to plead with the Rawlingses to let sleeping dogs lie by returning to the campaign for the party to win election 2012. The meeting also considered the formation of a coalition of traditional rulers who would be mandated to broker peace. Upper East Regional Minister Mark Woyongo told Joy FM that the decision to reconcile the sitting president and his predecessor was to have both men �sing from the same hymn sheet�. Asked if the move was to draft the former president into the 2012 campaign, Woyongo said, �Not necessarily� but insisted the country needed a harmonious working relation between the two leaders. As part of the plan, queen mothers in all the various regions would be drafted into the coalition to reconcile the two men. He said the coalition would first meet the Chief of Staff to discuss the issue with them before proceeding to meet the two men. On Monday, a delegation of Volta chiefs visited the Rawlingses with the same agenda but its mission was a fiasco.