The Central regional Communications Director of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Bernard Allotey-Jacobs, has challenged former President Rawlings and his wife to publicly state their position on rumours making the rounds that they are behind the formation of the proposed National Democratic Party.
He says publicly declaring their stance would put paid to claims and counter claims about their alleged role in the formation of the party some political analysts have described as the new home of former NDC members.
Bernard Allotey-Jacobs made the call when he took part in a panel discussion on the emergence of the NDP and the challenges it is facing on Adom FM�s Dwaso Nsem Morning Show on Tuesday July 10.
There have been persistent rumours before and even after the public announcement about the formation of a party led by disgruntled and or disappointed members of the ruling NDC, that the Rawlingses would express their frustration with the Mills administration by forming a breakaway party to contest the 2012 elections.
Although the leaders of the new party are known Rawlings loyalists, neither the former First Family nor their spokesperson, Kofi Adams, have publicly acknowledged their membership of the party chaired on an interim basis by Dr Nii Josiah Aryeh, a former General Secretary of the NDC.
Contributing to the discussion, Bernard Allotey-Jacobs expressed doubt that the Rawlingses had mooted the formation of the party because of their loud silence over the matter.
Acknowledging that the Rawlingses had often made public complaints about perceived actions and inactions of the Mills administration, Allotey-Jacobs nevertheless expressed the belief that Mr and Mrs Rawlings had not broken ranks with the NDC because of the sanctions they could face.
�Why have they not spoken on the matter? I�m sure if they come out and declare they are behind it, they are afraid the NDC will apply the rules strictly against them.�
Fellow panelist Ernest Owusu Bempah, who is also Communications Director of political pressure group Friends of Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings (FONKAR), however dismissed any such assertion, arguing that the Rawlingses did not need to declare their stance.
According to Owusu Bempah, anybody who had followed the pronouncements and actions of NDP leaders would �clearly see� that the party was founded on the values and principles espoused by former President Rawlings. Members of FONKAR, he added, were only waiting for the Electoral Commission to grant the party a certificate to operate before joining en masse.
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