<<Print>>

NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC Congress (NDC) General Secretary Johnson Asiedu Nketia�s huge popularity in the ruling political party is rapidly waning, DAILY GUIDE can state. Thousands of NDC delegates that converged on the Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi yesterday to endorse President Mahama as the party�s candidate for the 2012 polls gave him a cold reception. Whilst NDC bigwigs like Mr. Rawlings were accorded a rousing applause and shouts whenever their names were mentioned, the NDC delegates surprisingly kept mute when Mr. Nketia�s name was mentioned. The situation became evident when the MC for the programme, Haruna Iddrisu, mentioned Mr. Asiedu Nketia�s name to mount the podium and brief the gathering about the state of the party. The cold reception given to him by his party members seemed to have had toll on the man called �General Mosquito� as he looked dejected when he mounted the stage. In a bid to save the situation, Haruna Iddrisu quickly grabbed the microphone and told the large NDC gathering that he was not pleased with the cold reception that they accorded their scribe whom he referred to as the only general in African politics. Mr Iddrisu asked the large crowd that �didn�t you see General Mosquito?� He then asked the NDC delegates to shout at the top of their voices to welcome the NDC scribe, but to his horror, the NDC delegates still kept mute as if they did not like Mr. Nketia�s presence on the stage. Realizing that he might have fallen out with the NDC delegates, Mr. Nketia continued with his short statement about the state of the party. General Mosquito started by addressing the party bigwigs that were seated on the dais including the NDC founder, Jerry John Rawlings, who he once allegedly referred to as the �barking dog.� Later on, some NDC delegates who spoke with DAILY GUIDE explained that they decided to be cold towards Mr. Nketia because they saw him as the source of the problems in the party. According to the NDC delegates, the seeming rift between the party�s leadership and Mr Rawlings emanated from the actions of Mr. Asiedu Nketia who usually took the NDC founder to the cleaners at the least opportunity. The NDC members said they had had enough of the insults that Mr. Nketia had been hurling at Mr. Rawlings, so they wanted to take this opportunity to display their fury towards him, hence their decision to give him a cold reception. They noted that without Rawlings, the NDC would struggle to retain political power in the 2012 general elections; therefore the likes of Mr. Nketia should start showing him respect.