Former first Lady, Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings� recent audacious public bashing of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) party and government has left many Ghanaians scratching their heads for answers over her motive(s).
Party big guns have been nonplussed and alarmed and are furtively scrimmaging for answers to explain her recent incessant firing of acidic torrent of salvos at a party founded by her husband for almost four decades, Jerry John Rawlings few hours after the party had held one of its most successful congresses ever in its over two decades of existence as a political party.
The former NDC vice-chairperson and attempted 2012 presidential candidate of the almost defunct National Democratic Party (NDP) has frenetically been jumping from one media platform to the other berating the NDC administration, leveling various charges against the party and government.
The charges range from corruption, abuse of power, mismanagement of the national economy and many others.
Many were stunned at the level of her attack on the ruling party, less than 48 hours after her charismatic husband and former president, Jerry John Rawlings, publicly reconciled with his party after almost six years of bitterness against the Mills-Mahama-Amissah Arthur government.
Former President Rawlings also delivered one of his best speeches in recent times in support of the party at the party�s 8th National Delegates� Congress in Kumasi, winning plaudits from party leaders and the grassroots who converged at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium to grace the occasion.
While many were relishing a subsequent re-union and good gesture from his better half Nana Konadu towards NDC, a party she abandoned ahead of the 2012 elections citing issues of corruption and mismanagement, Naana, as often referred to by her hubby, Rawling, rather chose the path of self-destruction and political suicide.
In his speech at the congress, the founder of the party and her husband exhorted the rank and file of the party to prepare to �receive� her (Nana Konadu) back to her natural home.
Obviously angered by her husband�s harmless proposition to come back to the NDC, the former first lady spent the better part of the Christmas festivities, a period dedicated to making amends and reconciliation, to attack the Mahama-led NDC government in the most severe form.
Not only did Nana Konadu unleash her poisonous venom on the ruling party, she ended up embarrassing her hubby publicly, according to the popular pollster and managing editor of The Dispatch newspaper, Mr. Ben Ephson.
In a direct riposte to Mr Rawlings� call, the former first lady stated �even if I find it interesting I will not escort my husband there� the conviction I had in going to some other place is still there and still relevant.�
According to Nana Konadu, she will not join a party without conviction and ideology, �you join something with conviction. He might have said it with a good heart but you join something with conviction. When those convictions are no more there, what is the point?� she retorted.
Even when many ardent critics have commended the Mahama administration for constructing some modern interchanges in the country to ease traffic congestion, Nana Konadu, on TV3 thought otherwise. According to her, �the interchanges were a misplaced priority�.
On the economy, which many experts have agreed and commended the government for working hard to lift the country from the short-term macro-economic challenges, the flamboyant former first lady and owner of the struggling NDP is unenthused, �I think we should just stop lying to ourselves and admit that there are some failures that have gone on within the system and then look at how we can address these failures��
�There�s no point in propagating issues that are not true or just making so much noise about it. Let�s have a cool head, relax, and look at the issues as they are.�
But, many political pundits have surmised that Nana Konadu�s outburst and vitriolic attacks against the party her husband has founded could be attributed to frustration, aside sour grapes and extreme hatred and jealousy against President John Mahama and probably members of his family and government.
�She relishes she should have been there at the top again, been at the helm of affairs of the country or in one of the highest positions, preferably the President, and can-not come to terms with the reality that her time is probably over and now is the time for others to enjoy the fruit that the party is bearing.
�She thinks she and her husband have gambled with their lives and cannot imagine others benefiting while she is on the sideline. So you could see the pain and anger in her when she talks about the party. She would be very happy to see the back of the party and the government in the 2016 elections.
It would be one of her happiest moments to see the party struggling in opposition again so that they can reclaim what she thinks are rightfully theirs� a leading member of the party told this paper.
The aL-hAJJ sources have hinted that the former first lady is been severely angered by the retention of Mr. Johnson Asiedu Nketia as the NDC General Secretary and Mr Kofi Adams as the national organizer of the party. She and the remnants of the NDP have earlier vowed to scuttle the ambition of Mr. Kofi Adams accusing him of being a traitor and a political sell-out.
Speaking to The aL-hAJJ on condition of anonymity, a well known political analyst said the former first lady could be suffering from �one of two things; either it is sour grapes or sheer abhorrence for the president and some bigwigs in the NDC.�
According to the political analyst, the unexpected resilience and successes chalked by the NDC party and government even after Nana Konadu had left the party could be one of the reasons why she has made it an article of faith not to see anything good about the government.
�The truth is that Nana Konadu and her husband never envision the NDC wining the 2012 elections after she left the party.
�Before she left the party, we were all made to believe that without the Rawlingses, NDC cannot achieve anything meaningful let alone win a crucial election; but unfortunately for them and fortunately for the NDC, the opposite happened.�
�The Rawlings did not support and campaign for the NDC�even Konadu attempted to contest for the presidency and when she was disqualified, she became a virulent critic of the NDC.
Her husband who didn�t join his wife to the NDP made comments which were inimical to the fortunes of the NDC, and all these things were done to deny NDC victory in the 2012 elections, but the party survived it and went ahead not only to win the election but to give hope to Ghanaians for a prosperous future despite the worst economic difficulties the country faced� the analyst stated.
Perhaps, for not being part of this unexpected success story of the NDC, former President Rawlings as a matured politician he has been, saw the need to reconcile with the party and put the past behind him.
The former first lady paradoxically is irritated by this gesture of good will from her husband to the party he has formed, hence her recent scathing verbal attacks against the party and government.
Another political commentator opined that the former first lady�s harsh criticisms of the NDC in spite of her husband�s call for truce could be assigned to her extreme dislike for President John Mahama.
According to the commentator �you would recall the trouble between Konadu and John Mahama, the then front runner as Mills� running mate ahead of the 2008 elections. While she (Konadu) was rooting for Betty Mould Iddrisu to be named Mills� running mate, John Mahama as the preferred choice of the last President fortunately got the nod.
Ironically too, in 2004 she was reported to have met candidate Mills at Eddy Annan�s house to plead with him to nominate John Mahama ahead of Mohammed Mumuni. However, the two fell out afterwards.
Even after Mills nominated John Mahama for the 2008 elections, Konadu went public, specifically on JOY Fm, to state that John Mahama was incompetent and not fit for the position.�
�Let�s face the fact, Konadu has problem with a lot of the bigwigs in the NDC today�I�m not ready to mention names but I think Konadu should develop a forgiving heart to put some of these things behind her; unless she wants to tell us that she herself has never asked for forgiveness from somebody she has wronged before.
Even her husband is gradually patching up with some of the big guys he had problems with in the past so why can�t her?� the pundit asked rhetorically.
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