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It�s now common knowledge that the National Democratic Congress (NDC), has overwhelmingly voted for President John Evans Fiifi Atta Mills to lead the party into the 2012 election. The outcome, after a bitter electioneering campaign was so revealing that the loser, Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings, who is also the wife of the founder of the party, has accepted defeat. She gained only 3.1 percent of the votes, per the Electoral Commission�s count. And with this result two questions immediately come to mind which need some level of scrutiny. First, did Nana Konadu know deep down her heart that she was going to be a loser before she entered the race? Second, did she go into it because she was convinced of making history as the first woman to beat an incumbent President of Ghana and be elected to the woodsack of the Castle, come 2012? These questions would be left to the court of public opinion for their judgement. However, this writer did not believe Mrs. Rawlings (popularly referred to as Madam, within her inner circles) merely forced an extraordinary presidential primary, for the purpose of becoming a loser in the contest. It does not make political sense to me. After all, she is an experienced politician, a good mobiliser and a formidable speaker in many senses. Even though history has shown time and again that some great men and women entered into political contests just to create attention for themselves, this writer thinks Mrs. Rawlings certainly does not belong to this class of people. She got involved for serious business, wanting to take back a family property which she thought the current NDC administration had failed to manage properly. After all, the late Vincent Assiseh, a former NDC Press Secretary, once claimed the NDC belongs to Ft. Lt. Rawlings and his wife. But if wishes were horses, beggars will ride, according to the good old adage. But why such a crashing defeat for Mrs. Rawlings and her family who were supportive during her campaign? As stated in my earlier article, most of Nana Konadu�s supporters were not delegates, and therefore, had no votes at the primary. They were mere hangers-on, greedy and boot lickers who preyed on her �cash�. Even some members of her own campaign team were not known in the party, after all. Those who were known, have no political base or weight, others did not know what was happening around them, apart from being assigned to radio and television studios where they talked without any precise message. Without doubt, the rest were sycophants who knew what was in stock for her on Election Day, but never told her the truth, �maybe the whole truth�. Or was it a case of just being too �bold� to refuse their wise counsel to step down at the very last minute? Well, these are good lessons for over-ambitious politicians to learn from. In other words, the resounding victory (96.9%) for President Mills meant that technically, he has no opposition within the ranks of the party as had earlier been perceived! The victory is therefore, extremely important for his government and the NDC machinery to fully carry out its �Better Ghana� agenda. There is no warrant for excuses.Some Ghanaians may conclude that the common explanation for the victory is an endorsement for the President and his team, but I beg to differ. It could rather mean that the delegates have given President Mills and the NDC hierarchy a second chance to put certain things in order. Therefore, my recommendation to the President Mills-led government is not to follow the status quo and sweep the grievance of the foot soldiers under the carpet. He should use the stick and carrot approach to arrest the situation, since any attempt to down play problems within the party would be similar to the ostrich burying itself in the sand.