Dela Coffie Issues A Stern Warning To Former First Lady

A National Democratic Congress (NDC) sponsored group calling itself the Grassroots Supporters� Front (GSF), led by Dela Cofie, has issued a stern warning to former First Lady Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings in what it says is her attempt to disrupt the NDC by forming the National Democratic Party (NDP). The formation of NDP is being strongly linked to the former First Lady, even though she has so far kept her exact relationship with the new party under close guard. Nevertheless, the general public is convinced that she is the brain behind the party. Since its launch last week, the NDP has become a formidable splinter that may just become the nemesis of the troubled ruling party. Daily Guide sources recently hinted at key and influential members of the government making several frantic calls to the Interim Chairman of the NDP, Dr Nii Armah Josiah Aryeh, to get him and his colleague founding members to back down in constituting the new party. However, the GSF did not appear keen on diplomacy, as according to Dela Cofie, its convener, it was sending a �strong warning to Nana Konadu to desist from the politics aimed at destabilizing the NDC�, saying the group would resist the first lady in her enterprise. �We are not in any way against anybody forming a political party, but in this particular instance, it appears the NDP party is not here for any electoral purpose on its own, but to disrupt the electoral fortunes of the NDC,� Dela Cofie said yesterday when the clearly pissed group held a press conference to register its disapproval of the formation of NDP. According to Mr. Cofie, the formation of the NDP was a negation of the ideals of the founder of the ruling party, Jerry John Rawlings and they would resist this, adding that his group had vowed to protect the legacy of Jerry Rawlings at all cost. However, ex-President Rawlings himself had had several run-ins with the current NDC whom he believed had denigrated the ideals of the party with alleged acts of misrule and corruption. The development in the ruling party confirms critics� view that the formation of the NDP may likely affect the electoral fortunes of the ruling NDC in the December 2012 elections. Dr Josiah Aryeh is said to have described the NDC as a cancerous disease. �They say they intend to find cure for the disease, but they don�t know they are the disease themselves,� Dr Ayeh was quoted. Ernest Owusu Bempah, the right-hand-man of Nana Konadu, has questioned the motives of Dela Cofie, who is believed to have sold out to the Mills camp in the NDC. Dela Cofie was a staunch supporter of Nana Konadu during her campaign to unseat President Mills as the NDC�s flagbearership race heated up in 2011 when the party prepared to go to congress. The congress marked the extent of the deep cracks in the NDC. The party came out of the congress more bruised than ever. The Rawlingses came out of Sunyani feeling more and more marginalized by the party. Political scientists believe this spurred Mrs. Rawlings on to form her party.