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It appears the days when former President Rawlings and Founder of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) sneezes the entire party catches a cold is over. The Dzelukope-born former military strongman is gradually losing his grip on the party, as his advice and suggestions are sometimes turned down with contempt. Information trickling in indicates that almost all the candidates Mr. Rawlings has indirectly campaigned for are losing their positions in the ongoing NDC regional congresses. On Friday, November 14, 2014, a day to the Greater Accra Regional Congress of the party, Mr. Rawlings granted an interview to Accra-based Adom FM and indicated that the days of Mr. Ade Coker had long passed. He then went on to shower praises on Mr. Stephen Akwetey, who was then battling to unseat Mr. Ade Coker. Mr. Akwetey himself had earlier told a radio station that Ade Coker was not a genuine NDC man, and that he once contested for a position in the New Patriotic Party (NPP). With this pronouncement, which was obvious campaigning for Mr. Stephen Akwetey on the eve on the congress, many thought Ade Coker�s kingdom had, indeed, come to an end. Mr. Rawlings was, however, shocked to hear on Saturday evening that the delegates had ignored his overtures and voted for the man he considered to be an old horse. Ade Coker, who was embroiled in the Accra Stadium contract controversy when Ghana co-hosted the African Cup of Nations with Nigeria in 2000, polled a surprise 157 votes to beat his closest contender, Daniel Amartey Mensah, who polled 103 votes. Mr. Rawlings� lover boy, Stephen Akwety, came a distant third with a mere 22 votes. Mr. Ade Coker was part of the Local Organising Committee tasked to oversee the co-hosting of the CAN 2000, but there was a serious problem over the refurbishment of the Accra Stadium as one of the venues to host some of the matches. For instance, while the main contract for the refurbishment of the stadium was awarded to Arab Contractors of Egypt, represented by Nana Brew Butler, a former GFA Chairman, the supply of chairs were awarded to Rekoc, represented by Ade Coker, a former GFA Vice Chairman, with a contract sum $724,000. It later emerged that while other companies submitted competitive bids, Rekoc, led by Ade Coker, which quoted $15 and $37 each for two different types of chairs, was selected. Rekoc won the bid to provide the chairs at $37 each, when a British company had quoted $16 for chairs of the same quality. Apart from Rekoc�s chairs, suspected to be inferior, about 10,000 of them were left uncleared from the ports, accumulating demurrage to the tune of over �1.2 billion old cedis. Ade Coker, who seems to have now distanced himself from football administration, is the new kid on the block when it comes to NDC politics, and he seems to be doing well. Whilst Ade was doing marvelous things in Accra, a chatterbox in the Central Region, Mr. Allotey Jacobs, was also shocking political commentators with his surprise annexation of the region�s NDC chair. Allotey Jacobs, who prides himself as an educated fisherman and one of the National Convention Party (NCP) stock to join NDC, polled 127 votes to beat the incumbent, Samuel Eddie Yeboah, who could only manage 79 votes. Allotey Jacobs, who seems to have used Peace FM to catapult himself into political stardom, was once suspended by the party in the Central Region on the eve of the 2008 elections for breaching party codes. He has, however, risen through the ranks to become the Chairman of the party in the Central Region. The position of Youth Organiser went to Ishmael Prah, who polled 31 votes to beat Nurudeen Kobina Essah by 25 votes. For the Deputy Youth Organiser, Awal Oneal had 32 votes, becoming the 1st Deputy Youth Organiser. The 2nd Deputy Youth Organiser went to Eric Dadson with 28 votes. The Women Organiser position was snatched by Sistiana Ekuwa Swanzy with 19 votes, beating Emma Ahunu Armah and Tina Frimpong.