JJ Joins Konadu

With just four days for the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) to go to congress to elect a possible flagbearer for the 2011 polls, former President Jerry John Rawlings and founder of the NDC has taken centre-stage in the campaign trail of his wife, Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings, who is contesting incumbent President Mills for the position. Mr. Rawlings has joined the campaign in the run-up to the congress which is slated for Sunyani from Friday, July 8-10, 2011 to garner support for his wife, whose picture occupies the second position on the ballot paper. The former President is ready to play a leading and active role in the campaign in the run-up to the congress, according to sources close to FONKAR. Yesterday, a vociferous Jerry Rawlings, together with his wife and members of her campaign team, met delegates from the Greater Accra, Western and Central regions and some members of the party�s foreign branches, where the message of �Be Bold� was sold to them. The meeting took place at the Ridge office of the former President. Sources said the meeting was supposed to have been held on Sunday but could not take place because the delegates were allegedly held up by some members of the Mills campaign team, �Get Atta Mills Endorsed� (GAME) to prevent them from meeting Konadu and members of her campaign team. The inclusion of Mr. Rawlings in the Konadu campaign mopping up process, in the run-up to the Friday congress, is expected to attract a lot of attention in the next couple of days, considering his crowd-pulling abilities. At the said meeting, Mr. Rawlings was reported to have told delegates the need for them to vote for his wife to become the party�s flagbearer to deliver the NDC from an imminent defeat at the hands of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the 2012 general elections. He was also said to have stressed the need for unity which he said the current leadership had failed to foster among the rank and file of the party. One delegate who was part of the meeting told Daily Guide, �He also asked us to ensure that the NPP does not come to power because if we allow the status quo to remain, then we�ve already lost.� His comments were said to have been greeted with intermittent applause from the delegates, most of whom, according to our source, nodded their heads in agreement with most of the things the party founder told them. Unconfirmed reports have it that Mr. Rawlings would be travelling to the Volta region today to meet delegates to woo them to his wife�s side. Meanwhile, spokesman for the Rawlingses Kofi Adams is confident that the over 3,000 delegates who are expected to vote at the congress would not be �fooled� by the money the Mills team is allegedly giving them. Speaking on Accra-based Citi FM, Mr. Adams stated, �We are convinced that the NDC delegates want a unifier, somebody who understands the workings of a political party and therefore will build party structures rather than abandon them. �All the delegates know that for the two-and-a-half years that this government has been in power, it was as if they (the Rawlingses) never existed. �The only time they are being visited is because of this contest and even it is because Nana Konadu has picked forms. So they will not be fooled, they are going to take that wise decision because they want somebody who would forever be committed and loyal to the party�s cause.� �I know the person who would emerge on that day is Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings,� he emphasized.