Mills Death Gave NDC Victory

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Rawlings
Rawlings

jerry rawlings

Former President Jerry John Rawlings 

BUT FOR the passing away of President John Evans Atta Mills, former President Jerry John Rawlings says the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) could not have won the 2012 presidential elections.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with Metro TV?s Frank Nyonator in Accra, Mr Rawlings, who is the founder of the NDC said, ?Had the good Lord not called Mills away, the NDC would have lost the election as clear as daylight; everybody, we all knew it.

?So in a way, his departure was also a blessing,? he emphasised, claiming ?that restored some hope?.

That, according to him, was what offered then Vice President? but now President?John Dramani Mahama, who he described as ?the young man,? an opportunity to redeem the party from a major electoral defeat that stared them in their faces.

Even that, he said, ?He [referring to Mahama] literally almost fought that battle alone because there was a questionable executive around him; not all of them?

Headache

Mr Rawlings? headache however was how poorly President Mahama had handled the affairs of the nation in terms of development programmes, saying he was disappointed in the latter.

Corruption

Though he indicated that Mahama was ?doing what he can, somehow, I think he and Mills probably have the same problem of dealing with issues of corruption in the vigorous manner in which corruption needs to be tackled,? noting with emphasis ?we are failing in that respect.?

Apart from that, he said there were a lot of things government was not doing right to salvage the country from its economic woes, adding that ?Ghana is suffering seriously under a cloud and climate of corruption.?

He asserted; ?Some of the things that some of us know is unbecoming of people in high office. We are hoping that the machinery will deal with those issues as quickly as possible so as to improve on the image of the executive.?

The NDC founder, who seemed to have given up any hopes in the current leadership of the country, asked rhetorically,

?How many times haven?t I made this call? How many times hasn?t he assured the public of dealing with the issue of corruption and yet we are not seeing enough that will help to clear the image of the government??

Fear

An obviously worried Rawlings could not but note with emphasis, ?The NDC as it stands now, doesn?t have what it takes really to exert the necessary pressure on the executive or to assist the President.

?So what we are hoping for is that it will come out with personalities of integrity who will restore a sense of hope back in their support base, in the country as a whole because it is a truly disappointing and painful situation.

We?ve done it before and I don?t see why we can?t do it again. We just have to fall on the right people and track the right path.?

Mr. Rawlings therefore expressed fear about the chances of the NDC in winning the 2016 election which is less than two years away.

He has therefore charged delegates in the upcoming national delegates? congress of the NDC to elect persons who have the capacity to take on the executive and compel them to take decisions that win government and party confidence amongst party faithful and Ghanaians as a whole. Rawlings was of the firm belief that if the executives, who would be elected at the NDC congress were ready to think out of the box and do what was necessary to lift the image of the party, then its fortunes could be better in the next general elections.

BY Charles Takyi-Boadu

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