NDC gurus warns Mills over Betty

An Ashanti Region-based National democratic Congress (NDC) group, Coalition of NDC Youth in Ashanti, has warned President Mills and the leadership of the ruling party to stay clear of the former Minister of Education, Mrs. Betty Mould-Iddrisu, in the wake of calls for her arrest.

The group says the ruling party, and for that matter the government, must desist from persecuting the former Minister if the NDC was interested in maintaining its voting strength in the Ashanti Region.

The Coalition has also sent a strong caution to government appointees, including Ministers and District Chief Executives (DCEs) who have benefitted from the magnanimity of the former Minister, but have kept mute since the Woyome brouhaha broke out.

They contend that Mrs. Betty Mould-Iddrisu represents the face of the ruling party in the region, and that any attempt to sacrifice her for the interest of some individuals within the party would amount to political suicide.

The Coalition, which is made up of the amalgamation of various interested groups within the ruling party in the region says the NDC would be heading for doom in the 2012 elections, if Mrs. Betty Mould-Iddrisu, who is a former Attorney General (A-G) and Minister of Justice, is arrested in connection with the Alfred Woyome saga.

Addressing a press conference in Kumasi to register their displeasure at what they described as orchestrated moves to vilify the former A-G and Minster of Education, the Spokesperson for the Coalition, Samed Akalilu, noted that some nation-wreckers within the ruling party had connived with a section of the media to manipulate the report from the Economic and Organised Crimes Office (EOCO), ostensibly to victimise the 'noble woman.'

There have been calls for the arrest of the beleaguered former A-G, who many believe, sanctioned the payment of the cash to the NDC financier, Mr. Alfred Agbesi Woyome, but the NDC group says such calls are misplaced, because Mrs. Betty Mould-Iddrisu only did what was legally right under the circumstance.

They argued that though the only role played by Mrs. Betty Mould-Iddrisu in the Woyome controversy was for her to order the payment of only GH¢17 million, which was even refundable, based on the final determination by the High Court, many social commentators, including some personalities within the NDC, had created the impression that it was the former Minister who was responsible for the total payment.

What appears to worry the agitated NDC supporters in the region is the fact that some leading members and appointees of the government, who have been beneficiaries of Mrs. Betty Mould's largesse, have refused to come to her aid, in the face of the growing criticisms.

According to them, in spite of the numerous help these individuals had received from the embattled former Minister, they had deliberately declined to give her the necessary support and encouragement.

Though the group declined to mention the names of the said individuals, who were beneficiaries of the former Minister's magnanimity, it says these individuals know themselves, and that the earlier they sit up, the better it would be for them.

The Coalition has, therefore, given a week's ultimatum to such individuals to advance their voices on the issue, or they would be pursued, in order to retrieve material resources given to them by the former minister.

'We are warning all leading members of the party, and government appointees who have benefited from the generosity of Mrs. Betty Mould-Iddrisu that we will personally run after them, and seize any physical resource given to them by our model,' the Coalition warned, and stated that they had henceforth, suspended their operations for the NDC, and would only retract their decision when their demands are met.

Pix: Samed Akalilu, Spokesperson for the Coalition