Nii Lante rebukes Rawlings: Says he won't allow him to destroy NDC
The Director of Operations at the presidency, Nii Lante Vanderpuije has thrown a challenge to the Rawlingses to quit the NDC for the 2012 elections and see whether the party will not win the elections.
According to him, the NDC has moved from being controlled by one person to a collective organ.
Nii Lante, who was speaking on Asempa FM's Ekosii Sen programme said the ruling party was tired of the persistent outbursts of the Rawlingses against the government. He vowed to defy former President Rawlings anytime he attacks the Mills government.
Former president Rawlings has been an ardent critic of the Mills administration since it assumed power in 2009.
Speaking at the 30th Anniversary ceremony of the 31st December Women's Movement, on Tuesday, the former president described some government functionaries as traitors who have betrayed the cause of the National Democratic Congress.
Ex-President Jerry Rawlings bemoaned what he described as unprecedented monetization of the political space perpetrated by members of his own party in government.
According to him, the monetization has eroded the principle of integrity on which the party has always won its elections.
But speaking on Ekosii-Sen on Wednesday, Nii Lante Vanderpuije observed that the comments by the founder were disheartening because the current government has done a lot to deserve commendation rather than condemnation.
He said many members of the party have spent their time, resources, reputations and sacrificed their jobs over the years to support the party but are now being called “greedy bastards”.”
"It is simply not fair for people who have sacrificed their lives for the NDC to be called greedy bastards and traitors. I am disappointed in Rawlings. Some of them lost their lives, others maimed and the others who can help too are being called greedy bastards and traitors. Why?"
The NDC parliamentary candidate for the Odododiodoo constituency asserted that he had wept all night because the sacrifices many have rendered to the party should not have been requited with a traitor tag. ”I wept after hearing former President Rawilings calling some of us traitors. In fact, if not for something, some of us would have quit the NDC now. We will not quit, rather not quit but look to the God Almighty”.
He debunked assertions by former President Rawlings that members of the 31st December Women's Movement have been neglected by the government saying, “I know about 38 women of the movement who have been enrolled under the school feeding programme in the Ashanti region. Ms Sherry Ayittey of the movement is a minister and others have been supported so how true is the claim.”
He wondered why all loyalists and friends of ex-President Jerry John Rawlings suddenly turned their back against him. “How is it that one person can lose all the people who love and worked for him? Is it because he poses himself as a saint and others as bad people? Everyday he is chastising people who disagree with him. Why? Is he saying he is the only noble person in Ghana? No”.
Nii Lante stressed that henceforth, some of them in the party will no longer tolerate “the unfair criticisms” meted out to the Mills government by the party founder. ”Rawlings thought me positive defiance and I will stand for the right thing”.
He said Rawlings has betrayed all the people who have followed him through the trenches over the years. ”Rawlings has betrayed all of us who followed him so many years. Some of us were willing to die for Rawlings but look at what he is doing to our future today.”
“NDC is our future and we will forever protect it so we will fight anybody who tries to destroy it. We the young men have fought for the party and will never sit unconcerned for one or two people to destroy it. Never,” he asserted.
Nii Lante Vanderpuije said though Rawlings and the wife founded the NDC, they could not run the party alone but with the help of other people so they should not think that the party still rest on their shoulders. “We wished Rawlings would have sat back advising us on how to go about the party but now (he is ) working against us. No way, we will not allow it again.”
The Operations Director at The Castle noted that if it is the wish of the Rawlingses that the NDC should lose the 2012 elections, it may not come through because the Lord who helped Mills to win the 2008 elections is still alive.
He dispelled claims by the former president that people like him (Rawlings) helped Mills to win the 2008 elections, saying “It is the work of the Lord so those who think it was their effort should sit back and see the heavy victory in 2012. Whether they like it or not, we will win the 2012 elections.”
“I am not a greedy bastard; nobody in government is a greedy bastard as well. If we want greedy bastards in this country, we can identify them one after the other,” he claimed.