Konadu holds the key to NDC's electoral fortunes – Bature

The Managing Editor of the Al Hajj newspaper, Alhaji Iddrisu Bature has indicated that former first lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings will determine the fate of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the December polls.

Bature said the ruling party must reconcile with the former first lady whom he described as the “power broker" if it [NDC] intends to retain power in December.

“If they [NDC] want their reconciliation with Rawlings to succeed, they should go and plead with Nana Konadu Agyemang-Rawlings. She will determine whether the NDC will win or lose,” he posited.

Alhaji Bature was speaking on Asempa FM's Ekosii Sen programme Friday.

Mrs. Rawlings did not attend the NDC National Delegates' Congress in Kumasi to endorse President John Mahama as flag-bearer because according to aide Kofi Adams, she was not invited.

But her decision not to attend the Congress appears to give some credibility to earlier claims by the Managing Editor of the Daily Dispatch newspaper, Ben Ephson, that Nana Konadu tried to stop her husband, Mr. Rawlings from attending the programme.

Mr Rawlings attended the event but without his wife which political watchers say was unusual.

Given this backdrop, Alhaji Bature maintained the ruling party's rank and file must woo Mrs. Rawlings to their campaign and ensure her full support ahead of a crucial election in three months' time.

He noted that the only way the NDC can defeat a “vicious” opposition like the New Patriotic Party (NPP) is to go into the elections as a united front.

The NDC sympathizer was skeptical about Mr. Rawlings' impact on the ruling party's campaign at a time he says the party has developed effective campaign strategy to win the election easily without its founder.

“For close to 43 months when President Rawlings decided to abandon the baby he gave birth to, the NDC carried out its policies, strategies and programmes without him. Three months to elections he [Rawlings] comes. I am worried and I'm cautioning that the NDC should not to jubilate too much”.

Alhaji Bature was also not happy about Mr. Rawlings' challenge to the newly elected flag-bearer, President Mahama to restore integrity to the presidency and the party - adding that “it was regrettable and unfortunate [because] it was not a platform to rekindle grievances”.

He indicated that former President Rawlings by suggesting that there is no integrity as the presidency denigrated the memory and legacy of the late president John Mills.

“If somebody comes to say Mills has destroyed the presidency, where does Mahama belong in this circumstance? It is an indictment on President John Mahama himself because he was the vice president so if the government was so denigrated then John Mahama was part of it”.

Alhaji Bature stated that, Mr. Rawlings by his conduct has provided a campaign weapon to the NPP to use against the NDC.