[ 2011-04-20 ]

Jerry John Rawlings dumps President Mills for wife Konadu for President

I’m with Konadu: Rawlings tells NDC
Ex-President Jerry John Rawlings has jumped to
the defence of Friends of Nana Konadu Agyeman
Rawlings (FONKAR), a group drawing support for his
wife for the NDC race, throwing to them a lifeline
after a pro-Mills newspaper, the Ghanaian Lens,
sought to insinuate that he has distanced himself
from their activities.

Throwing his weight behind the grouping and his
wife’s bid to vie for the presidential slot of
the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Rawlings
warned those who engaged in such machinations to
score cheap political points to desist from the
act.

The office of the former president said it
recognized FONKAR as a voluntary organisation
urging Nana Konadu to vie for the flagbearer
position of the NDC, a recognition which has dealt
a devastating blow to the integrity of the Lens
story.

“This office knows FONKAR as a voluntary group
that has been calling on Nana Konadu to contest
for the presidential slot of the NDC,” it said,
adding that “we are not aware of FONKAR going
around in the name of President Rawlings spreading
falsehood such as those spewed by the Lens of
Tuesday April 19.”

The statement, the office explained, “was in
reference to those who, by virtue of their
previous association with the former President, go
about telling unsuspecting delegates of the party
lies, including the fact that President Rawlings
has a negative view of a Nana Konadu presidential
candidature.”

President Rawlings cautioned persons like Alfred
Woyome and Augustus Kweku Eshun to desist from
dropping his name as they went about misinforming
the electorate about their political choices.

The office of former President Rawlings, reacting
to a publication in the Castle-run Ghanaian Lens
newspaper, said the newspaper was deliberately
spinning the concerns raised regarding the
impersonation of the office for the purpose of
misinforming the electorate about matters
concerning the former First Couple vis-à-vis the
pending flagbearership race in the party.

“Our attention has been drawn to a deliberate
attempt by the Ghanaian Lens newspaper and other
mischievous elements to misrepresent a press
statement issued by this office on April 14,
warning persons who are going around misinforming
the electorate on matters concerning President and
Mrs. Rawlings,” said the statement.

The foregone had been misconstrued mischievously
to mean that the ex-President had distanced
himself from the activities of FONKAR, a twist
which the former president noted had been slanted
by other media outlets which carried the story.

Unless the author of the story and the editor of
the Ghanaian Lens have reading problems, the
statement observed, “We have difficulty
determining how they could insinuate that the
statement had anything to do with FONKAR.”

The reaction from President Rawlings, through his
office, speaks volumes about the degree of anger
he is harbouring against those who are intent on
throwing spanners into the works of his wife as
she guns to lead the party in 2012.

Source - Daily Guide

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