Pollster, Ben Ephson, has intimated that since the former First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, left the NDC on her own accord, no present member of the party founded by her late husband can extend an invitation to her.
Responding to calls by Dr. Zanetor Agyeman Rawlings to the leadership of the party to do the needful to bring her mother back to the NDC since she was an integral part of it, Ben Ephson indicated that no one from the NDC sacked her.
He stated that it is unfortunate this appeal has come at a time the party is commemorating the late President, Jerry John Rawlings’ first anniversary. He therefore noted that the former First Lady can walk back into the party.
“I think that Nana Konadu walked out of the party on her own volition and if the late president couldn’t stop her, who else can bring her back? She walked out on her own and if she decides to walk back into the party, I don’t think that anybody will stop her. So rather, she should have a tête-à-tête with her mother and ask the mother to eat a humble pie and come back”.
Ben Ephson
Nana Konadu not influential
Citing results of elections the former first Lady garnered after standing for the presidency, Ben Ephson intimated that Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings is not as influential in the NDC as she may have hoped.
Ben Ephson averred that although she tried to equate her popularity with that of the late President and as a result led to her departure from the party, she still wasn’t a match up to the late President.
“Is there anybody more important in the NDC or the Rawlingses life than the late President? I’m sure the President would have tried to stop her and she defied the former President and went ahead. Posterity has shown that she was wrong in leaving. Yes she’s hardworking, she helped the NDC in the formative years and so on but she and the former president were poles apart in terms of popularity and strength within the party”.
Ben Ephson
Zanetor’s Appeal
Ben Ephson’s comments follow Dr. Zanetor Rawlings’ passionate appeal to the National executives of the National Democratic Congress, NDC to bring back her mother, the wife of the late former President, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings to the party.
Dr. Zanetor Rawlings made the appeal to the National Democratic Congress (NDC) at the commemoration of the one year anniversary of the late former president at the party’s headquarters in Accra on Friday November 12, 2021.
According to Zanetor, for the NDC to win the 2024 elections, her mother must rejoin the party because she plays an integral part in the party. Her appeal, however, has been met with stiff opposition by various stakeholders in the political arena.
It can be recalled that in 2012, Nana Konadu broke away from the NDC to form her own party, the National Democratic Party, NDP as a result of a split from the National Democratic Congress. The NPD has so far contested two national elections, the 2016 and the 2020 respectively.
