Feature Ghana
around him (from the CPP wing of the NDC) as trying to hijack the party for their own ends. And thus, there should be a project to stop them and retrieve power and the party from their grasp. But this time, the major power blocs
within the NDC (the Ewe clique and the Fante confederacy), who would have tra- ditionally supported the Rawlingses, have deserted them and are now solidly sup- porting Mills. In effect, the core of the “crowd” behind the Rawlingses consists mainly of people who have an axe to grind with Mills. Some are peeved because he did not give them a job when he came to power. From the outside looking in, one can
see just spoiling tactics, as Boakye Djan predicted last August. When Mrs Rawl- ings launched her campaign on 4 May, she justified it by saying “the time has come to choose a person who will offer effec- tive leadership, who will be honest about the choices and the challenges we face, a person who will give you hope, who will listen and learn from you”, and that the launch “marks the beginning of taking the country back to where it belongs.” She told her supporters: “Let us take
back the heart and soul of the NDC. Let’s work to uproot the culture of apathy, the culture of indiscipline and the culture of carelessness that has engulfed this country today. Let us infuse dynamism and vitality back into the NDC.” A day later, President Mills had his turn to launch his campaign, surrounded by most of the NDC’s bigwigs. He told his dancing supporters “I will win by a landslide. It will be mine in the primaries and ours in 2012.” Mills wished Mrs Rawlings well: “I
would like her to know that like the true sportsman that I am, we will give her a clean fight,” the president vowed. “Te campaign is not about who can hurl in- sults at the fastest rate, who can engage in vitriolic attacks… Whoever wins would have to build on the foundation that we are laying now… Winning is not the end of the road. What we are in politics for is to raise the living standards of the people.” Mills’ tone was in sharp contrast to his
former boss’ only 24 hours earlier. “Te NDC started losing the 2012 elections right from the first week that Mills became president and the party finally lost it all 8 months ago,” Rawlings claimed at his wife’s campaign launch. He continued: “I
48 | June 2011 New African
President Atta Mills (right) says of the presidential primaries: “I would like Mrs Rawlings to know that like the true sportsman I am, we will give her a clean fight.”
have supported my friend [President Mills] when all the people he put around him deserted him – but I am saying they have done enough damage to the party just so they will stay in power – and I am saying now you will win [the primaries] but you will go and lose the national elections…” But some people, like Boakye Djan,
think that the Rawlingses are not being upfront with Ghanaians. “Te ‘slowness’ allegation against Mills,” Djan said last August, “is a coded cover for reasons that you don’t have to struggle to find out… Teir difficulty is that locally and interna- tionally, his forceful removal will not go down well and that’s why they are using psychological warfare to announce his death before he dies.” But the obstacles that Mrs Rawlings
would have to surmount to become presi- dent, even if she beats Mills at the pri- maries in Sunyani, are awesome. First, apart from the big problem of her own persona (which riles a lot of people) and the not-so-small thing about a political dynasty, Ghana has never had a woman president before. Tat fact, despite the example of Liberia’s Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, constitutes another heavy cross that Mrs Rawlings has to bear – a point that her own party’s deputy women’s organiser in the Western Region, Araba Tagoe (a Mills supporter) underscored in early May when she said “Ghana is not ready for a female president and so a win for Mrs Rawlings in the primaries means the NDC will go into opposition.” Besides, even though Rawlings has
been out of power for 11 years now, deep grudges are still held against him (and by extension his wife) over the human rights abuses that happened on his watch. Many people also point to Mrs Rawl-
ings’ own personality and record. Tey say during the long years of her husband’s rule, she acted as a “dark power” behind the throne, a power that made and unmade ministers and descended heavily on all those who crossed the First Lady’s path. “If she could do that as a First Lady, im- agine what she can do when she becomes
president” has become the refrain in Accra since she launched her campaign. Another obstacle is the “Buy One, Get
One Free” conundrum. During the 2008 campaign, the NPP made great play of the fact that by voting for Mills, Ghana- ians would be putting Rawlings in power by default – “Vote for Mills, and you get Rawlings for free” was how the NPP lam- pooned the Mills ticket. Te NDC had to fight hard to refute
this claim. But this time, they will have no legs to stand on if Mrs Rawlings can
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