3 prominent people who are pushing for Nana Konadu’s return to the NDC

Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings is a former First Lady of Ghana

Zanetor Agyeman Rawlings has started a campaign to get her mother back to the NDC

Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings might have seen it all politically and should have, perhaps, never been dragged into any public campaign that seeks to cement a broken relationship she has had with a political party.

But when it concerns the party that was founded by her late husband, the narrative has seemed a little more accommodating.

During the one-year anniversary celebration of the late former president of Ghana, Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings, earlier this month, the eldest child of the family, and now Member of Parliament for Korle Klottey, Zanetor Agyeman Rawlings, made a passionate call to the National Democratic Congress, her father’s party.

Her words were simple: bring my mother back to the NDC.

Being a former First Lady when she was still within the NDC, Nana Konadu fell out with the party in 2012 and set up her party known as the National Democratic Party (NDP).

With an attempt to run for president of Ghana, she led the NDP as flagbearer into the 2012 general elections but was disqualified by the Electoral Commission on grounds that there were errors in her documentation.

In 2016, she returned, and this time got lucky as her face appeared on the ballot sheet, garnering a total vote of 16,935, representing 0.16% of the total votes cast, in the election that saw Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo declared as president.

Years down the line, with little activity from the NDP and the former First Lady, calls have become rife, particularly since her husband, Jerry John Rawlings, is no longer alive, for her to be brought back ‘home.’

In this GhanaWeb listicle, we bring you names of personalities who have publicly called for Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings to be reconsidered into the NDC.

We begin from where all these calls stem from Zanetor Agyeman Rawlings.

Zanetor Agyeman Rawlings

On the occasion of the celebration of the first-year anniversary of the death of her father, Zanetor Agyeman Rawlings asked that there should be efforts made to bring the former First Lady back into the fold of the NDC.

She asked that the party does whatever it takes to bring her mother back to the party.

“We cannot do it alone. It would take all of us. You don’t have to have a title or be an executive. And I’d like to use this occasion to also express my appreciation to the leadership of the NDC, to the rank and file, for the support and the show of love. And so, on behalf of my mother, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, my siblings and myself, we say Thank You.

“I would like to use the opportunity to ask that as we remember the old man, thinking that he’ll not pass what he did, let us recognize the fact that we don’t know when our last day would be, let’s make amends with those we have wronged. On this particular occasion, I’d say the thing that nobody wants to say: Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings is an integral part of this party. Let us do what we have to do to bring her back,” she appealed.

Koku Anyidoho

A former Deputy General Secretary of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Koku Anyidoho, added his voice to the call, pledging to lead deliberations to ensure that Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings returns to the party.

Reacting to the issue on Power FM midday news, Koku Anyidho, who was recently dismissed from the NDC for what the party termed as anti-party conduct, suggested that it would do the party well if they call back Konadu Rawlings.

“Let me tell you today. Without unity, the NDC will never win electoral power. I haven’t received any letter. It is Asiedu Nketiah who says he had sacked me from the party. If he is a man, he should come to my home and deliver the dismissal letter,” he said.

Anyidoho said his posture on the matter is stemmed from the fact that he is still part of the party, stressing that “I will lead her [Konadu] to the NDC.”

Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo

The National Chairman of the National Democratic Congress, Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, said that the party will take steps to ensure the former first lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, returns to the party after she has been out of the party for many years.

This comes after Zanetor Agyeman Rawlings appealed to the National Democratic Congress to do whatever it takes to bring her mother back to the party at the memorial service for the remembrance of her dad who passed on, November 12, 2021.

Ofosu-Ampofo said that for a party to thrive there is the need for togetherness, therefore the appeal will be considered to ensure she returns to the party.

“…I listened to our daughter making a very passionate appeal to the party and I want to assure her that we will take up the request with all the seriousness it deserves because the saying is unity lies strength and of course we as a party can only thrive when we bring all shades of opinion and work as a team,” he said.