Former first lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings, has indicated her preparedness to contest the 2016 presidential election on the ticket of her party, the National Democratic Party (NDP).
She has questioned the circumstance under which she and her party were disqualified from contesting in the 2012 general election, and said she is confident of making it this time.
Prior to the 2012 general election, the Electoral Commission (EC) claimed the NDP failed to complete the forms issued out to it because it left some blank spaces unfilled.
But addressing journalists in Accra last Wednesday, Mrs Rawlings said she and the other members of the party were putting structures in place to enable her contest the election.
The leader of the NDP made the claim when leadership of the reconstituted Friends of Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings (FONKAR) called on her at her Ridge office in Accra.
Nana Konadu hinted that a number of people had shown interest in running for the flagbearer position of the NDP – a breakaway party from the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC).
That notwithstanding, Mrs Rawlings, whose husband, former President Rawlings, is the founding father of the NDC said, “If the interest is still there, I’ll be one of the competitors…if the interest is not there I’ll still compete.”
For now, she said, “Yes we are laying the foundation; yes we are preparing better and NDP is hoping to actually work more assiduously this year…we are doing the structures in the regions and we’re gonna have national executives soon.”
She expressed disappointment at the level of desperation and despondency in the country among the citizenry.
“There is also a sense of desperation and despondency that we should not allow to happen in this country; we should try and lessen the level of despondency and the level of desperation because it leads to fear and manifests itself into something else,” the former first lady underscored.
For her, the only way out “is to let us know that you are in-charge of our security, you are in-charge of our country,” referring to the current NDC administration.
“I’m saying if we go back basics, our great grandfathers and mothers did not keep quiet; that’s why we had independence. They fought for something; let us all be strong enough to fight for something, positive fighting, positive work that will elevate the country or wherever you are, in the community that you live in,” she charged.
Source: Daily Guide