The National Democratic Congress’s June 4 celebration may not come off. For the first time in many years, the architect of the June 4 Revolution, former President Jerry John Rawlings would not take active part in the programmes to celebrate the PNDC’s launch into the country’s political terrain through the barrel of the gun. The event saw the execution of senior military officers including three former heads of state. The former President is currently out of the country for reasons still unclear.
Sources close to him however insist he is out for an official engagement in the United States. Unlike last year when the party rallied solidly behind Rawlings to celebrate the 28th anniversary in Accra and Somanya in the Eastern Region, this year’s could be a far cry from the previous one in terms of support from the nation’s largest opposition party. This is the first time in the entire 29 years since the revolution took place, that the main character would be missing the celebration which is dearest to his heart, and observers are wondering what else could be more pressing to Rawlings than a June 4 celebration.
Political analysts have opined that the NDC leadership is may be deliberately distancing itself from the bloody revolution which it had defended since 1992 because it had lost the moral courage to do so, following the ‘comparison theorem’ postulated recently by the party’s running-mate, John Dramani Mahama.
The Bole-Bamboi MP’s claims that comparison of records leads to mediocrity and the ruling New Patriotic Party’s (NPP’s) insistence on comparison, is weighing heavily on the opposition party to tread more cautiously 111 an election year like this, observers said. Others are of the view that the NDC gurus have distanced themselves so that Rawlings would be left to carry his own cross since the party already has tons of its own baggage to carry.
This being an election year, the party seems to have left the baggage to Rawlings, his cadres as well as his wife to carry. Not even the Ahwoi brothers, E.T. Mensah nor Kofi Totobi Kwakye, main beneficiaries of the revolution, could be present. On Mondays conference at the Teachers’ Hall in Accra, which saw only about 150 people in attendance including media personnel, had Prof Mohammed Ben Abdalla, former PNDC Secretary; Mohammed Mumuni, former running mate; Sherry Ayitey of 31st December Women’s Movement; and Fiifi Kwetey, NDC Propaganda Secretary at the high table to address the audience.
The mainstream NDC, particularly the Mills Campaign Team, and the founder’s office have not been coordinating very well in recent weeks, following a misunderstanding that developed during the run-up to the naming of John Mahama as Mills’ running mate. The founder was short¬-circuited during the Kama Conference Centre programme that named Mahama, and kept out of the party’s outdooring of the ‘dream team’ at the National Theatre and fundraising dinner dance at the Trade Fair in Accra.
