Prime News Ghana

Enough of the criminalisation of Rawlings in public-Dela Coffie

By Justice Kofi Bimpeh
J.J Rawlings
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A National Democratic Congress [NDC] party activist Dela Coffie says it's high time members of the party stopped ridiculing founder Jerry John Rawlings in public, as part of their strategy to get him out of the party.

Dela Coffie believes that as required by the Consitution of the NDC, all members must protect the founder of the party and not denigrate him in public after his struggles that gave birth to the party. 

According to him, arguments about whether Mr Rawlings is the founder of the party or not, are uncalled for because Article 6 of the NDC Constitution clearly stipulates who the founder is.

The article 6 of the NDC Constitution reads: "The founding father of the party is Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings upon whose vision and leadership the party was established."

Read also: I congratulated Valerie Sawyer for criticising Rawlings – Obed Asamoah

He observed that there are machinations that have been ongoing for years with the aim of getting Rawlings out. He cited as part of the orchestrations a call by former employment minister E.T Mensah in 2009 for the former president to leave the party. 

Former National Chairman of the NDC Obed Asamoah in a radio interview said per the legalities, former President Rawlings is not the founder of the party because during the registration of the party, signatories needed for the formation were picked out of founders from every district and Rawlings does not belong to any district.

His argument was also supported by former Ghanaian Higher Commissioner to India Sam Pee Yalley, who also said based on the evidence at hand Rawlings is not the founder of the party.

Read: Woyome has never been an NDC member-Sam P Yalley

On Monday former Deputy Chief of Staff Valerie Sawyer also descended heavily on the former President, accusing him of calling appointees of the Mahama administration corrupt without a shred of evidence.

Reacting to the attacks directed at Mr Rawlings on JoyFM, Dela Coffie said the NDC is a direct descendant of the 1979 coup d'etat that ushered Rawlings into politics, and "if party members think he is not the founder then the party is having a problem."

He stated that as far as no one has gone to court to seek clarification on the founder status of Rawlings, he remains the founder as entrenched in the NDC Constitution.