The National Democratic Congress’ (NDC) General Secretary says he had disagreed with former President Jerry John Rawlings in the past over the selection of Parliamentary candidates.
Johnson Asiedu Nketia said the former President had suggested some particular candidates to be made to run unopposed on the party’s Parliamentary ticket but he resisted it.
“I have disagreed with him on such issues as selecting of candidates [because] it is not what the party constitution says,” he said.
Speaking on The Pulse on JOYNEWS channel on MultiTV Monday, the former Wenchi West MP said he will on any day insist on what the NDC constitution stands for.
He said he is glad former flagbearers of the NDC have found him to be a very “difficult” person.
Mr Asiedu Nketia’s comment comes, two days after Mr Rawlings had joked he would have been a good flagbearer if he were handsome. The founder of the NDC was addressing a rally at Ashaiman in Accra, to mark the 25th Anniversary of the NDC.
Discussions following the launch of the NDC’s anniversary have been about what led to the party’s stunning defeat in the 2016 elections.
The NDC Presidential Candidate, former President John Mahama lost the election to then flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
In a shocking result ever in the history of the country, Mr Mahama who was the sitting President lost the election in the first round to Mr Akufo-Addo.
Mr Mahama polled 4,701,162 representing 44.40 percent of valid votes cast and Mr Akufo-Addo had 5,697,093 which was 53.80 percent of the total votes cast.
While some leading NDC members have blamed Mr Mahama for the debacle, others point to the sour relationship between the party executives and the NDC founder.
Mr Rawlings was absent on the party’s campaign trail and abstained from endorsing the party’s candidate in the lead up to the election, a development many people blamed on the utterances of NDC functionaries.
Critics claimed Mr Rawlings was not in good terms with Mr Asiedu Nketia
But the NDC General Secretary said he has no problem with Mr Rawlings aside a few clashes he has had with him over some decisions that contradict the party’s constitution.
He said he is aware his “insistence on the party’s constitution” has led him to step on the toes of some of the party’s bigwigs, adding the NDC will not depart from the constitution’s laid down procedures for selecting leaders.
Mr Asiedu Nketia said it is not in his nature to worship ‘big men’ as some people would have wanted him to do in his relationship with the party’s founder and flagbearers.
“I have not been going to Rawlings’ house yet we work together,” he said, adding the measure of his relationship with the former President does not extend to being seen in public. “We work together as far as the pary is concerned.”
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