Mills Boys Slap Konadu

FORMER FIRST Lady Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings� decision to claim ownership of the umbrella symbol of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) seems to have instantly made her the number one enemy of the ruling party,... ...as the party�s communication team members loyal to President Atta Mills have suddenly turned her into a punching bag, attacking her personality on a daily basis. Barely a day after NDC General Secretary Johnson Asiedu Nketia described the content of Nana Konadu�s letter to the party as not making any sense, other party members, mostly radio panelists, have also subjected the former First Lady to a barrage of insults. Following in the footsteps of Mr Asiedu Nketia, Alhaji Iddrisu Bature, Kojo Adu-Asare, MP for Adenta and a certain Samuel George Nettey, took Nana Konadu to the cleaners, with Bature claiming that her behaviour did not portray a person who was normal. �A normal person will not do what Konadu is doing,� Alhaji Bature stated on Otec FM�s famous political talk show dubbed �Dwabirrem�. �Any right thinking person that loves his/her political party will not act the way Nana Konadu has been acting lately,� he said. Asked if he was not insulting the NDC founder�s wife by referring to her as not being a normal person, Alhaji Bature answered, �I am not insulting her; I am talking about her behaviour.� Baature remarked that if every peeved NDC faithful decided to take his pound of flesh as Nana Konadu was doing, the party would be left with nothing. Bature claimed Nana Konadu had decided to take the party�s logo because she wanted President Mills to lose the December 7 elections. According to him, the founder�s wife didn�t feel comfortable and was not pleased with President Mills leading the party; therefore she had decided to adopt terrible means to bring the party down. Alhaji Bature condemned Nana Konadu again for deciding to contest President Mills for the party�s presidential slot during the Sunyani congress, insisting that the NPP would use it to campaign against the NDC. He observed, �The dirty things that Nana Konadu said about the President Mills administration prior to the NDC�s Sunyani congress would definitely be used by the opposition NPP to discredit the government in the coming elections.� Defending his earlier assertion that Nana Konadu�s behaviour didn�t portray a normal person, Bature said after the NPP congress, the supporters of the two leading contestants for the flagbearership, Nana Akufo-Addo and Alan Kyeremanten, put the polls aside and rallied behind the eventual winner, Nana Akufo Addo �and this is my understanding of a normal behaviour�. Bature wondered the real motive behind Nana Konadu�s behaviour, saying, �If Nana Konadu decides to claim ownership of the NDC logo seven months to elections, what is the meaning of this behaviour?� He stressed that Nana Konadu would lose the battle for the ownership of the NDC logo, insisting that the fact that she was demanding the ownership of the logo didn�t mean she would win the battle. Describing Nana Konadu�s behaviour as an embarrassment to the NDC family, Alhaji Bature gave a hint that the matter would be settled in court, saying, �We will apply the laws of the land to determine the owner of the NDC logo.� On his part, the MP for Adenta, Kojo Adu Asare, who appeared on Joy FM�s News File programme on Saturday, went haywire when he was speaking on the issue, indicating that he was highly disappointed in the former First Lady. He stated that Mrs Rawlings� action had made him to disconnect from the ideals and principles that her husband fought for that inspired people like him to show interest in politics. Expressing the confidence that the NDC would overcome the challenges Mrs Rawlings was confronting them with, Mr Adu-Asare described the manner in which Nana Konadu registered the emblem of the party with the Copyright administrator as clandestine. The Adenta MP said it was time Mrs Rawlings started mentoring some of her children to continue with her legacy. �I expect that instead of the former first lady wasting her time on matters such as these, she would rather be using her time on mentoring some of her children to take up the mantle from her and her husband,� he said. Another member of the government�s communication team, Samuel George Nettey, also descended heavily on the former First Lady on the same programme. Nettey described Mrs Rawlings� action as cowardly, pointing out that she could not have done that if her husband was in town. He sought to create the impression that she waited till her husband was out of town before she instructed her lawyers to issue the statement because Mr Rawlings would not have supported that move. He was confident that if Nana Konadu had dared pursue the matter in court, she would be embarrassed like she was at Sunyani when she contested President Mills during the party�s flagbearership race. Nettey claimed that Mrs Rawlings had a hand in the rift between President Mills and ex-President Rawlings. New Owner Of Umbrella Pops Up Even before the party succeeds in settling the dust surrounding the ownership of its umbrella logo with the eagle on top, another person has showed up claiming to be the original producer of the emblem. Ebo Ocran, a part time lecturer at the University of Ghana and the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), says he is the original owner of the NDC emblem. According to him, he was approached by one Steve Oklu in London to design an emblem for a political party which was being formed in the country in 1992, a request he fully accomplished. Noting that he had just completed university in London as a computer science graduate, Mr. Ocran, who failed to indicate whether he designed the emblem for a fee or not, said he initially designed an eagle with its wings spread out holding a Ghana flag. Making an interjection on the News File programme, the supply chain lecturer said he later realized that the Ghana flag could not be used by a political party because it was the symbol of the country. He however admitted that his design underwent several modifications till the current emblem, which was being used by the ruling party, was settled on.