Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings elected to head NDP in presidential polls

The former first lady of Ghana, Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings, has been elected by newly formed National Democratic Party (NDP) as its presidential candidate for the election in December. The NDP, which was formed by members of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), held its first National Delegates Congress on Saturday in Ghana's second largest city of Kumasi, 270 km north of the capital Accra to elect national officers and their presidential candidate. Being the sole contender in the presidential race, wife of the NDC founder, former president Jerry John Rawlings, got unanimous acclamation to lead the party in what many see as an attempt to put a spanner in the wheels of the ruling party. In her acceptance speech, Agyemang-Rawlings said her decision to run for the presidency was not borne out of personal parochial interest but an attempt to bring governance close to the marginalized, especially women and the youth. Also present at the congress was ex-president Jerry John Rawlings who indicated that his own party's government had lost the moral high ground as corruption was "endemic" in the government. He predicted that most parliamentary candidates of the ruling party could be losing their bids as they had bribed their ways through to the candidature. The former president however believed President John Dramani Mahama had brought back some hope into the ruling party. Rawlings last Thursday told local media that the earlier possibility of NDC losing the December elections was no more there as President Mahama represented a new hope for the party, adding, "It would be an interesting election." Agyemang-Rawlings contested late president, John Evans Atta Mills for the ruling party's ticket July last year where she polled only 3 percent of the votes.