Kofi Adams, the MP for Buem, says the National Democratic Congress is the biggest legacy of the late former president Jerry John Rawlings.
Speaking to Kofi Abotsi on Town Hall Talk, the former spokesperson of the former president said: “I can say that NDC was, and for me, even after his death, will remain Jerry Rawlings, because in terms of the political processes that will be one of his biggest legacies also.
“When he decided to go multiparty democracy per his endorsement of the constitutional arrangement that people voted for, it meant that if we needed to continue with the governance to push our ideals and beliefs then we must either establish a party or vamoose from the system.
“He chose the path of establishing a party and NDC came up. And that is what we used to prosecute his values and beliefs.”
Adams added: “So the NDC is his [Rawlings’s] biggest legacy. Indeed, he continued to show … his love and admiration for his party, the NDC. Of course, he may have had issues with personalities – no doubt about that – and he may have had issues with sometimes the way we were doing things.”
“Konongo kaya”
Adams said Rawlings was sometimes misunderstood, and mused, “If we took time to engage over an issue we didn’t understand well, we may have understood him better.”
He cited the famous “Konongo kaya” comment by the former president, saying: “Let me just give you one example: when he [raised] the issue of Konongo kaya and people then said he was referring to the late President Mills, he never referred to him [as such].
“He had gone to Congress in Tamale and we had elected officers of the party who had the responsibility to establish committees to make the party functional.
“What he saw from the list that was given him, was that you can find one person being repeated on several committees. When that happens it makes the functioning of the committees very weak, because if two or three committees will have to meet at the same time you cannot divide yourself into two, which means you are less on two committees. But meanwhile, we have a lot of people who can equally be there to play that role.
“So he used the term ‘Konongo kaya’ and immediately people took it that he was referring to the late President Mills.”
* Asaase Radio 99.5 – tune in or log on to broadcasts online
Follow us on Twitter: @asaaseradio995
#asaaseradio #TVOL
