The flagbearer of the National Democratic Party (NDP), Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings, has stated unequivocally that she has no regrets leaving the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
Ordinarily, Mrs. Rawlings should be going through a period of �separation anxiety� just days after �divorcing� the party she had worked hard with her husband to form, but determination seems to be her magic potion.
According to Mrs. Rawlings, not even once has it crossed her mind that she had left the NDC.
�I am comfortable where I am �in fact, it has not crossed my mind that I have even moved to somewhere else.�
Mrs. Rawlings was responding to a question from this reporter at her maiden press briefing, after assuming the leadership of the NDP, on what the feeling has been like after resigning from the NDC.
A cheerful looking Mrs. Rawlings expressed confidence at winning the December elections, contrary to popular opinion that she was in the race only to do the NDC in.
The former first lady expressed grave concern about the �erosion of the core values of seeking equal political, social and economic development of all Ghanaians,� and also the continuous depreciating standard of living of citizens of the country.
To her, the country was in an era of adopting a top-down approach to seeking the political welfare of the people, rather than an effective decentralised method, where opinions and decisions are taken at all levels of society, in an equitable and people-centered manner.
Espousing her ideology of a people-centered politics as the bedrock of any democracy, Mrs. Rawlings said Ghanaians do not have the luxury of time to engage in destructive political banter, when pressing issues of survival and the urgent need to turn things around stare the country in the face.
�We cannot engage in destructive political banter, while the people of Ghana are not certain whether their lights will be on today or not. We cannot engage in destructive political banter while a mother has to wake her six year old child up at 4:00 a.m., feed her child hurriedly in order to get her child to school by 8:00 a.m., and get herself to work by 9:00 a.m., because very little effort has been made to ease the traffic congestion in our cities.
�We cannot continue to engage in destructive political banter, while people cannot live a life with value,� she noted
Again, she wondered: �What excuse can we give for badly maintained and ill-equipped hospitals; what excuse can we give? What excuse can we give to patients in hospitals who are forced to sleep on the floor, because there are no beds available?
�What excuse can we give to our children as to why there are hardly any public libraries anywhere? What excuse can we give to people who still do not have access to clean, potable water?
�What excuse can we give for not being creative in expanding the job market? What excuse can we give for poorly equipped schools, or having no schools in some communities at all? What excuse can we give when exorbitant prices and unjustified judgment debts are paid?�
She, however, emphasised that the time was ripe for the country to take the bold steps to seize the moment to chart a new future for Ghana.
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