Konadu Girl Bites Mosquito

Having stirred the hornet�s nest with his scathing insinuation about a barking dog which was no longer a factor in the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), the General Secretary of the party, Johnson Asiedu Nketia, has prompted a flurry of revelations about how he depended on the Rawlingses for provisions like sugar, rice and even clothing and a monthly stipend of GH�200 a few years ago. Those were the days when the NDC was in opposition and the wan-looking man used to come and beg for his monthly supplies from the couple who had suddenly become objects of his foul-mouth, according to an incensed Ruth Dela Sedoh, a member of the Friends of Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings (FONKAR). Contributing to Oman FM�s �Boiling Point� programme hosted by Obotantim Kwabena Kwakye on Tuesday, Ruth said General Mosquito was consistent with his monthly visits for the collection of his rations and on days when the provisions were not ready, he asked dejectedly whether �madam did not leave something for him. When he came to the residence and Mr. Rawlings was absent, Mosquito will lament about money, wondering how he would eat�. He also enjoyed the rejected dresses of Kimathi Rawlings, the only son of the Rawlingses, which were also doled out to him during some of the monthly visits by Nana Konadu herself. Speaking at the top of her voice, she said, �Mr. Rawlings gave him �Sure� deodorant, rice and sugar as well as two million cedis�. Ruth was not alone in firing the barrage of scathing remarks at the General Secretary. She was joined on a different platform by the man who remains a thorn in the flesh of the Mills segment of the NDC, Michael Teye Nyaunu, MP for Lower Manya constituency who concluded that the dog reference by Mr. Asiedu Nketia was definitely about former Jerry John Rawlings. According to him, it was regrettable that General Mosquito would make such an insinuation against a man who once fed him. He endorsed the disclosure about the monthly rations Mr. Asiedu Nketia collected from Mr. Rawlings, provisions which he enumerated as rice, sugar and other allocations. The Lower Manya constituency MP added that it was amazing that the party scribe would join forces with others to cast aspersions on the former first family who fed him for many years in the past at a time when the NDC was in opposition. �Nketia goes to their house and they give him items. They give him rice, they give him things, so I am very surprised that General Mosquito would turn over just like that,� Mr Nyaunu told Citi FM yesterday. Something, he said, had gone wrong in the NDC, given the sudden change of things, such as a man who once depended on the Rawlingses turning against them. Mr. Asiedu Nketia caused a stir when during the homecoming activity for the Obed Asamoah led Democratic Freedom Party (DFP), he said the barking dog which hounded him out of the party was no longer there. He was quoted then as saying that �Now the barking dog whose actions forced you out of the NDC no longer exists, so I would have been surprised if you had continued to stay outside.� The remarks prompted an immediate reaction from FONKAR and others outside it. Kofi Adams, spokesperson for the Rawlingses, responded almost immediately after the remark, saying that the barking dog which hounded Obed out of the party was the Asiedu Nketia group because it was they who were elected in Koforidua. He likened the development to the dog which was put on top of a tree by someone but thought erroneously that it got there through its own prowess. He added that it was only when the time was due for it to descend that it would start seeking the person who aided it to get to the summit of the tree. General Mosquito, after coming under the barrage of vituperations, denied that the barking dog referred to Mr. Rawlings, claiming that it was referring to the issues of violence and the absence of internal democracy claimed by the then departing Obed Asamoah. The defence put up by General Mosquito was greeted with derision by those who have followed NDC politics, describing it as nothing but a feeble attempt at repairing a reputation damage which, by all standards, was irreparable. Mr Nyaunu could not avoid jumping into the fray gain when he dismissed the defence, maintaining that �the barking dogs� referred to the former president, adding that there was no dog in the party and that Mr. Nketia was talking about a human being. �As far as I know, there is no dog. He is referring to a human being and by every indication he is referring to the former president,� he maintained. Mr. Asiedu Nketia was in the news recently after reports referred to his sudden upward graduation on the scale of wealth. His block-making contract at the Bui Dam project site especially prompted many questions about the ethics of the venture, given his position as scribe of the ruling party and his place as a member of the board of directors of the multimillion dollar project.