According to him, Mr. Rawlings has been very key to the many electoral victories clocked by the party in the past and his demise should not mean that he is forgotten.
Speaking to GhanaWeb’s Edward Smith Anamale on Election Desk, Mr. Afriyie explained that it is critical that the party rides on the legacy of the late founder to achieve victory in the upcoming polls.
“When it comes to the founder, we live in a physical and spiritual world so his aura, even though he is not physically present, is critical,” he said.
Mr. Afriyie further emphasized that despites his personal disagreements with the founder of the NDC, he held and still holds him in high esteem.
He also condemned persons suggesting that the party moves on without involving the likes of the late Rawlings, John Evans Atta Mills and Tsatsu Tsikata.
“You will be amazed that some people have told me that in my interviews, I shouldn’t be talking about Rawlings and I said ‘forget it, there is no way!’. And I want to make this clear, there’s no way that I will ever be in the NDC and disregard Rawlings, it will never happen. That is dangerous. So for those who think that we should forget about Rawlings, he is dead and gone, I respectfully disagree with them. He founded the party, and I don’t hide my disagreements with him.
“For instance the running mate issue [declaring JM as running mate for Mills], we disagreed, when I felt like he was becoming close to Nana Addo whom he told us not to trust, he was a bad person and all that – you told us not to trust him and now, you are saying the man is a man of integrity. You can disagree with your father but he doesn’t cease to be your father.
“So when I become general secretary, I’m going to make sure that, I’m going to ensure that that happens, the same way, I will ensure that the name Atta Mills will not die. I’m going to make sure that the Rawlings, Mills and Mahama legacy; this collective legacy, we are going into 2024 on the basis of our legacy and history,” he added.
Elvis Afriyie Ankrah also spoke about the party’s plans, his strategies in the General Secretary race among other things in this edition of Election Desk on GhanaWeb TV.
The full interview airs on Monday November 14, 2022.
Watch excerpts of the interview here:
