The Chronicle says signals it has picked up indicate that former President Jerry John Rawlings and his wife Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, have parted company with another close pal, Mr. James Victor Gbeho, the former diplomat who was managing his international affairs. This paper says a seemingly frosty relationship that exists between the founder of the National Democratic Congress and Mr. Gbeho, was due to different opinions held by the two in relation to the selection of the party's running mate, John Dramani Mahama. “According to our sources within the rank and file of the NDC and corroborated by sources at the Rawlingses' Ridge residence, the former President is finding it difficult to have a tete-a-tete with Mr. Gbeho, because the latter defied all odds and supported Mills on his selection of John Mahama, as against the choice of Mr and Mrs. Rawlings,” the paper said o Friday. The latest information that has been a source of worry to the party members after the dismissal of Mr. Victor Emmanuel Smith, was said to have vindicated the predictions made by the then Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Dr. Obed Yao Asamoah. Dr. Asamoah, who was very close to the former President before his resignation from the NDC, told a pack of leading members of the NDC that it would not be long before the Rawlingses would get rid of all of them, just as he did to personalities like Capt (Rtd) Kojo Tsikata, Mr. Paul Victor Obeng, Prof. Kwesi Botchwey, a former finance Minister who recently snubbed various calls from DFP leadership to lead them in the 2008 Presidential and parliamentary elections, Maj. (Rtd) Boakye Gyan, who served as Rawlings' best man and recently his former special assistant, Mr. Smith among a host of others. According to Obed, the former President has the penchant t of quarrelling with his close friends and later dump them without any tangible reason. True to his words, Mr. Rawlings after dismissing his aide through the unorthodox sms text message, had engaged the services of old hawks Dr. K.A Caesar and mad Valerie Sackey a former Press Secretary during the regime of the P(NDC) to replace Mr. Smith. “Insiders told this paper that Mrs. Konadu Agyeman Rawlings had also threatened not to deal with media personnel that their former Special Aide had been inviting to cover their programmes.” As a result, a major political activity organized by Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings in the South Tongu District at the weekend, where she urged the party supporters to make sure that Prof. Mills got more than 90 percent of the votes, were not carried by any media. Similarly, due to the entrenched position taken by the two, Mr Rawlings' interaction with the people of Anlo in the Volta Region, during the burial of the four people who were killed in the Anlo chieftaincy dispute in November last year, were also not given much publicity as it were. Indeed, this paper can report that apart from the fact that the former first couple was peeved against the selection of John Mahama, whose name alone is sending shivers down the rank and file of the NPP, they re not prepared to amend their position. Source: The Chronicle