The New Crusading Guide can confirm that leading functionaries of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) are blaming Ex-President Jerry John Rawlings for the ongoing brouhaha characterizing President Mills’ recent nomination of Municipal Chief Executives and District Chief Executives for the nine regions. Some NDC top shots who are avowed critics of the former President Rawlings, told this paper under strict conditions of anonymity that the current situation of sporadic violence emerging in some parts of the country was caused by the ‘Rawlings gate’ in the party. “They are bent on inciting the grassroots supporters of the party against the baby Mills administration, former President Rawlings’ outburst on the campaign platform in the Upper East Region is part of the reasons why our people are misbehaving”. Addressing the teeming supporters of the party in the region, the former President took strong issues with the last of M/DCEs yet to be approved by their various assemblies across the country, claiming that vast majority of the individuals on the list were not staunch members of the party. He claimed that party members could not be sidelined for strangers to come and enjoy as he had similarly described some of President Mills’ ministerial nominations as mediocre appointments. They said it came as no surprise when they heard of the widespread protestation against the list of nominees released immediately after Rawlings’ outburst since his effusions prepared the mindset of the supporters who felt they have been slighted in the Mills administration. “It is not surprising that supporters in the Tema Municipality, Akwatia, Bia, Nkwanta, Adenta, and other districts rejected the President’s nominees with flimsy excuses”. The source said, The NDC gurus claimed that the utterances of the Tema Constituency Organiser of the NDC who claimed on radio that the Mills administration was behaving like an independent administration without giving recourse to the party, gives credence to Rawlings’ earlier comments that some characters in the helm of affairs were behaving like they do not owe allegiance to any political party. The source called on the teeming supporters of the party to exercise restraint in bringing pressure to bear on the Mills administration since not all the efforts of the nominees could be quantified in numbers. The source expressed worries that these acts of vandalism, would feed into the “opposition newspapers” to paint the ruling NDC as a violent Party. The vituperation of former President Rawlings on the governance style of President Mills have received serious criticisms from the “doves” in the NDC party. It would be recalled that a few days after President Mills assumed office, there was an announcement from the Presidency to effect that all Metropolitan and District Chief Executives (M/DCEs) under the NPP government should remain at post until further notice, but former President Rawlings publicly decried that decision although good governance experts applauded President Mills for that ‘bold decision’. Notable members of the NDC including the Vice President John Mahama who felt former President Rawlings was undermining the authority of President Mills openly opposed to his unsolicited criticisms and noted that President Mills as a Professor of Law would always uphold the constitution. Source: The New Crusading Guide