Former First Lady Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings has played down the wave of declarations and public support for President John Mills ahead of the party’s delegates conference in July to elect a flag bearer. Mrs. Rawlings Wednesday resigned her position as a National Vice Chairman of the ruling party to enable her contest the president when nominations open next month. Ahead of the nominations however, nationwide declarations and showers of praises have poured in from regional and constituency executives of the party for President John Mills. The Ashanti Region executives opened the floodgates of public declarations and since then their colleagues from the Western, Brong Ahafo, Greater Accra and Volta Regions have followed suit, albeit with some amount of rebellion from some executives who owe allegiance to the ex-first family. Speaking to Joy News’ Dzifa Bampoh, the former First Lady insisted she was unfazed by the declarations, more so when some of the executives had been coerced to declare support. She said her decision to declare her intent to contest was timely given the wave of coerced acclamations by the executives. “The issue of people in the regions saying that they throw their support behind another candidate or the other and then the same people call me to tell me how they have been coerced into taking certain decisions… I said let me resign from my executive position now so that I get the opportunity to talk to all my supporters who are calling me everyday asking me whether I am going to do, whether I am not going to do it,” she explained. She was not worried about the seeming headstart the declarations of support would give President Mills in the race. “I am not worried because I know what is happening. I have been in this game long enough to know whether we are playing chess or draft,” she touted. She dismissed assertions that she had always nurtured the ambition to become the president of Ghana, saying that “assertion is totally out of line and not true.” Story by Nathan Gadugah/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana