DR Obed Yao Asamoah, the patron of the defunct Democratic Freedom Party (DFP) which recently merged with the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has assured the leadership and members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) that his return to the party is sincere. He said he remained committed and will work hard with the NDC to retain political power in the 2012 elections. “I am prepared to work with President J. E. A. Mills, former President J.J. Rawlings and his wife and the entire working structure of the NDC to build a solid united front for victory in election 2012. I think unity within the party is essential,” he said. Dr Asamoah was giving an update on the merger between the NDC and the Democratic Freedom Party, of which he is the Life-Patron, in an interview at his residence in Accra. He also took the opportunity to explain what he actually meant when he said in response to a question that “legally, former President Rawlings could not have been the founder of the NDC because the law at that time did not permit that.” He said “as a onetime Attorney General and chief legal adviser to former President Rawlings, my intention was to protect his integrity, but that had been misconstrued. “Morally, without Mr Rawlings, NDC would never have been formed and no one can deny this fact,” he told the Daily Graphic. “In saying former President Rawlings could not have been the founder of the NDC because the law at that time did not permit that, I was simply stating the “legal fact” and in no way attacking the importance of Mr Rawlings: Indeed, I did not intend to offend, insult or denigrate former President J.J. Rawlings,” he said. He said because Mr Rawlings was the first presidential candidate of the party, it went without saying that naturally, by norm and traditions of political arrangement, he certainly was the Founder. He said that the NDC was formed because members of the PNDC knew Mr Rawlings was going to contest the 1992 elections, but since he was a serving military officer, he could not openly declare he was going to contest so other people had to do all that work in getting the party founded and recognised by the Electoral Commission. He explained that prior to the formation of the party in 1992, Mr Rawlings was still in the military and the political parties’ law barred him from playing an active role in the formation of a party. “Indeed, President Rawlings signed the law,” Dr Asamoah said. However, Dr Asamoah said the NDC Constitution was amended in 1998 and subsequently former President Rawlings became the Founder of the NDC. “In all of this I was very instrumental,” he stated. “If I am asked a legal technical question, then for purposes of legal understanding, I will answer it that way but that is not to deny the fact that J.J. Rawlings was indeed the founder of the NDC. “One of the things that former President Rawlings admires about me and he told people was that I always spoke the truth. If you needed the truth, I will speak it,” he declared. In his view, he said, any attempt to reduce the importance of Mr Rawlings in NDC affairs could not be supported because the facts were there to speak for themselves. “Former President Rawlings has played and continues to play a lead role in the affairs of the NDC,” he said and called on all and sundry to endeavour to give President Rawlings his due and respect. “I feel so pained that people are twisting what I said to insult me and put me in public ridicule. I am rather pained that our politics have been reduced to lies and insults.” He urged Ghanaians to do away with politics of insults and rather place much emphasis on politics of ideas, principles, truths and values. “I cannot tell lies to please anybody. I have no adverse agenda against anybody in the NDC.