The raging feud between the Atta Mills and Rawlings factions within the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) reached a crescendo as both camps traded accusations as to who masterminded a clandestine plot to kill Prof. Mills’ presidential ambition for 2008 due to his ill health. The confusion started brewing among the rank and file of the NDC when it came to light last week that the former First Lady might be nurturing a presidential ambition. Whilst those outside her cycle say her candidacy could be disastrous for the party, her close allies say she is more than qualified for the position. Mr Herbert Mensah, a close associate to the Rawlingses hinted on Joy FM that there are two people within government who are seeking help to take over from President Mills to lead the NDC in 2012, but this appears to have angered a close confidant of President Mills. Mr Ato Ahwoi said the Rawlingses are just reacting to an unsuccessful grand plot they hatched in 2007. He recounted instances where former President Rawlings prevailed on him to contest Mills in the party’s presidential primary in 2007. “I know where Herbert Mensah is coming from, it is part of the grand design started in 2007 where they did not want Mills to contest, where they said that Mills would fall sick and by June of 2008 he would be a dead person…So in February [2008] I was being convinced to help in dumping Atta Mills so that we can go ahead and get a new person. What was not achieved in 2007, they are trying to do it now.” Making the stunning revelation on Radio Gold on Wednesday, Mr. Ahwoi further accused Mr Herbert Mensah, an NDC sympathizer, supposedly a pro-Rawlings man, of trying to convince him (Ahwoi) on a number of occasions to do all within his powers in 2007 to get Prof. Mills out of the race to give chance to Dr. Ekwow. Before the election, Mr Ahwoi noted that he was “working closely together” with Mr Mensah, as he visited the latter’s office at least twice a week but was compelled to stop going there because of the ill-plot. Not amused by what is being schemed against President Mills currently, Mr Ahwoi noted that politics is a “very confusing game”. However, his claim was strongly rebutted by Mr Herbert Mensah, who also pointed accusing fingers at Mr Ahwoi as the main brain behind what he was accusing them of and challenged him to a public conversation on the issue. “It was Ato Ahwoi who actually told us that Prof. Mills wasn’t well. He said that he was becoming delusional, that he was seeing priests, he was seeing people, because he was losing his mental stability and that he has lost confidence and that he, Ato Ahwoi, and other senior members were aware in their minds that [former] President Rawlings would like to have but they will never let that happen, it would be over their dead body.” Mr Mensah has therefore called for a public conversation to ostensibly expose the “kind of lies and misrepresentations that keep going on from his (Ahwoi’s) quarter …he wanted to bring P.V. Obeng and Kwesi Botwey to come and run this party …the disunity that we have in this party, Mr Ato Ahwoi must stop this nonsense, who is behind covers and victimizes people and makes statements which are full of untruths.” The Deputy Local Government Minister, Mr Afriyie Ankrah, who is a former Deputy General Secretary of the NDC, also joined the fray and asked members of the party to ignore Mr Herbert Mensah’s statement. He accused Mr Mensah of fueling issues because he has nothing to lose when the party is out of power unlike most of them. “Those of people who worked day and night to ensure that this party came to power we have so much to lose and that is why we must be careful of the things that we are doing. We should not forget that it cost us so much before we came into power, let’s not toil with this power.” A political watcher and editor of the Daily Dispatch newspaper, MR Ben Ephson, has described the feuding as unhealthy which the party could have avoided, noting that “if they want to press the self destruction button, it is within their cause”. Story by Isaac Essel/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana