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AFTER FAILING to get former First Lady Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings elected as flag bearer of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) at the recent Sunyani congress, members of the Friends of Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings (FONKAR) have resolved not vote for the party in the 2012 general elections. Members of the group claim they are being hounded out of the party by some elements within the NDC in the Mills camp. Operations Director of FONKAR, Ernest Owusu Bempah told DAILY GUIDE in an exclusive interview, �When we have delegates and then we go to congress and we have 3.1% and you make mockery of us, we are happy that that development is coming and all that we are going to say is that we are using that 3.1% coupled with the other voters who are sympathizers and die-hard Rawlings supporters to do whatever we want to do in the 2012 elections.� �After the congress, they are making mockery of us, the former First Lady (Nana Konadu) and the founder (Mr. Rawlings) that we only managed 3.1% of the votes and that we are irrelevant in the party,� he said. For this reason, he said �we are not happy with what is happening. All that we�re saying is that now that they have drawn the battle line by telling us that our 3.1% is irrelevant, we are taking our 3.1%�, saying �we are going to pressure Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings to take a decision.� For now, Owusu Bempah said he was not prepared to say what that decision would be. �We are going to use that 3.1% coupled with other voters to decide who win the 2012 elections,� were his exact comments. Asked where he and his colleague members of FONKAR were taking their supposed 3.1%, Owusu Bempah replied �we are not going to tell what we are going to use it for at the moment but we have a massive influence in who wins the 2012 elections based on the argument that is on the table. So all that we are saying is that we are going to decide who wins the 2012 elections.� He based his argument on the fact that the NDC and incumbent President Mills won the 2008 presidential elections with a slim margin 50.23% as against the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Nana Akufo-Addo who obtained 49.77%. Owusu Bempah and his colleague FONKAR members think those in the NDC who say they and the Rawlingses have become irrelevant may have to revise their notes. He insists that their votes together with those of other supporters of the Rawlingses would eventually make an impact on the 2012 elections. Asked whether they were indirectly telling their numerous supporters at the grass roots level not to vote for President Mills and the NDC in 2012, tough-talking Owusu Bempah said �no we are not telling them. We want to show them that the Rawlingses have a stake in the NDC party and you cannot go out there and win the national election minus FONKAR and the group of people who were spearheading Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings.� �You will be dreaming if you think you can win the 2012 elections with this kind of attitude and hiring newspapers and radio presenters to go out there to go and say all sorts of rubbish against the founder and the wife,� he noted. Indications are that the leadership of FONKAR are pushing Mrs. Rawlings to leave the NDC and contest the 2012 Presidential elections as an independent candidate. A day after the Sunyani congress, leaders of the group started holding meetings with their members across the country on the way forward for FONKAR and Mrs. Rawlings. An account �Nana Konadu 4 Independent Presidential Candidate 2012� was subsequently created on the social networking website Facebook to shore up support for the agenda which is being championed especially by members of group in the Ashanti and Central regions. The group�s Central regional Coordinator, David Sorthgill Bentil who is at the forefront of this agenda then told DAILY GUIDE the outcome of these meetings was what had informed their decision to urge Nana Konadu to go independent. �We met the branch executives and this is what they are stating because most of the grassroots are saying madam should go independent. So I think if that�s what they are saying. She always listens to the voice of the people-the grassroots,� he said. Asked whether he shared the sentiments of his members, Bentil�s answer was �Oh yeah because we are always with the people. You see the delegates are only a little over 3,000 and we are more. Even in Central region here, we have more than 10,000 card bearing members on the ground so we also support them.� At the time of the interview, he said he had just come out of one of such meetings where some party members expressed similar thoughts and stressed the need for Nana Konadu to consider the idea since she has the support of the party�s foot-soldiers who form the majority of NDC members. ��during the 2012 elections they will all vote so if that�s what they want she also has to listen to the voice of the people.� he said. It is not too clear whether Mrs. Rawlings and members of her campaign team would even consider the call to go independent considering the calls for party unity President Mills for unity following the Sunyani congress.