Issues have started popping up about the upcoming congress of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), as the vetting committee of the party screened the two presidential hopefuls.
Communication Director of the party in the Central Region and strong supporter of President Atta Mills� re-election bid, Bernard Allotey Jacobs said he has stumbled upon what he described as an �intelligence report� which suggests that some people are planning to disrupt the congress which is slated for July 8-10, 2011 in Sunyani in the Brong Ahafo region.
Editor-in-chief of the New Crusading Guide Abdul Malik Kweku Baako Jnr, also said he has similar information that a faction in the NDC is planning to use agent provocateurs to disrupt the congress.
He said although the information has not been verified, it is from a reliable source and therefore warned the leadership of the NDC to take note and prepare well in case of any eventuality.
Speaking on Peace FM�s Kokrokoo morning show yesterday, Kweku Baako claimed that someone is contracting some trouble makers, who will be conveyed to the congress grounds for the sole purpose of ensuring that they disrupt the vote counting process and therefore stop the emergence of a winner.
According to him, the plan is to make sure the primary ends in a stalemate.
�Somebody somewhere is planning something sinister� [which will] lead to some chaos,� Kweku said, warning the party to act immediately to halt any such plans from materialising.
Allotey told DAILY GUIDE, �It�s an information that is taken out of the grapevine that�one other modus operandi to stop or to abate the disgrace of Nana Konadu at the congress in terms of votes is to organise people to go there and create problem, especially during counting, so that the scenario may look like then we could not declare a winner and then any attempt to maintain Professor Mills as the leader of the party will be resisted��
Though he refused to mention names, Allotey Jacobs said, �Even the statement made by the founder of the party, my founder, Flight Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings that �we need to take our party, take the government and take the country� in itself is something that Ghanaians need to digest to know the import of that message.�
�Though I may not in a way try to suggest that, from what we are hearing from the grapevine is as a result or the statement by the founder might indicate such scenario of such modus operandi, but if we digest what he said, it means a lot,� he said, asking rhetorically, �What does he mean by we should take the party, take the government and take the country?�
The Central region strongman who calls himself �educated fisherman� said Rawlings has to tell Ghanaians what he means by that statement, calling on Acting National Security Coordinator, Lt Col Larry Gbevlo-Lartey (rtd) to tighten his grips on security during and after the congress, since in his opinion, �the success of the elections will depend upon the pro-activeness of the National Security Coordinator, how he will marshal all forces within his ambit to ensure a successful and peaceful congress.�
According to Allotey, what happened at the NDC headquarters on Tuesday was a dress rehearsal.
There was a violent clash between supporters of Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, wife of the NDC founder and those of President Mills when the former took her turn before the vetting committee.
A group of placard-wielding youth, allegedly organized by President Mills�s campaign team, stormed the NDC office to �harass� Mrs Rawlings, leading to the exchange of blows.
Yesterday, President Mills told the media, soon after his 45-minute friendly chat with the vetting committee of the party, that the NDC has a herculean task ahead of the upcoming congress.
He said: �We have very formidable task ahead of us.
�At the end of this exercise, there is the need for unity within our party. That is how we have always operated and therefore I am really hopeful that members of the party will regard this as a passing phase.�
This, according to him, is because �this whole exercise is not about a winner or a loser, we are all members of one family�.
He made these comments moments after going through the vetting process at the party�s Kokomlemle headquarters yesterday.
President Mills said he was satisfied with the results of the vetting process and made a passionate appeal to the NDC to close their ranks and exercise restraint before and after the congress.
In spite of that, the President assured all and sundry �that with God holding our banner, we shall succeed.�
The President arrived at the party headquarters amidst cheers from his supporters who had gathered there in their numbers.
He was charged by the committee not to break away from the party in the event that he loses the Sunyani congress.
The vetting is the final step on the party�s timetable before its national delegates� congress.
According to the party�s roadmap for the national delegates� congress, the final step is the release of the list of delegates on June 10.
The vetting committee, chaired by Alhaji Issifu Ali, former co-Chairman of the NDC, will examine the documents filed by the aspirants and their qualifications under the party�s constitution.
Other members of the Vetting Committee are Lionel Mobila, former Upper East Regional Minister; Dr (Mrs) Mary Grant, a member of the erstwhile Provisional National Defence Council; Cletus Avoka, Majority Leader; Chris Ackumey and Larry Adjetey, both private legal practitioners.
Under the rules of the NDC, each contestant shall be proposed by two persons and seconded by four persons who must be members of the executive at the branch, constituency, regional or national levels. A duly proposed contestant shall be endorsed by two members of the executive at any level of the party from each of the 230 constituencies of the country.
On the qualification of flag-bearer aspirants, the candidate must fulfill the qualification requirements as stated in Article 62 of the 1992 Constitution which deals with the qualifications to be president of Ghana.
There will be about 3,000 delegates at the Sunyani congress.
The delegates would include the Founder of the Party, Leader of the Party and President of Ghana, Vice President, National Executive Committee Members, Ministers of State, Selected Regional Executives, Committee Members and Parliamentarians.
The rest are Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives who are members of the party, foreign branch representatives, Council of Elders and representatives from the Tertiary Education Institution Network.
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