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This weekend, the country will witness a momentous development in its political history. The ruling party, the National Democratic Congress, (NDC) will choose a flag-bearer ahead of the 2012 polls, the culmination of months of acrimonious exchanges. The country holds its breath ahead of the ruling party�s date with fate, a watershed in the history of the political grouping. Activities preceding the internal election have been anything but decent and uneventful, as representatives of contestants coming under varying epithets muddy the political waters in a manner never witnessed before in our history. The leaders of the groupings have not made any visible attempts at reining in their supporters, a suggestion that they could be supportive of the mudslinging which has somewhat raised the political temperature, not only of their party but the country as a whole. President John Evans Atta Mills, who has often spoken about ensuring a level playing field and protecting everybody, in consonance with his so-called �father for all� mantra, is yet to convince us about his abhorrence for the use of harsh language. The allegation that persons associated with a former First Lady were engaged in a shooting incident in Kumasi has equally stunned us. Polarisation, a challenge we have had to battle with over the past years, appears to be tearing the NDC apart even though optimists in the party think it is all a storm in a teacup. We have stated it time without number that political parties are subject to the Political Parties� Law of the country. Political groupings, being vehicles through which leaders are chosen to run the affairs of the country, should conduct their affairs in a manner rich in decency. The issue of �dzi wo fie asem� does not arise in politics since the NDC, the ruling party, is a political vehicle belonging to the whole country. We cannot therefore stand aloof when the party fields persons with tainted reputations, or conducts itself in a manner devoid of decorum. It is for a purpose that persons with criminal records cannot, for instance, run for the office of president. The visible incidents of physical assaults and verbal attacks remind many about the ill-fated Koforidua congress of the party. We thought so much water having passed under the bridge since then, the party would have weaned itself off the violent tendencies it is mostly associated with. The prognoses are scary and prompt us to ask whether the 2012 polls will witness worse scenarios on the part of the NDC. Residents of Sunyani, instead of being excited about the influx of visitors from across the country to their abode, are rather apprehensive about a possible anarchy. Their fear is borne out of experience and the acrimony featuring in the campaigns of the two groupings in the NDC so far. The foregone are coming on the heels of successful elections of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) and world-acclaimed national polls in the past few years. When successful polls and a thriving democracy in Africa come up for discussion, Ghana�s record remains a benchmark. Although the NDC election is an internal exercise, certainly, the manner in which delegates and supporters conduct themselves would go a long way in achieving for us more feathers in our political cap. A fractured internal election in the NDC would not be in the interest of our democratic image, even as we relish our position as a beacon of democracy in Africa. We hope that our fears would be allayed by the conduct of clean polls in which a level playing field would be available for the competing groupings to assess their popularity. We wish the contestants Godspeed.