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A deputy Communications Director of the New Patriotic Party, Samuel Awuku says he would be �surprised� if President John Mahama, who has just been endorsed by the National Executive Committee of the ruling NDC as its flagbearer, wins �even 38%� of valid votes cast in the 2012 elections. According to Samuel Awuku, several factors will militate against Mr Mahama�s candidature, not the least of which is the fact he has just five months to erase the candidature of the late President Mills in the minds of the electorate and replace it with himself. As well, the speed with which he was chosen would offend the sensibilities of Ghanaians, coming just two days after the death of President Mills. He pointed out that all over the country, the NDC at every level has posters and banners depicting the image of the late President and the party�s parliamentary candidate. Nowhere on these banners is the image of now-President John Mahama shown. Speaking on Adom FM�s Dwaso Nsem Morning Show on Friday July 27, Samuel Awuku declared: �I would be surprised if John Mahama would be able to lead NDC to even 38% (of the vote). Mind you, this is a national general election, where you have marketed a particular face from the north to the south. When NDC went to congress last year in Sunyani, it was to afford the candidate the opportunity to market himself, even though he was the sitting President. �Now with five months to the elections, you think you can market yourself? You think Ghana is like the studios of Adom FM, where you can hit the four corners and you are done? There are hamlets, villages, rural areas and urban communities.� Saying he was restraining himself because of the one week of national mourning declared by the President, Samuel Awuku nevertheless dismissed any suggestion that the NPP campaign strategy had been thrown out of gear by John Mahama�s proposed candidature, pointing out that it was the joint Mills-Mahama team that had �failed to deliver on the Better Ghana Agenda they promised Ghanaians.� �John Mahama was there, supporting the late President Mills throughout the past three and a half years of failures. What new thing is he bringing? We respect tradition, so we will wait for the one week of mourning to end, then we will show Ghanaians and the NDC the candidate they have chosen. After all, Richard Quashigah (NDC National Propaganda Secretary) says the 2012 elections will be about character.� In a related development, Samuel Awuku, Deputy Communications Director of the NPP, and Titus Nii Kwartei Glover, a member of the NPP communications team and aspiring parliamentary candidate for Tema East, have expressed disappointment and disgust at the �disgraceful haste� with which the National Executive Committee of the NDC has moved to replace President Mills as the party�s flagbearer for December�s elections. They say the action is "very wicked" and "insulting." The NEC of the NDC endorsed President John Dramani Mahama as its flagbearer 48 hours after President Mills passed away on July 24, 2012. He would later be introduced at a special Congress on September 1, 2012 at a venue yet to be announced. Speaking as panel members on the Friday July 27 edition of Adom FM�s Dwaso Nsem Morning Show, the two NPP members said even the opposition had stopped politicking to observe the one week of mourning to mark President Mills� demise, while the ruling party, whose candidate had died and was therefore officially in mourning, were engaged in politics. They acknowledged that the 1992 Constitution mandated the Chief Justice to swear the Vice President into office as President if the sitting leader was unable to discharge his duties as early as possible, but insisted there was no such provision regarding the internal position of flagbearer. �Couldn�t NDC have waited just a week before replacing Mills? Why the haste? Even (opposition NPP Presidential candidate) Nana Akufo-Addo, who was somewhere in the Western Region, has stopped his campaign and come back to Accra to join his party members to mourn the President. Why disgrace the memory of Professor Mills like that?� Titus Glover wondered. However Solomon Nkansah, Deputy Propaganda Secretary of the NDC, has downplayed their concern, saying party executives thought deep and hard before taking the decision. According to him, it was to forestall any possible moves to create confusion within the party. From: Ghana l Adomonline.com l Frank Agyei-Twum