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With just a day to the national delegates� congress of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Northern regional capital, Tamale, ex-President Jerry John Rawlings� boy, who is hoping to snatch the position of General Secretary, seems to have lost the contest even before the first ballot is cast. There are strong indications that Castle, the seat of government, has sent strong instructions to delegates to vote against candidates who are perceived to enjoy the support of the former President, including his wife, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings. Kweku Eshun, a defeated parliamentary candidate in the last elections, who would be slugging it out with the incumbent General Secretary, Johnson Aseidu-Nketia popularly called �General Mosquito,� has claimed that there is no level playing field in the lead-up to tomorrow�s congress. He told Boss FM, a Kumasi-based radio station on Wednesday that the presidency was not only sponsoring some candidates but assiduously canvassing votes for their favourites. It would be recalled that the Rawlings camp was dealt a blow when the former President�s candidate lost the National Youth Organiser position to a Castle boy, Ludwig Hlodze, last Saturday in Sunyani. Mr. Eshun, who is enjoying the backing of ex-President Rawlings and his wife, alleged that the Castle was sharing huge sums of money, mobile phones and other items to delegates so they would vote for their favourites. According to him, delegates across the country were calling him on phone daily to complain about the sharing of money and other items by officials at the Castle. �Any time they go to the delegates, they start sharing GH�3000, mobile phones, cloth, roofing sheets, among others, but as soon as they leave the delegates call me and complain about it,� Eshun stressed. He said apart from the money and other material things, bigwigs at the Castle were pressurizing Regional Ministers to coerce the District Chief Executives (DCEs) to vote for their preferred candidates. Mr. Eshun disclosed that an order from the Castle had been given to Regional Ministers that they risk losing their jobs if they failed to compel the DCEs to vote for their candidates. �I was in a Regional Minister�s office about a week ago when a call came from the Castle, asking him to ensure that the DCEs in his region vote for certain candidates. �Because that Regional Minister is my supporter, he immediately put his phone on loud speaker and I was shocked with what I heard,� Mr. Eshun stated. He declined to name the minister, claiming, �If I do that, I would be putting his job on the line.� Eshun alleged that National Security operatives were hunting him because of his condemnation of the unwarranted role that the Castle was playing in the party�s upcoming congress. �They have called me several times to intimidate me so that I stop condemning the Castle for its undue role in our impending congress, but I would not stop because I am the type who cannot be coerced,� he declared. The Rawlings boy indicated that the incumbent party scribe, Aseidu-Nketia, was particularly favoured in every aspect. According to him, there was no record at the party�s headquarters which showed that General Mosquito had filed his nomination or attended vetting. He revealed that he filed his nomination papers last Friday as the 34th candidate and was vetted about three days ago. �When I went to file, Mr. Aseidu-Nketia�s name was conspicuously missing and at the vetting, I did not meet him, yet he has been certified as candidate for the General Secretary position,� Mr. Eshun noted. He accused Aseidu-Nketia of exhibiting ingratitude of the highest order towards ex-President Rawlings and his wife, Nana Konadu, stressing that posterity would never forgive General Mosquito. �If Mr. Aseidu-Nketia has an iota of gratitude in him, he would not be hurling insults at ex-President Rawlings and his wife because they made him who he is today,� he added. Describing ex-President Rawlings and his wife as pillars in the party, he maintained that �you cannot belong to the NDC and not show respect and love to the former first family.� The Rawlings favourite expressed a weak optimism that he would unseat the former NDC Member of Parliament (MP) for Wenchi West (Tain) at the party�s congress. Meanwhile, Mrs. Rawlings has also jumped at the back of Mosquito, dismissing suggestions by the General Secretary that if she picks the executive position she is seeking, she will not be a unifier in the party. �Mr Asiedu-Nketia, in his effort to try and buttress his own campaign, has shot himself in both legs and has cut his arms on top of it. If you want political power, you don�t destroy the thing that can give you political power,� Mrs Rawlings lamented in an interview with Joy Fm. According to the former First Lady, Mr Asiedu-Nketia has on several occasions consulted her on �areas that he felt the party was not doing well� for her to help out with her �women�. �I am surprised that he can go into the open and actually make those remarks,� she said.