3 April 2008
editorial
The flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Prof. John Evans Atta Mills has for the past few days been subjected to severe mental torture by his own party people, who seem to be using unorthodox means to lobby for their preferred candidates to partner him in the December elections.
After a group of women stormed the Osu Kuku Hill office of the NDC leader to prevail on him to choose Mrs. Betty Mould Iddrisu as his running mate, Mrs. Rawlings has also jumped into the fray and already making public statements that she supports the Betty Mould Iddrissu ticket. Also, just after the state owned Daily Graphic had come out with report that Hon. John Mahama had been chosen to partner Mills, a group of party supporters in Tamale, believed to be rooting for Alhaji Mohammed Mumuni also stormed the party office in the city to cause some disturbances.
To them it would be wrong for Mills to choose a non-Moslem as a running mate because such a decision would mean that the party had relegated them to the background, since they feel that it is the Zongos that is sustaining the party in the region. Barely a few hours after this demonstration by the group, another one, which also ostensibly claims allegiance to John Dramani Mahama, also came out strongly that there was nothing wrong with Mills selecting their preferred choice.
Clearly, this aggressive style of lobbying is not the best for a party that is aiming to regain power. Interested parties in this whole caboodle should allow the the Prof. himself to choose his won vice, based on the dictates of the party's constitution. Yes, Mr. Rawlings is the founder of the party, but for now he and Nana Konadu must allow the Prof. the sanity of mind to be his own man. Afterall, if Mills is made to stick to his guns and allowed to make his own choice in consultation with the party's National Executive Committee and Council of Elders, wouldn't it dispel the notion that he has always been the Rawlingses' puppet.
What is going on in the NDC cannot be said to be an internal party affair that the public must just observe from a distance, because as a party that has the chance of ruling this country, Ghanaians have every right and stake to know about what is going on in the party. Certainly, what is going on in the NDC cannot be said to be democratic enough. All the interested parties who have taken entrenched positions must know that by their conduct they are sowing a seed of confusion in the party.
They are also putting their flagbearer in a serious dilemma and might keep him in suspense for sometime because of the fear of the backlash that will follow after he had made his choice.
It is the hope of The Chronicle that the NPP and other political parties would take a cue from what is going on in the NDC and try to avoid same. Already there are names flying in the media as possible running mates to Akufo-Addo. The same trend applies to the CPP as well. Lobbying is done in every organization, including political parties, but it must done in a responsible way. We have now come of age in the practice of our democratic dispensation and therefore we should allow democratic principles to always guide us.
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