NDC Presidential Primaries Is Turning Into A Parliamentary Contest � Nana Akomea

Director of Communications of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) for Elections 2012, Nana Akomea, has derisively stated that the Presidential primaries of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) is now more of a contest to elect a Parliamentary candidate in a constituency than the election of a flagbearer, considering the bitter acrimony existing between the three contestants and war of words among some supporters of the candidates vying for the coveted position. President Mills is up against former First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings and Chief Executive Officer of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO), Dr. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah for the party�s flagbearer position. Each passing day, the race for who gets the nod to lead the NDC in 2012 gets messier with allegations and accusations of arm-twisting, vote buying, and blatant intimidation of delegates flying in all directions; with the Mills� camp accused of being the chief culprit. The Mills� Campaign Team stands accused of dishing out GH�4,000 and brand new motorbikes to delegates in exchange for votes, especially in the Eastern and Volta Regions. Nana Akomea, who was speaking on Metro TV�s Good Morning Ghana programme, said he was sure that more NDC members would have declared their intention to run against President Mills if the closing date for picking up nomination forms had been extended. �The fact is that a sitting president is being challenged for the first time�it�s a vote of no confidence in the performance of the government by people in the NDC, and apparently it is not just one person challenging the president. As if that was not bad enough, we have a second person (joining the race) and now the business of challenging a sitting president is turning into a parliamentary contest at Ablekuma South. I bet if they had extended the date by another week, I�m sure more people would have picked forms; it has become a joke,� he derisively said. According to him, the trend now in the governing NDC is the formation of different pressure groups, adding that agitations of NDC members everywhere is because they all want to have their share of the cake.