Veep is a card-bearing member of NPP

Accra, Nov. 6, GNA- A special aide to Vice President Alhaji Aliu Mahama, on Tuesday debunked media reports that the second most important person is not a card -wielding member of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP).

Mr. Yaw Buabeng Asamoa, who addressed a press conference at the former headquarters of the party in Accra, scheduled for the vetting of Vice President

Mahama in line with his presidential ambition for Election 2008 said the publication was calculated and malicious. The encounter between the Vice President and the Vetting Committee of the Party was postponed due to what Mr Asamoa described as technical reasons.

He said in line with procedure, Alhaji Mahama had submitted a document containing a checklist that met the prerequisite requirements of the NPP.

Mr Asamoa said the information was sealed and presented to the party hierarchy for verification.

He said the Party should therefore come out publicly to clear the air whether the document he submitted did not include an identity card. Mr. Asamoa observed that Vice President Mahama had been at post for seven years now and it is therefore necessary for the hierarchy of the NPP to tell the world if he had occupied the position without the relevant documents.

He however, dismissed the media reports as deliberate attempts to embarrass the Vice President.

He said since the return of Ghana to constitutional rule, the Vice President had expended energy and resources to support the NPP and was therefore not picked by President John Agyekum Kufuor to be his running mate in Election 2000 out of the blues.

Vice President Mahama told the press later that he loves NPP so much and expressed the hope that the problems surrounding his vetting would be the thing of the past.