NDC congress, April 14

The Ghanaian Democrat says if anybody wants to know who will lead the ruling NDC to victory in December's presidential and parliamentary elections, then April 14 will offer the answer. In a front-page story, the Democrat says that the venue will b e Ho, the Volta Regional capital, where the NDC Congress will be held on that day to elect the party's presidential candidate for election 2000.

The paper says that as expected, April 14 and Ho will put to rest various speculations as to who will be the next President of Ghana as from January 7, 2001 and who will also be his running running-mate. The Democrat notes that ever since President Jerry Rawlings declared at the NDC national rally at Agona Swedru in the Central Region on June 6, 1998 that he had absolute confidence in the Vice-President, Prof. J.E.A. Mills, and that if the time comes for the party to elect its presidential candidate for the 2000 elections, he would throw his weight behind him various interpretations have been given to this "declaration of confidence".

The paper says while some argued that President Rawlings was imposing Prof. Mills on the NDC and, therefore, was not trying to be democratic, others believed that the President was only trying to put dust into the eyes of the people and that at the end of the day, he would support his wife, Nana Konadu, the First Lad, to succeed him. The Democrat says, however, that President Rawlings' pronouncements about who takes over from him in recent times, have left no doubt in people's minds that Prof. Mills will get the nod from the NDC.