NDC unity is paramount - Issifu Ali

Accra, June 7, GNA - Alhaji Issifu Ali, Chairman of the six-member National Democratic Congress (NDC) Vetting Committee on Tuesday said maintaining unity in the party was paramount.

"Maintaining unity in the party is paramount and any member who appears before the committee would be asked to marshal his/her followers to support the winner to ensure=85 unity in the party."

Alhaji Issifu Ali was briefing newsmen after vetting Former First Lady Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings one of the aspirants of the NDC Flagbearership at the Party's headquarters in Accra on the first day of the exercise.

He said: "The committee would demand commitments from the aspirants that whoever loses the contest would support the other and not seek to break away from the party."

The other aspirant, President John Evans Atta Mills, would be vetted on Wednesday, June 8.

The vetting is the penultimate step on the timetable before its National Delegates' Congress slated for Sunyani from July 8- July 10 to elect the flag bearer.

According to the party's roadmap for the National Delegates' Congress, the final step is the release of the list of delegates on June 10.

The vetting committee chaired by Alhaji Issifu Ali, Former co-Chairman of the NDC, will examine the documents filed by the aspirants and examine their qualifications under the party's constitution.

Other members of the Vetting Committee are Mr Lionel Mobila, former Upper East Regional Minister, Dr (Mrs) Mary Grant, a member of the erstwhile Provisional National Defence Council, Mr Cletus Avoka, Majority Leader, and Mr Chris Ackumey and Mr Larry Adjetey, both lawyers.

President John Evans Atta Mills and Nana Konadu both submitted their forms and paid the necessary filing fee.

A Former Vice Chairman of the party, Dr Ekwow Spio Garbrah, failed to submit his forms when the deadline expired on June 1.

Alhaji Ali said: "We tried as much as possible to drive from the point that whichever candidate wins in Sunyani would not try to go solo but would marshal his or her forces behind the winner to make sure that unity in the party is maintained."

He pointed out that the committee was worried about the amount of mudslinging and insults being traded between supporters of the two aspirants.

According to Alhaji Issifu Ali, the committee would drum home to the two aspirants the need to ensure that their actions did not split the party. "The Former First Lady was receptive to what we put forward and added that FONKAR which campaigns for her would not be involve in mudslinging and hoped that the other side Mills camp, (GAME) would also stop the mudslinging."

Nana Konadu accompanied by one of her daughters, Yaa Asantewaa and Mr Kofi Adams, the Spokesperson for former President Jerry John Rawlings, described the vetting process as 93smooth but rather took too long", when she addressed newsmen briefly after the vetting process ended.

She answered questions bordering on her suitability and preparedness to lead the party to Election 2012.

Nana Konadu said the party's Vetting Committee was a normal process, while the issues raised by members of the committee were pertinent and she responded to them as candidly as she could.

"Although the process was rather long, the questions were basically on the way forward for the party and I think they were really fair," she noted.

Under the rules of the NDC, each contestant shall be proposed by two persons and seconded by four persons who must be members of the executive at the branch, constituency, regional or national levels.

A duly proposed contestant shall be endorsed by two members of the executive at any level of the party from each of the 230 constituencies of the country.

On the qualification of flag bearer aspirants the candidate must fulfil the qualification requirements as stated in Article 62 of the 1992 Constitution which deal with the qualifications to be president of Ghana.

In addition, the aspirant must be a member of a branch of the party; be a known and active member of the body for not less than four years; shall not be a member of any other political party; and must accept the constitution, philosophy and policies of the NDC.

Others are that the aspirant must be an active and card bearing member of the party with fully paid up membership dues; must not be facing any disciplinary action for breach of the party's Disciplinary Code and constitution; and must not be a member of the executive committee at any level of the party at the time of picking of nomination form.

There will be about 3,000 delegates at the Sunyani Congress. The delegates would include the Founder of the party, Leader of the party and President of Ghana, Vice President, National Executive Committee Members, Ministers of State, Selected Regional Executives, Committee Members and Parliamentarians.

The rest are Municipal, Metropolitan and District Chief Executives who are members of the party, foreign branch representatives, Council of Elders and representatives from the Tertiary Education Institution Network.