NDC,NPP, Stalk Each Other

By Kofi Coomson

Accra - Eight months away from the elections, and the two main political parties that have captured the centre stage in the political battlefield are still grappling with the strategically sensitive issue of running mates for their Presidential candidates.

Before the decks were cleared as to the choice of candidate, The New Patriotic Party went on stand-by mode, waiting to spring a "suitable candidate" from an "appropriate ethnic group" to neutralise or chip away whatever ethnic advantage the candidate would have brought to the contest.

With the now obvious choice of Professor Evans Atta-Mills, the horsetrading has only dimmed somewhat.

Surprisingly, some key leading lights within the NPP top hierarchy were frightened about the prospect of a Nana Konadu candidacy.

"She is very rich and powerful", "We will have a dirty fight on our hands", were some of the expressions that dominated the opinions.

Another significant number of opinion leaders however were excited about a Konadu ticket. The belief was that the National Democratic Congress [NDC] itself was top heavy with members who were dead against her candidature to the extent that they will be prepared to work clandestinely to undermine her and make it easier for the opposition to win.

The popular perception of the First Lady as "unforgiving", "vindictive", "anti-press", "anti-human rights" was played up again and again.

Faced with a choice between Rawlings and Nana Konadu, almost every one preferred Jerry Rawlings.

Even private sector businessmen and opinion leaders went cold with the prospect of a Konadu Presidency:

"We are all going to leave the country", was a very common refrain among people Chronicle interviewed.

Some NPP Kingmakers even considered the one and only name that appears to unsettle The First Lady, the popular former MP for Bawku Central, Madam Hawa Yakubu.

With the now certain absence of her name as a candidate, the NDC has lost Konadu, the only person who personally connects with the vast and teeming electorate in the rural constituencies of Ghana and stands endowed with tremendous resourcefulness. With her incredibly mobile 31st DWM, she has toured and still tours the rural areas as if her life depended on it.

It was difficult to fathom why the fear was so overwhelming, and what gave rise to it since Konadu does not hold any public office. It is certain that she would have given the opposition a frightful fight.

WIDE OPEN

In the NPP, the Vice Presidential race is still very much wide open.

The party has closed its ranks now and virtually shed its image of a disunited, bickering party. Nana Akufo-Addo who fought a bitter and bruising contest with Kufour is working closely with him now. The Statesman, the newspaper he publishes is giving more publicity to the NPP Presidential candidate than any other medium, private or state- owned.

Mr. J.H. Mensah, whose little sister is Kufour's wife, Aba, is also very much a more active supporter of the Kufour ticket. Retired ranger Major Courage Quarshigah who was in Nana Addo's corner and beat Kufour's candidate by two votes for the position of National Organiser is incredibly active on the hustings across the country. So is another significant Nana-Addo supporter, the orator and Parliamentary tour de force, Ms. Christine Churcher of Cape Coast, a potential Veep.

The names that have come up include the respected MP for Takoradi Mrs. Gladys Asmah, a strong Kufour loyalist after the Pianim debacle of 1996.

The NPP is watching the NDC to see whether they should throw in Hawa Yakubu, Nana Akufo-Addo or Mr. Aliu Mahama, a very popular and influential civil engineer in the North. He is a Dagomba man.

NPP is stalking the NDC to make the first move before, but NDC will not even make that decision at next month's Congress in Ho.

The name of the popular MP for Ablekuma, Mr. Kwamena Bartels has also come up.

Unlike the NDC, The NPP in particular is not experiencing any serious wranglings over the choice of the number two man. The interested candidates are keeping a very low profile. In the NDC however, camps have sprung up.

The Attorney General Dr. Obed Asamoah is the front runner in the campaign though not necessarily the most likely person to get the nod.

Obed has two significant supporters who are leading his campaign. In the North, the power broker Alhaji Ismaili Zakari who wields a lot of influence is his point man. Reports from the North suggests also that he has the support of the Karagga chief, also a significant opinion leader.

In the South, he has the unalloyed support of his darling, Madam Faustina Nelson, the founder and Chairperson of the fast growing Verandah Boys Club which has been turned into a strong adjunct of the NDC by the charm enterprise and charisma of Madam Nelson.

Alhaji Huudu Yahaya's name has also come up lately and very strongly too, while that of the Minister of Communications, Mr. John Mahama who appeared to be riding high a couple of months ago has just faded off. The suggestion is that both Mills and Mahama are new comers to the NDC cause and too vulnerable.

Huudu Yahaya is married to John Mahama's sister, a Swiss resident but Chronicle has learnt that that Huudu will support the now-quiet candidacy of Alhaji Iddrissu Mahama, the loyal long-suffering Vice Presidential aspirant who has patiently endured all manner of indignities over the years. He is the Presidential Adviser on Governmental affairs. On paper.

Strategically, Iddrissu's efforts have lately been rather low keyed. Both him and Chambas are hoping that Atta-Mills himself may invite them for the position - if Mills is freely allowed that mandate as the NDC constitution accords him.

Dr. Obed Asamoah may have more than a couple of key headaches. One is that he will not have a wife to show - his wife is an American who has bee

* The NDC MPs loathe him for his brashness.

Within the party hierarchy, he has scant support especially among MPs.

"It is not over until it is over", is what may best sum up the smouldering political future of Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings.

She has managed to get Mrs. Naadu Mills to campaign with her lately.

She may well get Naadu to press Mills' eardrums and nibble at his ears at night to support a Vice Presidential bid. It is not over until.