He stressed that the unity of the Party should be maintained and reminded by the two nominees contesting for the flag bearer slot and their followers to play by the rules and carry out their campaigns devoid of acrimony.
Alhaji Ali, a former co-chairman of the ruling NDC, repeated his call in an interview with journalists at the end of the vetting of President John Evans Atta Mills at the NDC Headquarters.
President Mills is seeking the mandate of the Party to be re-elected as its flag bearer in the 2012 election. He is being challenged by former First Lady Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings.
Alhaji Ali underlined the need for unity between the supporters and campaign teams of the two nominees, and reminded them of the price the party would have to pay if it lost power.
“The unity of the Party should be maintained; no member of the NDC will be happy to see the NDC lose,” he said.
According to Alhaji Ali, President Mills expressed his confidence, just as Nana Konadu did, to emerge the winner of at National Delegates’ Congress from July 8- July 10.
He said President Mills was happy to come before the six-member committee and assured the panel of running a peaceful campaign. Nana Konadu gave similar assurance.
Alhaji Ali described as “a wonderful experience” for him to have President Mills and the former First Lady appear before the Committee.
He said the Committee was transparent in the vetting and said the report would be ready by Friday for action to be taken on by the National Executive Committee of the NDC.
The vetting is the penultimate step on the timetable before the Sunyani Congress.
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 examined the documents filed by the aspirants and examined their qualifications under the Party’s constitution.
Other members of the Vetting Committee were 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
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.
GNA
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