President Mills Begins Campaign

President Mills is expected to embark on a nationwide tour, beginning this week. At least, officially, the purpose of the tour, is to familiarize himself with the implementation of his ‘Better Ghana’ agenda on the ground.

But the New Statesman can report that the visit, beginning this week, marks the start of a campaign tour by the President ahead of the presidential primary of the ruling National Democratic Congress. The latest information is that the NDC could be choosing its 2012 flagbearer as early as three months away.

The contest is on, with NDC Vice Chairperson, Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings and her team already on what is suspected to be the last round of her nation-wide tour ahead of a public declaration of her intention to run for the presidency. She is hoping to declare her bid publicly next month, according to sources close to her.

The pro-Mills leadership at the party headquarters has done their calculations and concluded that an early congress is likely to favour the President against her main and, probably, only challenger. They are, therefore, pushing for a June 2011 congress.

The constitution of the NDC stipulates that when the party is in government the presidential candidate should be selected not later than one year to the next general election. The party had initially planned to hold parliamentary primaries in its orphan constituencies in June before meeting to fix a date for the presidential nominations.
But, the NDC leadership that is largely loyal to President Mills later realized that doing so would increase the number of delegates to the congress to elect the presidential candidate. This, they envisage, can play to the advantage of the woman who is preparing to challenge Prof Mills for the party’s leadership, the former First Lady, Mrs. Rawlings.

The NDC’s 2012 Presidential Candidate will be elected by some 3000 delegates. The number includes 10 delegates from each constituency; all members of National Council of Elders; all Metropolitan Municipal and District Chief Executives; all Ministers of State who are card-bearing party members; all National officers’ Members of Parliament and all parliamentary candidates, once nominated.

The calculation is that the fewer the delegates the better it will enhance the fortunes of President Mills. This stems from an uneasy sense that the Rawlingses are far more popular with the rank and file of the ruling party than the President of the Republic and leader of the party, Prof Mills. Also, the longer they wait for the congress the more time Mrs Rawlings gets to the campaign.

The target of the Mills camp is to win 90 per cent of the delegates’ votes. This is to send out a clear message that the Rawlingses are history and no longer have any meaningful grip of the party.