PHOTO: Konadu Campaign Cars Hit Road

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Created on Friday, 24 August 2012 00:00

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PHOTO: Konadu Campaign Cars Hit Road

The presentation of a provisional certificate to the leadership of the National Democratic Party (NDP) by the Electoral Commission (EC) last week has triggered a flurry of activities within the ranks of the new party, and raised the adrenaline level of the grouping.

Hitherto, there had been questions as to whether the party was indeed ready to join others on the political plane for the December 2012 polls.

The flurry of activities, according to a source in the party, had been fueled by the burning need to meet the EC deadline for presenting the party’s presidential and parliamentary candidates to contest the forthcoming polls.

With ‘Our nation our future’ as the slogan of the party in the currently running jingles blaring on the airwaves, the new political party seems ready to take the political plane by storm.

Among a host of activities that are being undertaken is the branding of its campaign vehicles, including newly acquired pick-ups, in NDP colours, and the acquisition of what has been described by sources as a modern edifice at a location in the heart of the capital city of Accra, as its national headquarters.

DAILY GUIDE photo lenses last week captured car sprayers and designers busily branding newly acquired 4×4 vehicles in NDP colours.

Additional information gathered indicated that measures had already been put in place to select likely parliamentary candidates across the length and breadth of the country in all 230 constituencies.

What was still not clear was who would lead the party as its presidential candidate into the 2012 general elections, which is only four months away.

The name of former First Lady and President of the 31st December Women’s Movement (DWM), Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings has come up as the likely flagbearer of the new party, though she has not responded to speculations of being the brain behind the party’s formation.

She once told her supporters during the biometric registration exercise that they should not be surprised if they saw her face on the ballot paper and therefore they should all pour out to register.

DAILY GUIDE learnt that one of the items on the agenda of the leadership of the party in the face of the EC’s green light was how to organize what the party preferred to call a conference to elect a presidential candidate.

Also being undertaken was the training of a crop of communication team to spread the word of the party across the country.

Membership of the team was said to have been drawn from the various regions.

DAILY GUIDE also gathered that efforts were underway to confirm the positions of the national and regional officers of the party who were currently in acting capacities.

Doubts as to whether the NDP was real or an entity only on paper, would now give way to the reality of being the youngest party about to debut on the political plane.

With their jingles, slogans and anthems already being aired on radio and a fleet of vehicles waiting to hit the streets of the country, skeptics would now have to review their impressions.

Deputy Information Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa was reported to have described the party as stillborn, in reference to the survivability of the political grouping.

The party’s acting chairman, Dr Nii Armah Josiah-Aryeh, soon after receipt of the party’s EC certificate, told a radio station that they would soon organize themselves for a conference, adding that his party would contest all the parliamentary seats in the country.

What remained elusive to Ghanaians was whether former President Jerry John Rawlings and his spouse Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings were indeed the brains behind the party.

With the death of the late President Mills, political observers had expected the young party to fold up, given the perception that the project was all about decapitating the second term ambitions of the deceased president.

The ongoing activities however suggest that the new party is ready to stake a strong claim in the 2012 political activities.

Charles Takyi-Boadu

Source: Daily Guide/Ghana