It�s NDP Vrs NDC; The Stage Is Set

Supporters of the newly formed National Democratic Party (NDP) registered their presence on Ghana�s political plane yesterday when they were given a final certificate to operate as a fully-fledged political party after meeting all conditions. The atmosphere at the forecourt of the Electoral Commission (EC) where the leadership of the party received the certificate and at the Kokomlemle headquarters of the NDP was one that caught the attention of passersby. Scores of people, in party T-shirts, some of whom rode on motorbikes and in a fleet of vehicles, went into wild jubilation. Interim National Chairman of the party, which broke ranks from the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), Dr Nii Armah Josiah-Aryeh, indicated the party�s preparedness to field presidential and parliamentary candidates in the upcoming December 7, 2012 general elections. Leading members of the party, including Interim General Secretary Dr Joseph Mamboah-Rockson and his colleague treasurer, Robert Quaye Tetteh, Dr Kwasi Ofei Agyemang, Dr David Sunu and Joseph Bediako were present at the presentation. The NDP is strongly linked to the former first family, Jerry John Rawlings and his wife Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings, with the former First Lady tipped to lead it. Even though Dr. Mamboah-Rockson had indicated that the party�s National Executive Committee had agreed to name former First Lady Nana Konadu Agyemang-Rawlings as its flag-bearer for the 2012 elections, his chairman, Dr. Josiah-Aryeh, would not be drawn into what he called �speculations of who becomes the leader of the party�. Dr. Ayeh said, �A leader will be decided by a democratic electoral process of the party�s internal mechanism�.