Ex-President Jerry Rawlings, founder of the NDC, has advised delegates rooting for Professor Evans Atta Mills to accept whatever bribes given to them by his opponent at the 21 December congress.

?It is the party?s money and, therefore, you should not refuse to accept them,? he said. He was addressing party delegates at the Koforidua Parish Hall on Wednesday. Ex-President Rawlings said that Prof Mills is an asset and Ghanaians should therefore protect him for his integrity and transparency.

He said the delegates would be doing a great disservice to Prof Mills, the party and the nation if they did not vote for him. The party, he said, needed a courageous, truthful, hardworking and brave man to lead it to victory in the 2004 elections but not cowards, adding that the weak in the party should stand aside and give way to the brave ones.

He said the ruling government fear Prof Mills, that is why it was employing ?subversive? means to ensure that he did not get the flagbearship nod. ?But, I tell you that Prof Mills had been tried, tested and found to be a good material for the party and the nation and no NPP member can stand up to him in any international fora,? he stressed.

He said the NPP was fighting tooth and nail to destroy the NDC by peddling all sorts of lies about its members. ?Ladies and gentlemen, let me assure you that the NPP is too weak to damage the NDC. It does not have what it takes to damage us,? he said.

According to him, he would not sit and stay aloof and watch bad things happen to the good people of this country without commenting on them just for the simple fact that he is a statesman. He asked members of the ruling government to stay back in the country and not to run away should they lose the 2004 elections and wallow in their own economic mess.

He criticised the Bureau of National Investigation (BNI) for meddling in the affairs of the party. Ex-President Rawlings said operatives of the intelligence outfits had no moral obligation from any quarter to exact information from any party member with regards to names of delegates for the impending congress.

The first vice-Chairman of the party, Alhaji Huudu Yahaya, said the party is a registered one and the BNI has no duty to dabble in its internal wranglings. Dr Ben Kumbour appeald to the delegates to live up to their promises by voting for Professor Mills and not any new face.