Former Presidential Adviser on governmental Affairs, Alhaji Mahama Iddrisu, has formally announced his candidature for the position of national chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

In a statement issued in Accra yesterday Alhaji Iddrisu noted that the present constitution of the party provides for co-chairmanship but indicated that there is a proposal for a constitutional amendment at congress to provide for only one chairman.

"In whatever form the constitution emerges at congress, I intend to contest for the championship position," it said.

The NDC, the statement noted, was born out of a struggle: struggle against oppression, against lack of accountability, inequality, underdevelopment, hunger, deprivation and want.

"From the days of the NDC to the time the NDC left office in 2000, we struggled for Ghana to become a place worth living in, for Ghana to regain her position in the comity of nations," it noted.

The statement said in that endeavour, the party largely succeeded and expressed regret that since the defeat of the NDC, and largely through the power of effective propaganda, the impression has been created that the NDC did nothing as a party and as a government.

It said in the process, the national psyche and national morale have been so lowered that many people think that Ghana is not a country worth dying for.

The statement said this development has affected the party as well — instead of confronting the divisive external forces, much energy appears to have been dissipated in unnecessary personal wrangling and thereby lowering morale of the rank and file of the party. The statement said the party therefore needs a reconciler, a pragmatist and a true democrat who can pull the party together again.

"We need someone who will facilitate and deepen internal democracy. that way I have decided to offer myself for the position of chairman of the party, for I believe I am that reconciler, a pragmatist and a democrat whom the party needs at this time," the statement explained.

Alhaji Iddrisu said he has what it takes to successfully put the problem of the party behind it, to reconcile the personalities within the party, to overcome the bitterness of the 2000 electoral defeat, and to re-energise the party to emerge victorious in the 2004 elections".

The statement said the NDC is at a crossroad " and we need to rekindle the vision that enabled us, as a country on the brink of collapse, to pull ourselves up and emerge once again as the black star of Africa.” It said it is clear from the one and a quarter years that the NDC has been out of office that it is only the NDC that can sustain the vision of commitment to the cause of the people and democratic development. Alhaji Iddrisu called on the media to be fair and objective as the campaign for positions in the party intensifies.

He also called on all candidates to concentrate on addressing the issues confronting the party and how to resolve them. " It will not serve our interest for us candidates to attack the personalities and position of opposing candidates" This he said " will ensure that notwithstanding who wins any of the contested offices our party will emerge from the election more united than ever before.