... Supporters say he will hamper campaign
... "Mills alone cannot do the job"

Some supporters of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) have called for the replacement of Alhaji Mohammed Mumuni because their running mate's snail's pace recovery would affect Prof. Atta Mills' clenched teeth campaign.

Alhaji Mumuni who is Professor Mills' partner for the December 7,2004 elections, was involved in a near fatal car accident last week. It is speculated that his recovery will take at least six weeks.

According to the supporters, the replacement would offer a helping hand to Prof. Atta Mills who is reported to have said that one of his legs is already at the Castle.

"Mills alone cannot do the job. He has to get someone to help him else we might be in a big trouble," one supporter told The Chronicle.

Meanwhile, Prof. Mills has admitted that the absence of his running mate on the campaign trail would mean that one hand of his campaign team was missing but added Alhaji Mumuni's continued hospitalization did not pose any credible threats to his campaign.

"After all, I have been going round alone, and even if he had not had this accident, I wouldn't be going to the same place with him"

The Chronicle's sources within the NDC indicated that heads are knocking among the National Executive Committee (NEC) over possibilities to consider a replacement.

The NEC is said to be at its wits' end with various mind-boggling questions as to whether to wait for the recovery of the injured running mate who is reported to be undergoing an operation, which may render him in clutches for close to four weeks, by which time, the election would be an arm's stretch.

Sections of the NEC have expressed worries that if nothing was done quickly, what befell the party in 2000 elections, even when Mills had a running mate, might reoccur.

"It is either a lose or win matter, let's replace him and go ahead," a source said, adding that unfortunate as the accident was, there was the need to think of a replacement rather than visiting him at the hospital everyday.

When this reporter contacted the former Ashanti Regional Minister in the NDC administration, Daniel Ohene Agyekum, who is a member of the NEC, he debunked the notion and said that the party had no intensions whatsoever to replace Mumuni.

He said they believed that Mumuni would be well enough to get back on his feet and join them in the campaign bus, headed for victory in Election 2004.

He added that supporters should rather be concerned about his health and pray that he recovers from this accident instead of contemplating a replacement.

He reiterated that the NEC has not even discussed the issue as to whether to replace him or not neither had he heard such a thing from anybody in the party.

"He is and remains the running mate for Mills for this year's election," he added.

Mr. Agyekum asked party faithful to join them in praying for a speedy recovery for Alhaji Mumuni because "life is more important than anything else in this world" and they hoped that God/Allah would grant him long life for the work ahead of them.

"Once he is alive, he can come back and continue with the good work he has done for this country in Parliament, and in support of the NDC government," he noted.