ACCRA, September 28 – The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has thrown more light on its withdrawal from the presidential forum scheduled at the Accra International Conference Centre.

In a statement issued in Accra late yesterday and signed by its General Secretary, Alhaji Huudu Yahaya, the party expressed regret for its inability to participate in the encounter due to a number of factors.

It reiterated an earlier explanation issued last Thursday that the party’s presidential candidate was burdened by the fact that he has to combine his position as flagbearer with the day-to-day responsibilities he has to perform as Vice-President, which makes if difficult for him to honour all the invitation being extended to him by media organisations to participate in programmes geared towards the 2000 elections.

The statement said the party views the “debate” as not constituted in a manner that will encourage meaningful interaction and an exchange of views between the participants in the programme and that the normal format in such presidential debates is discussed and agreed upon by all parties. It has not been so in this case.

It stressed that for a debate to be effective, it must have a focus on defined issues and it must also be led by a moderator and an interviewing panel whose impartiality is unquestionable and has been endorsed as such by all participating parties, adding that the focus of the programme must be solely on encouraging informed debate.

The statement noted that in this case, the moderator and panel as constituted are made up of known, outspoken critics of the ruling party.

It said the participation of the NDC presidential candidate would have opened him to a crescendo of criticism from the six other participants who are openly united in their hostility towards the NDC.

It concluded that a debate is a well-considered discussion of issues between parties and that six persons against one is not, and never, a debate. "We believe that nothing of value will be achieved in this programme as was structured.”

In another development, NDC’s Propaganda Secretary, Mr. George Quaynor-Mettle, has described as regrettable some comments attributed to the President of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Mrs. Gifty Afenyi-Dadzie, on the decision of the party to decline participation in the debate.

In a release signed by the Propaganda Secretary and issued in Accra yesterday, he indicated that the NDC has advanced cogent reasons why it could not participate in the event.

The release noted that while Mrs. Afenyi-Dazie may disagree, it is wrong for her to create an impression that Professor Mills had already accepted an invitation from the GJA to participate in a media encounter programme on November 2, 2000.

It said the decision by the NDC not to participate in the debate notwithstanding, the party is awaiting a response to the challenge thrown several months ago to the New Patriotic Party’s falgbearer, Mr. J.A. Kufour, for a one-on-one debate with Professor Mills.