*To break golden silence and warns against any "bugabuga” campaign to break-up party as race to succeed Kufuor goes to the wire

THE GREATER Accra Regional NPP Chairman, Mr. Sammy Crabbe, says the continuous silence of the Vice President, Alhaji Aliu Mahama, over his presidential ambitions "is greatly affecting his forward march" in the hottest race to succeed President Kufuor.

According to Mr. Crabbe, the greatest problem confronting the Vice President is his muteness over his rumoured presidential intentions, describing it as "not golden".

"Why will he still be keeping mute over his presidential succession bid after all the noise and tension the presidential succession race has generated", he quibbled.

Sammy Crabbe said this in an exclusive interview with the Gye Nyame Concord to discuss the NPP presidential flagbearership race and its ramifications on the party's future.

He said if he were to be the Vice President, he would make his intentions clear to all and sundry since Alhaji Aliu's "muteness" was generating too much heat in the party's body politic.

He said there was no denying the fact that the Vice President, Alhaji Aliu Mahama, would contest the NPP's presidential flagbearership slot, which he said, was within the Veep's rights to do so, wondering why the Vice President was refusing to announce it.

He continued, "irrespective of what anybody can say, irrespective of what anybody wants us to believe, the reality on the ground is that the Vice President will try his luck on the presidency. That's the reality, and it is his inalienable right to do so, if he so wishes".

On the various factions in the party, in an apparent reference to the numerous groupings supporting most of the presidential hopefuls, the Greater Accra Chairman cautiously expressed optimism that it would not create any kind of divisions in the ruling party.

He said with the UNC- PFP experience on hand, the party was going to ensure that history did not repeat itself.

He noted that since both the 1992 Constitution and that of the NPP allow people to come together to form associations for various intentions, the party could only guard against divisions by providing guidelines, rules and regulations so as to ensure that no person or group of persons use the party's structures to achieve their selfish goals.

He, therefore, advised the various supporting groups of the aspirants not to engage themselves in any kind of business to undermine the integrity of other aspirants so as not to jeopardise the chances of the NPP retaining power in the approaching 2008 presidential and parliamentary elections.

When asked to predict which of the aspirants would win the slot, Mr. Crabbe described the numerous contenders as "knowledgeable, able and endowed with the spirit and character" to win the presidential slot, adding that any of them stood the chance to win.

He, however, expressed confidence that in the end the winner and the losers would exhibit magnanimity in the interest of the party.