Ekow Spio-Gabrah, former chairman of the NDC Media Committee and a leading supporter of Prof John Evans Atta Mills, has denied as ?untrue? a statement attributed to Dr Yaw Obed Asamoah and published in the Chronicle of Thursday, 22 August 2002 in that issue of the paper, Dr Asamoah was reported as saying that in the run up to the NDC Congress of April 2002, he, Asamoah, had ?made a conciliatory gesture to them before the congress by virtually ruling myself out as a contestant for the flagbearership.?

According to the Chronicle, Dr Asamoah said that, ?the followers of Prof Atta Mills, notably the ?Fante Caucus? did not accept the olive branch. They rejected it with contempt. Instead they went out and fought feverishly against me.? ?I don?t know which specific individuals Dr Asamoah means by the Fante Caucus. I don?t belong to such a caucus.

However, being a known close associate of Prof Atta Mills, and also having been a critic of some of the actions of Dr Asamoah before the congress, I can say categorically that I was not aware of any such ?deal?,? said Spio-Gabrah.

According to the former Education Minister and the communications co-ordinator of the Mills Presidential campaign of 2000, he actually asked Prof Atta Mills just after the NDC Congress whether he, the Professor, had struck any deal with Dr Asamoah regarding his, Prof Mills potential presidential campaign. The Professor said no.

Mr Spio-Gabrah said that, in spite of this, Prof Mills did implore his supporters, not necessarily any so-called ?Fante caucus?, to avoid further public attacks on Dr Asamoah. However there were some of Prof Mills supporters who also felt that Dr Asamoah would have to agree to stop his sponsorship of attacks on Prof Mills by various surrogates and journalists to permit the cessation of the counter attacks. Unfortunately, the attacks on Prof Mills did not stop then and have continued to this day, Spio-Gabrah said.

Indeed, according to Mr Spio-Gabrah, many leading NDC members, including more than 70 percent of the current national and regional executives of the party who support Prof Atta Mills, were astounded to read an article in the Chronicle of Saturday 27 July, 2002 in which an avowed Obed loyalist called Prof Atta Mills ?a spent force?. Since that article, ?some of us have noted that Dr Asamoah to not bothered to distance himself from the highly damaging comments of the self-proclaimed Obed loyalist, one captain Felix Nii Okai.?

We truly had hoped that Dr Asamoah would have come out to dissociate himself from comments that were allegedly made on his behalf. His silence on this and many similar media reports only go to confirm the suspicion in the minds of many leading NDC members that is behind most of the attacks on Prof Mills in the media. ?We are particularly disappointed at this turn of events,? said Spio-Gabrah.

?It is Dr Asamoah who has been quoted in statements made in various parts of the country, that the forth coming NDC flagbearership race should be constructive and free of mudslinging. At the same time, when the supporter begin to sling mud at a leading NDC candidate such as Prof Atta Mills, he says nothing,? Spio-Gabrah added.

The former NDC Minister also noted that Dr Asamoah?s current position, as a party chairman who is actively planning to run for the presidential candidacy of the NDC, is most unusual and untenable. He said that Dr Asamoah should either resign his chairmanship now in order to contest for the flagbearership, or publicly renounce his interest in the flagbearship. ?This is the only way in which other potential aspirants will consider that there is a level playing field for this contest,? argued Spio-Gabrah.

?If Kotoko and Hearts are going to play a match, no one would want to hear from the designated referee that he is considering playing in the number nine position of one of the two teams,? Spio-Gabrah said. He said previous co-chairmen of the party had remained neutral in the party?s flagbearership elections at all times, and it is hope that Dr Asamoah would live up to this cherished tradition.

For the avoidance of the doubt, Spio-Gabrah said, the party chairman and other national executives are all eligible to be candidates for the NDC flagbearership. However, just as some members of the party including Dr Asamoah, were not happy about the ?Swedru Declaration? which they thought gave an unfair advantage to Prof Mills, they should also avoid actions that will provide evidence that they too believe in gaining unfair advantages over their potential opponents, he said. ?For example, almost everybody in Ghana knows by now that Dr Kwesi Botchway is a mere pawn in the game of Dr Asamoah, as Asamoah himself has made clear in some media interviews. It is correct, in a democratic political party, for the man who controls the finance and logistics to be actively promoting and campaigning for the specific candidates while publicly calling for an opened and fair elections??

Spio-Gabrah said that unless national executives at party head quarters can demonstrate their neutrality in party elections, there will be no doubt in the minds of supporters about how true democratic the NDC party is, ?Our previous co-chairmen never took such positions on candidates,? he stressed.