As was exclusively revealed by the New Statesman in today’s edition, the ruling National Democratic Congress has announced that it has set July 8 2011 as the date to hold its congress to elect a flagbearer for the 2012 general elections.

The formal announcement was made at the National Executive Council Meeting (NEC)held today with President JEA Mills, former president Rawlings and his wife, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings and other party big wigs in attendance.

The agenda of today’s meeting was to set a date for an early congress, rather than to leave the issue of leadership unsettled until December, 2011. It was agreed at the meeting that, the congress be held on the 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th of July 2012 at Sunyani.

This move by the NDC is part of the strategy of the Mills camp, led by his virtual campaign manager, Aseidu Nketia, who doubles as the party’s General Secretary.

It seems President Mills got wind of this and has already started campaigning. Though the official purpose of his nationwide tour, as was communicated to Ghanaians, was to familiarize himself with the implementation of his ‘Better Ghana’ agenda on the ground, it turned out to be the start of his campaign ahead of the primaries.

The pro-Mills leadership at the party headquarters has done their calculations and concluded that an early congress is likely to favour the President against his main and, probably, only challenger, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings.

Earlier attempts by the Rawlings camp to get the Electoral College expanded to 20,000, from its current base of 3,000, were rapidly rebuffed by the Mills-dominated NDC national leadership of Kwabena Adjei and Aseidu Nketia, Chairman and General Secretary, respectively.

The NDC leadership that is largely loyal to President Mills realized that increasing the number of delegates to 20,000 can play to the advantage of the woman who is preparing to challenge Prof Mills for the party’s leadership, the former First Lady, Mrs Rawlings.

But members of the Nana Konadu camp say they are not perturbed at all by either the small size or this latest attempt by the party’s leadership to hold an early congress.

Indeed, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings has been on the grounds more than a year, galvanizing support for her long-nursed presidential ambition. The scenario of a sitting President going to be challenged by a member of his own party after one term in office is unprecedented in the Fourth Republic and is a clear evidence of the raging strife within the NDC, fed, no least, by growing disillusions over the party’s 2012 chances.

The Rawlings camp has stockpiled an armoury of charges to show why President Mills poses the biggest threat to NDC’s electoral fortunes in 2012.

The charges range from corruption, incompetence, weak leadership, growing hopelessness among the Ghanaian youth, taking place under a president who has lost touch with the concerns and realities of ordinary Ghanaians, especially his own party people.

For their part, at least according to allegations from Mr Rawlings, the Mills brigade, is relying solely on its incumbency, and approaching the battlefield with bags full of ‘Cash for Victory’. Each side is determined to win and each side believes it has the arsenal to defeat the enemy within.