Ghana's ruling party in unprecedented presidential primary

Ghana's President John Atta Mills on Saturday faced a contest from the wife of a long-time ruler, at crucial primaries to pick a candidate for December 2012 polls. Ghana's ruling party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), began an unprecedented presidential primary with Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings, the wife of ex-military leader Jerry Rawlings, challenging the incumbent for the nomination. Voting began after a couple of opening speeches from officials of the party, party leaders and the two candidates in the election: Atta Mills and Rawlings. Each of the contestants appealed to delegates to chose them as flagbearer of the party in next year's election. "At night you don't light a candle to look at the face of someone you know at daytime... There is light at the end of the tunnel," Atta Mills said in his remarks. "Be bold and show that you have the power to change the party for the better," Rawlings said, as she urged delegates to vote for change. Addressing the opening of the convention earlier, NDC national chairman Kwabena Adjei called for party unity with a view to victory in polls next year. "Today is for the NDC family ... we are highly optimistic that the outcome of today's congress will catapult the party to a better position to win the 2012 elections," Adjei said. "The NDC party will come out of this congress as a strong and united party ... We shall move forward in unity for (the) 2012 election," he told delegates. The theme of the congress is "Unity in diversity for a better Ghana". Some 3,000 delegates took part in the primary being held in the city of Sunyani, more than 800 kilometres (500 miles) north of the capital Accra. Ghana was the country chosen by Barack Obama for his first visit to sub-Saharan Africa as US president in 2009. Vice President John Dramani Mahama said "this congress strengthens the internal democracy of our great party NDC. We have faced and survived many difficulties as a party. We survived. This is not going to be different." "There has been a boiling over of disagreements leading to this democratic process. We are prepared to accept the verdict of the congress and move ahead for the next election," he added. Ex-president Rawlings slammed alleged "massive" corruption and bias in the judiciary when president John Kufuor was in power and failure of the regime of Atta Mills to prosecute perpetrators. "In the previous government (Kufuor) electoral fraud and massive corruption were the characteristics. But we have failed to deal with them. We have given refuge to those who perpetuated the crimes," he told delegates. "We are in government of power but they (previous administration) are in control." In his opening speech, Atta Mills told the gathering that "the wheels of justice grind slowly. It is our intention that the officials of the past administration (Kufuor) are held accountable for their stewardship." "But there have been difficulties which we shall overcome ... whatever happens here, we must still be together. Let us remember that we are all one family and we must stand together," he said. While Ghana has been seen as a rare example of stable democracy in west Africa in recent years, Saturday's primary represents the first time in the country's history that a sitting president will compete for his own party's nomination. Much will be at stake in the December 2012 presidential vote, with Ghana having recently joined the ranks of the world's large-scale oil producers and seeking to steadily increase output -- along with resulting revenue. Analysts said that while Rawling's wife, a mother of four, is counting on her husband's popularity, she is not likely to have an easy ride. Atta Mills narrowly won the vote in 2008 with a less than one percent margin against a candidate from the party of incumbent Kufuor, widely respected for having bowed out following his two terms in office.