National Democratic Congress MP for Tamale South, Haruna Iddrisu, who is also the party’s National Youth Organiser, on Monday gave the loudest indication yet that the party was waiting on the sidelines to cash in on any fallouts from the seeming confusion currently rocking the camp of the ruling party on what to do with its ministers interested in the presidency.

President Kufuor has been confirmed to have summoned eight such ministers in his cabinet to the Castle last Tuesday and asked them to resign while they campaign to push their presidential interests or he would fire them.

A nationwide debate has since been raging over the propriety and the likely price the New Patriotic Party could pay should either of the President’s counsel or his threat be effected.

But Haruna, who was contributing to a discussion of the subject on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show, said while the President is guided in his actions largely by the 1992 Republican Constitution and the NPP’s own constitution; he cannot exercise his pleasure in the instant matter but to abide by the party rule.

Failing that, he said the NDC is all too ready to force the NPP to submit to their own rules or they seek solace in an urgent amendment before it is too late.

Explaining why the decision to show the affected ministers the door out of his government is purely a dictate of the party’s rule, he said the party imposed the provision on itself and cannot have any other choice than respect their own party values and principles.

“He can exercise his pleasure, pursuant to Article 78/79 of the 1992 Republican Constitution, but on the matter of whether a minister of state, holding office in his government ought to resign in a matter relating to his filing to contest a presidential election, is purely a dictate of the NPP constitution and which the President and all members of the New Patriotic Party, who profess to be proponents of the rule of law, must show utmost respect to. So the obligation for the ministers of state to resign is not that of the President and is not that of his pleasure…”

Haruna said while the NPP has become a contradiction to themselves in their previous disapproval of popular acclamation as a mode for selecting representatives for the NDC, there are strong indications that the party will soon show itself a good subscriber to the disdained mode and the NDC is keen to see how it pans out.

“They use to condemn consensus building when the NDC used that as a mode in determining its parliamentary candidates and its flagbearer, it was condemned as an unacceptable practice.”

He insisted that while the discussion of the subject should be limited to the NPP’s constitution and how the party applies itself to it, he believed the NPP had squandered a good count of goodwill and election 2008 will be for the taking of the NDC if only they remain united and strategise for the kill.