The campaign team of the Vice President, Alhaji Aliu Mahama has put up a defence against mounting accusations that they have been playing the ethnic card in his bid to become the New Patriotic Party, (NPP) flag bearer for the 2008 elections.

The team has been emphasizing his northern origin as a trump card.

The other 18 candidates in the race also play the ethnic card, but Aliu’s team has been emphasizing his ethnicity as a winning attribute.

The Vice President launched his campaign at Makessim in the Central region on Saturday November 17, 2007 where his ethnicity was the bigger issue in trying to market him for votes.

However, the playing up of Aliu’s ethnicity has created uneasiness in the NPP and among some political observers.

A leading member of the Vice President’s team, Dr. Amoako Tufuor has justified the strategy of using the Vice President’s ethnicity to win him votes.

According to Dr. Amoako Tufuor, because the NPP is perceived as an Akan party, it can only improve its chances and win the votes of people of northern origin if Aliu is elected as the party’s flag bearer.

He said the Vice President’s ethnicity is a God-given trump card and must be used to win votes for the party from the north, the zongos and the Volta Region.