The Vice-President John Dramani Mahama is currently in the Northern Region preaching peace ahead of the Chereponi bye-election slated for September 29, 2009. According to an aide to the Vice-President, John Jinapor, even though Mr Mahama would want the National Democratic Congress candidate to win the election, there cannot be a smooth election without peace; hence the peace mission embarked upon by him is in order to also ensure development in the area. He told Joy News on Saturday that the Vice-President has been meeting the people and chiefs in the region advocating for reconciliation, rule of law and peace. The Vice-President has been in the region since Thursday but key on his itinerary is to join the NDC wrap up its campaign ahead of the Tuesday’s bye-election. Mr Mahama, he noted, appealed to residents to co-exist. He also asked them to contribute their quota to the peace process in the area and assured them that the government would not relent on its promise to deal with criminals. Meanwhile election observers including Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO)and the Institute of Economic Affairs have started arriving in the constituency. About 1000 police personnel have also been deployed at Chereponi to ensure smooth and transparent bye-election. Candidates contesting the election are Samuel Jabanyite, National Democratic Congress; Abubakari Aminu, New Patriotic Party; Rebecca Namana Jabari, People’s National Convention and Issah Yaw of the New Vision Party. Tamado Kofis is the only independent candidate. Story by Isaac Essel Myjoyonline.com/Ghana