Kofi Annan to Be Ghana's President?

A school time friend of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has advocated that the respected world leader should vie for the presidency of Ghana one day.

"I thank the good Lord that I have lived to see you grow and trust you would one day come to be our head of state like Kurt Waldheim of Austria," Annan's friend, J. B. Ferguson, wrote in a belated welcome letter he mailed to his friend through Chronicle early this week.

Mr. Annan, who has just begun his second term of office, has some five more years to go after which he can, presumably consider Ferguson's advice.

Before then Mr. Ferguson wished, "God bless you and continue to lead you in the gigantic task ahead for which all Africans are with you in a true spirit of brotherhood."

Mr. Ferguson, who gave his address as, 50 Ketan Road Estates, Sekondi, recounted fond memories of Kofi Annan when both of them studied in Europe, calling him a "mild mannered guy, soft spoken and whom I never could remember speak any angry word."

He contrasted the character of Annan with many other Gold Coast (Ghana) students studying in Europe at that time, who "perambulated from capital to capital collecting allowances, even though some had completed their studies or chose to prolong it in order to enjoy life."

But Ferguson also indicated that it was not always a 'cool' life for the young Annan.

Occasionally, Kofi could also 'dig the limbo' just as he was recently shown on GTV doing, Ferguson recalled.

If Annan yields to the 'temptation' to vie for the Osu Castle seat, he will be the first person after Waldheim to contest for his home leadership after occupying the highest civil servant's seat in the world.

When Waldheim wanted to lead Austria he had stiff opposition from politicians in the country that surprised many observers who had supposed the height he had attained would make the race for his home country seat a walk-over for him.

It remains to be seen how, if Mr. Annan joins the race in the 2008 elections he would fare against "local boys," such as Alhaji Aliu Mahama, Nana Akufo-Addo, Prof. Atta Mills, John Mahama and Alban S. K. Bagbin.