… I'll Never Step Down??
…Addo Kufuor dares his critics on dynasty factor

Accra, (Ghanaian Chronicle) - Defence Minister, Dr. Kwame Addo Kufuor, says there is no way he would back down on his decision to run for the presidential candidacy of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) for the 2008 polls. This, according to him, was because those raising questions about his capabilities, competence and accomplishments were people who were yet to come to terms with his achievements as a public officer and as an individual.

“When eventually I make my credentials known to everyone, they will come to accept that I will be the right person to lead the party, so why should I think of stepping down because of what people who do not know my track record would be saying?”

Speaking exclusively to The Chronicle in his office at the Burma Camp headquarters of Ghana’s Defence Ministry, the Minister, who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Manhyia constituency in the Kumasi Metropolis, said his credentials and personal accomplishments make him the best person to lead, not just the party but also the nation as a whole.

When the question of his relationship with the sitting president and its implication on his presidential ambition was dropped, Dr. Addo Kufuor, responded by asking, “ Have you heard anyone say I am not qualified because I have not distinguished myself in life or I have not performed well as a Minister?”

When this reporter answered his question in the negative he then said, “so what has my aspirations to lead the nation got to do with my relation with the sitting president? Kufuor is my brother so what? Is it a crime to relate to the sitting president? And are people saying that if I am the one who is most qualified to lead the nation, because the current president is my brother, the nation should be deprived of what I can offer as a president?”

The Defence Minster, who made it clear that he could not understand the reasoning behind the criticism often leveled against him that Ghana was not a Monarchical state or a dynasty for him to rule the nation just after his brother, intimated that once the selection of the presidential candidate for the party was going to be done through elections it was just illogical for people to criticize his aspirations for the presidency. “This dynasty thing people have been talking about is just out of place and completely fallacious.

How can you build an argument on falsehood? There is no question of dynasty here because we are going to go through elections. Can Tony Blair or Gordon Brown say they would want to inherit the Queen? No! Because inheriting the Queen is not done through an election. “ In Monarchical states, there are no elections and the chain of succession is made clear but where we are talking about democracy and elections, where from this issue of dynasty?” When asked about his personal accomplishments that give him the conviction that he was qualified to lead the Party and Ghana, Dr. Addo-Kufuor, a Consultant Physician and former Lecturer of Medicine at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, quickly asked one of his aides to furnish this reporter with his documented biodata.

When the ten-page biodata of the Minister was made available, he asked that the reporter first read it fully and find whether the person in whose name stood such accomplishments was not qualified to lead the nation, “just because the person is related to a sitting president who has distinguished himself by all standards and proven to be one of the best, if not the best President, the nation has ever had.”

The Minister, father of three, whose biodata captures 46 major projects and programmes he had embarked upon and completed since assuming office as Defence Minister in 2001, said it was appropriate for the media to demand the credentials and achievements of all those seeking to lead the party for proper scrutiny so that, “we can know those who have performed or achieved something deserving of being given the mantle to rule this nation.” “Demand the CVs of all those aspiring to lead the party and compare them with mine and you will see the difference,” he said stressing that, “in public life and politics for that matter, what is important is what the individual is capable of doing and had so far proven to be capable of doing.”

He declined to tell the paper what his vision for the nation would be if he got the nod to rule the nation. He however explained that, as a Minister, he was a subject of the president and for that matter his main job now was to help the President to ensure that attainment of the President’s vision. “Any committed Minister, who is still serving, may have a vision for his or her Ministry but the main thing is to help the President to accomplish his vision for the nation. When I cease being a Minister, then I can tell the world what my vision is. In any case I think this President has a good vision and it will not be bad for anyone to continue with his vision,” he said.

The Minister reiterated the need for all the aspirants to be properly scrutinized on individual basis so that the selection of a candidate for the party would be purely based on merit –a criterion he believes if used, would see him at the top since according to him his accomplishments as both a Minister and MP are innumerable and show how hard working he was.