Addo-Kufuor & NPP Flagbearer ContestDynasty claim is baseless

Mr. A. A. Razak, a leading Member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has reminded all the Presidential aspirants of the party and their agents who are involved in using dynasty as a way of suppressing and shattering the ambition of Dr. Kwame Addo Kufuor not to allow their personal interests to outweigh the supreme interest of the nation.

”The daily citation by a section of the public is that, Dr. Kwame Addo Kufuor is in fact one of the most excellent personalities aspiring to lead the ruling NPP in 2008 but his main problem is his direct blood relation with the sitting President. The question now is, if Ghanaians know that he is the most excellent person with great leadership qualities to lead this nation, where then comes the dynasty issue? But I am not surprised because most presidential aspiring candidates within the same party and their agents are capitalizing on this dynasty issue to make him unpopular”.

This remark was made by Mr. A.A. Razak in an interview with The Chronicle in Tamale last Saturday.

He observed that, dynasty had no role to play in a well-matured democratic nation like Ghana, where the masses were fully armed and mandated by the Constitution to make ultimate decisions. He stated that “Dr. Addo Kufuor is also like any other Ghanaian protected by the same Constitution and has an equal right as his brother President Kufuor to become a Head of State. So we should not punish him or discriminate against him simply because of his relation with the President. They are two different people with different ways of thinking”.

He therefore set the record straight for Ghanaians especially the NPP delegates not to compromise their decisions with the preaching of any falsehood by any of the aspirants, but rather concentrate on how they could make an informed choice through background checks and integrity testing.

Mr. A.A. Razak also intimated that the ultimate aim and aspiration of Ghanaians in its entirety was to improve on the socio-economic advancement of the nation for the benefit of both present and the unborn generations.

He therefore appealed to the people to look beyond dynasty and entrust the management of the affairs of the State to the 64-year-old Medical Expert on whose shoulders the future of this nation rested.

Meanwhile, Dr. Addo Kufuor who is apparently committed to the development of the NPP at the various constituencies recently donated brand new television sets, DVDs and other items for record keeping to almost all the 26 constituencies in the Northern Region. This was in fulfillment of his promise after visiting the constituencies to interact with the party members.

On the other hand, the Northern Regional Campaign Coordinator who entreated the delegates and all Ghanaians to reject the dynasty claims and judge Dr. Addo Kufuor by his splendid performance and achievement in his seven years at the Defence Ministry said he was the only man with the vision and the will to transform Ghana.

Dr. Addo Kufuor was described by Lieutenant General Joseph Boateng Danquah, Chief of Defence Staff as a pillar of support for the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) in the defence of the territorial integrity of Ghana during his recent honour conferred on him by the GAF for his excellent leadership qualities and ability to initiate projects and programmes for the State.

Within his seven year period as Defence Minister, the calm looking politician succeeded in transforming the little resources, both human and materials to raise the GAF to become one of the best forces in Africa. Some of his initiatives include;- the Kofi Annan Peace Keeping Training Centre of Excellence, the Beijin Barracks for junior and senior officers at Burma Camp, the Gigantic Burma Hall with 2000 seating capacity with library complex and offices, the new Ministry of Defence block complex and the expansion of the 37 Military Hospital.

The rest are: 51 completed housing projects and 70 on-going housing projects, the procurement of the M17 Helicopters, the K8 Combat Aircrafts, the Slipway project at Sekondi Naval Base, the Lecture Hall and accommodation for junior officers and the introduction of the post-graduate programme at the GAFCSC and the re-aforestation projects among others.