Hawa to contest for the Presidency

Pusiga (U/E) August 1 GNA - Madam Hawa Yakubu, Member of Parliament (MP) for Bawku Central Constituency has announced her intentions to contest for the Presidential ticket of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) for the 2008 general election. The MP, who was speaking to the GNA at Pusiga, said the time was ripe for a female to become the President of Ghana, adding that she was prepared to take up the challenge in 2008 when President John Agyekum Kufuor makes his exit. She stated that if on the other hand a more marketable male presidential candidate emerges the winner during the party's National Delegates' Congress then she would opt for the Vice Presidential slot. Madam Yakubu urged the other females in the party hierarchy to also muster courage to contest for the flag-bearership since "Ghana is known as a pacesetter in every human endeavour, especially politics on the African continent and if it becomes the first country to produce a female President that would obviously add another political feather to its cup". When asked to comment on President Kufuor's administration, she commended him for his enviable style of leadership, pointing out that she does not know what would have become of the nation if he had not been elected as the President. She also said she would seek re-election to Parliament next year on the ticket of the NPP but if her detractors prevented her, she would not hesitate to contest as an independent candidate as she did in 1992. The MP said that she would win whether she contested on the NPP ticket or as an independent candidate considering her popularity among the mass of the people in the constituency. She pointed out that three quarters of the constituency executives were firmly behind her because of her love for peace, unity, justice and development initiative. On why for sometime now she had been an absentee MP in her constituency, Madam Yakubu mentioned the Bawku protracted chieftaincy dispute leading to lack of peace in the area which exposed her own life to danger as the main reason.
"It has been my policy not to meddle myself in chieftaincy matters and this was categorically stated during my campaigns for the 2000 parliamentary elections". She said her stance had worked for and it was the secret behind her victory in the last election. Madam Yakubu intimated that she would now be visiting the constituency regularly because the chieftaincy dispute which has been the remote cause of all bloody ethnic conflict in the area was resolved a couple of months ago at the Supreme Court. She commended both the Kusasis and Mamprusis for agreeing to put to rest the long-standing chieftaincy dispute that for years had been the root cause of chaos, anarchy, poverty and development in the area. The MP, therefore, appealed to the former disputant and all other ethnic groups in the Bawku East District to unite and co-exist peacefully and always strive to use dialogue as a means of redressing their grievances and never to resort to the use of arms.