Kwabena Agyei Agyapong, a New Patriotic Party (NPP) presidential hopeful, says he is confident of being elected as one of the five aspirants at the Super Delegates Congress, which comes off this month.
He said this was because his message had resonated well with the delegates, constituency, chairmen, regional chairmen, and members of parliament who make up the Electoral College.
Speaking in a face-to-face interview with this reporter in Takoradi when he visited to canvass for votes, the former Press Secretary in the government of John Agyekum Kufuor stated that he had paid his dues by way of service to the party and Ghana.
In that direction he would want to be remembered by posterity that he stood for principles whether or not that added to his votes ahead of the Congress.
“When I talk about sacrifice, I mean it. When I talk about service, I have lived it, and when I talk about selflessness, I have worked it as Press Secretary,” he told The Chronicle.
Amongst the aspirants, Kwabena Agyapong affirmed that he was the only one who had successfully stood for a national election and won as General Secretary. That apart, he led the party to win 169 parliamentary seats during his tenure as Secretary.
To him, therefore, the delegates knew him as a decent, fair-minded and decisive person, who had the opportunity to serve this country and never abused it, adding that the delegates must, therefore, vote for him to restore the confidence and respect people had for the party.
As leaders, Kwabena Agyapong said they must lead from the front, and “our conduct must inspire the generation, and understand that, politics is about service to the public and not to yourself. But these values that remain the central pillar of the party appear to be missing.
“I am on a redemption mission. We need to redeem ourselves and Ghana as a political party. So I am not on a fancy expedition. It’s not about the fascination of me being president. In fact, if anybody else shares my values, I am ready to work with them,” Kwabena Agyapong told this reporter.
Going forward, he argued that politics was not about noise-making and crowd psychology as some of his opponents were demonstrating, and said looking at the situation Ghana finds itself, “we need a competent, intellectually deep leader who is public spirited and not populism.”
