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A flag bearer aspirant of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, has laid claim to the NDC flagbearership and the presidency, declaring that he has what it takes to address the concrete challenges bedevilling the country.

“I am the man who deserves the support of Ghanaians to occupy the highest office of the land,” he said at a media soiree in Accra last Wednesday.

Media soiree

The media engagement, which brought together dignitaries including some editors, was meant to give Mr Spio-Garbrah the opportunity to spell out his vision for Ghana as he laces his boots to contest the NDC flagbearership race later this year.

Making a case for the presidency, the former director of Trade and Industry said he had the wealth of experience to be President of Ghana and added that “it is not a matter of talent, education or competence but motivation in the spirit.”

He stated that of the various international organisations he had worked – the United Nations, the African Development Bank, the World Bank and the Commonwealth – and among the many Africans who had worked in those institutions, Ghanaians were the most competent.

Mr Spio-Garbrah, who was also a one-time Minister of Education and an Ambassador to the United States of America under the Rawlings administration, indicated that Ghana’s reputation abroad dated back to the last 50 years and which reputation ought to be protected with the right political leadership.

Other contenders

The presidential candidate hopeful would be slugging it out with other leading members of the NDC who have equally declared their intention to contest the presidential primary including a former Vice Chancellor of the University of Professional Studies, Accra, Prof. Joshua Alabi; the former NHIS boss, Sylvester Mensah; the Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Mr Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin; the former Central Regional Minister, Kweku Rickett-Hagan and a businessman, Mr Stephen Atubiga.

It is unclear whether former President John Mahama will exercise his right to a second term in office after he lost the 2016 polls.

According to Mr Spio-Garbrah, the knowledge he had acquired, coupled with his experience, placed him in a good stead to lead the NDC into the 2020 elections.

Graphic MD

The acting Managing Director of the Graphic Communications Group Limited, Mr Ransford Tetteh, who graced the occasion, asked journalists to employ the canons of journalism which were fairness, balance and accuracy in their reportage as there would be active political activities this year.

Mr Tetteh, who had been installed as the Nkosuohene of Pakro in the Akuapem South District in the Eastern Region with the stool name Nana Kwaku Dei, further urged the media against taking sides in the political arena to win the confidence of the public.

He said with a vibrant and professional media landscape, Ghana would remain the oasis and the beacon of hope in Africa.

Earlier, a former Chief of Defence Staff, Brigadier Joseph Nunoo-Mensah and a former Managing Director of the Tema Oil Refinery, Dr Kwame Ampofo, addressed the media.