Annan For President?

AFRICA ANALYSIS can authoritatively report that UN secretary-general Kofi Annan will be the presidential candidate for the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the 7 December 2008 elections in Ghana.

Annan, who is finishing his second and last term as the UN boss, was approached by President John Agyekum Kufuor when the gurus in the NPP noted, with dismay, their party?s poor performance in the 7 December presidential poll, in which Kufuor won with a reduced majority.

Annan, whose father was the Ashanti regional minister in the short-lived civilian administration of Kofi Busia (September 1969-January 1972), responded favourably to Kufuor?s appeal but with one condition: he should be nominated unanimously. This was accepted by the party?s top guns.

How it will be sold to the numerous NPP presidential hopefuls, including vice-president Alhaji Aliu Mahama, foreign minister Nana Addo Danquah Akuffo-Addo, education and sports minister Yaw Osafo Manfo and information minister Dan Botchwey, is anybody?s guess.