Kufuor is 3x "prison graduate"

"President Kufuor, as handsome as you see him today in his suit, he is a three times prison graduate!”

Nana Akufo-Addo said this to party executives of the New Patriotic Party in Koforidua, Friday.

The presidential aspirant was calling on the party to choose a candidate who, among other things, knows the value of "the spirit and experience of the years of struggle” that members, high or low, of the Danquah-Busia tradition went through in the past before winning power in December 2000.

Nana Akufo-Addo stressed to the potential delegates for the December 22 congress, “I know some of my brothers come to you stressing how well they performed as Ministers. I can also do that. But, the contest on December 22 is not to elect a Minister. We need a political leader!” he said with the forcefulness that his political career has been associated with.

He went on to explain that Ghana's economy has seen its best performance under President Kufuor, “But the man who is leading is not an economist. He is a political leader.

"His leadership is in his wisdom to pick the right people for the ministerial portfolios. The President's ministry is Ghana and for that you need a political leader.”

He recalled how J B Danquah and Obetsebi-Lamptey “suffered a painful death under detention.” He recalled how some, like Kofi Abrefa Busia and J H Mensah, were forced into exile.

He recalled, how even under the Fourth Republic some lives were lost, and others were intimidated and beaten for opposing the Rawlings regime. He said the NPP did not begin life in government.

He reminded his party members, during his maiden Eastern Regional tour, which began Friday, that in the early part of 2001, former President Rawlings said the NPP would not last six months in government.

But, President Kufuor, guided by the country’s painful history, has managed to not only hold on to power but to bring such progress to the country that what “President Rawlings could not do on January 7, 2001 by handing over power to his hand-picked successor, Vice President Mills, come January 7, 2009, President Kufuor will make history by handing over power to President Nana Akufo-Addo,” the candidate said, to applause from his party officers in the Region.

At Koforidua Friday, Nana Akufo-Addo, who visited Hackman Owusu-Agyemang’s New Juaben North constituency as well, told his audience that he sees himself as the best candidate capable of leading the New Patriotic Party to win the 2008 general elections.

He said unity of the party is paramount and declared that he stands the best chance of unifying the people after the national congress in December this year and to give the country the type of leadership it deserves after 2008.

He urged the party to vote for a person who has been loyal to the party, who can unite the party, who can win for the party and who has the vision and leadership to take Ghana to the next level of its development after President Kufuor.

Nana Akufo-Addo noted that President Kufuor’s performance continues to be exemplary and the one elected to replace him must be a person capable of improving upon it.

He said that one name which his friend and Legon Hall mate during university days, Prof John Evans Atta Mills, the NDC flagbearer, would not want to hear announced as his main challenger for the December 2008 presidential election is "Nana Akufo-Addo."

The Regional Chairman, Yaw Gyekye Amoabeng expressed optimism that the person to be elected at the Congress would be acceptable to all.

He also expressed hope that after the election, all the 'noise’ in the party would end and make it possible for all of them to come together as one people. He stressed the need for a fair playing field for all the aspirants, saying that Ghanaians would not forgive NPP if it fails to win the 2008 elections. Nana Akufo-Addo later paid a courtesy call on the Regional Minister, Kwadwo Afram Asiedu, who reminded the aspirant of the first time the two met on Danquah-Busia matters in 1977 in New York.

The Regional Minister, a veteran in the party, helped grow the party in the USA before returning to Ghana.