President Kofi Annan?

... could easily win Ghana's presidential election: poll
The majority of Ghanaians are so proud of their compatriot Kofi Annan that the outgoing United Nations secretary general could easily win the country's 2008 presidential election, according to an opinion poll.

Standing as an independent candidate, the 68-year-old Annan could gain nearly 30 percent of the vote in the first round and win victory in the second-round run-off, according to the poll.

The survey was carried out by a private polling institute in July but has only been made public now, just as South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-Moon is set to be formally endorsed as Annan's successor.

The UN's softspoken top diplomat has not detailed his future plans but effusive praise is already flooding in at home in west Africa.

"Your distinguished career and service to the international community (have) not only brought honour to Ghana but also raised our image high, internationally. We are awaiting your return home with great pride," Ghanaian President John Kufuor told Annan recently at a reception in New York.

"I believe Kofi Annan has served Ghana well," said Egbert Faibille, a lawyer in Ghana, once part of the former British colony of the Gold Coast.

"He has had a sobering effect on world politics, trying to balance between the powerful and smaller nations. He is leaving the UN a stronger body than he met it 10 years ago," Faibille told AFP in Accra.

If Annan stood in Ghana's presidential election, he would "cause a stir", the lawyer predicted.

Ghana is home to 35,600 registered refugees from conflict-shattered Liberia and countless unregistered ones. Many are being helped by the UN to return home now that the civil war in their own country is over.

Peter George, a Liberian refugee who has been in Ghana since 1997 -- the year Annan became secretary general -- had this to say: "Annan has made all of us, Africans, very proud. He has steered the affairs of the UN, with difficulty but firmness."

... could easily win Ghana's presidential election: poll
The majority of Ghanaians are so proud of their compatriot Kofi Annan that the outgoing United Nations secretary general could easily win the country's 2008 presidential election, according to an opinion poll.

Standing as an independent candidate, the 68-year-old Annan could gain nearly 30 percent of the vote in the first round and win victory in the second-round run-off, according to the poll.

The survey was carried out by a private polling institute in July but has only been made public now, just as South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-Moon is set to be formally endorsed as Annan's successor.

The UN's softspoken top diplomat has not detailed his future plans but effusive praise is already flooding in at home in west Africa.

"Your distinguished career and service to the international community (have) not only brought honour to Ghana but also raised our image high, internationally. We are awaiting your return home with great pride," Ghanaian President John Kufuor told Annan recently at a reception in New York.

"I believe Kofi Annan has served Ghana well," said Egbert Faibille, a lawyer in Ghana, once part of the former British colony of the Gold Coast.

"He has had a sobering effect on world politics, trying to balance between the powerful and smaller nations. He is leaving the UN a stronger body than he met it 10 years ago," Faibille told AFP in Accra.

If Annan stood in Ghana's presidential election, he would "cause a stir", the lawyer predicted.

Ghana is home to 35,600 registered refugees from conflict-shattered Liberia and countless unregistered ones. Many are being helped by the UN to return home now that the civil war in their own country is over.

Peter George, a Liberian refugee who has been in Ghana since 1997 -- the year Annan became secretary general -- had this to say: "Annan has made all of us, Africans, very proud. He has steered the affairs of the UN, with difficulty but firmness."