Running Groupe Nduom not same as leading Ghana - Imoro-Ayana

The manufacturer of the Kantanka range vehicles, Apostle Kwadwo Safo, would be a better president than business magnate Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom, who is running for the presidency for the third time on the ticket of the Progressive People’s Party (PPP), if successful business ownership automatically translated into one’s ability to successfully run a whole nation as president, a senior member of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), Rhodaline Imoro-Ayana has argued.

According to her, even though Dr Nduom, President of Groupe Nduom, is a successful businessman, there are many other Ghanaians who have created more jobs than the three-time presidential aspirant.

Arguing against Dr Nduom’s assertion that he stood a better chance of improving the lot of Ghanaians because of his business background, Ms Imoro-Ayana said even though Dr Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first president had his flaws and was not an entrepreneur, he did a lot for Ghana, hence being a businessman was not a guarantee that one would be a successful president.

She said Dr Nduom was “very focused and meticulous when it comes to his business” but could not be certain if that could translate into a successful running of a country.

“They are two different things with two different leadership styles. Business is different from governance and you cannot lump them up and say: ‘Because I am a successful businessman, I will be a successful president;’ it does not work that way,” she explained.

“…Then we might as well go and take Apostle Kwadwo Safo, who is even manufacturing cars and doing wonderful things and training young people and tell him that he should be the president.”

She said job creation was on the agenda of all the political parties, including the CPP, but it depended on the kind of jobs, the industries that would employ the people, and the kind of programmes implemented “to recruit people who will fill positions in those industries”. “The jobs should be long-lasting, not ones that will last six months or one year. The jobs must also pay decent wages for people to be able to live on,” revealing: “The CPP has a programme in place [for jobs]. We have always believed in the agricultural sector and we hold the view that once we are able to develop that sector, we will get somewhere.”