Spio Garbrah Pledges To Halt Exodus Of Professionals

An aspiring presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Dr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, has pledged to curb the perennial exodus of Ghanaian professionals abroad if he is voted president of Ghana.

He said Ghanaian professionals were adjudged the most competent workers in Africa by the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the World Bank, and that it only needed enough motivation to entice them to stay and work in the country.

"Ekwow Spio-Garbrah has a programme of developing the brain gain to replace the brain drain. Today, as a result of the advances in information, communication and technology, we don't necessarily need every Ghanaian overseas to come back to Ghana because what we are looking for from them is what is in their brains," he philosophically added.

The presidential aspirant, who is also the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO), gave the pledge at a well-attended ceremony during which he interacted with the press on Thursday at Bolgatanga.

He was in the Upper East Region as part of his nation-wide campaign tour to solicit support for the NDC's primaries in his bid to lead the party in the 2008 elections.

According to Dr Spio-Garbrah,the inability to tap the knowledge and wisdom of Ghanaian professionals abroad contributed to the slow pace of the country's development.

He said he would institute a monthly meeting of all Ghanaian professionals in the various countries to enable them brainstorm and come up with prudent ideas that could help the country to progress.

On the media, he noted that there was the need for him and the NDC to establish a strong relationship with the media.

"I have always proved that I am media friendly and I will continue to effectively manage media relations no matter the antagonism that I would encounter from some media personnel," he stressed.

"I have the experience, the track record and the professional as well as personal orientation for developing a good relationship with the media and if the NDC delegates vote for me then, they can be sure that they are dealing with a presidential candidate who would develop strong and better relationship with the media as a whole," Dr Spio-Garbrah stated.

He said he believed Ghanaians were discerning enough and would judge and vote for him based on his good track record, come 2008.

The presidential aspirant said that he had the capability and capacity to understand the problems in the NDC, and that he would not hesitate to solve them if he won the flagbearer position in the party's primaries to be held in December.

However, he admonished other contestants to lend their support and encouragement to whoever eventually grabbed the ticket to be the flagbearer, emphasising that "I throw a challenge to the other contestants again by saying we must sign an agreement or a contract before the congress in which we shall pledge that we would support anyone who gets the nod."

According to him, he had so far received tremendous and overwhelming support from the party's delegates and that alone was an indication that he would win the primaries.