Professor Stephen Adei, former Rector of GIMPA, has asked voters to look beyond political party affiliation and elect people, who are competent to lead the nation.

The choices they make on November 7, should be based on critical assessment of the leadership qualities of individual candidates contesting the polls.

He made the call at the maiden Founder’s Day Lecture held by the All Nations University College (ANUC) in Koforidua.

Presenting a paper on the topic “Leadership is key to development”, Prof Adei stated that the country’s development woes and economic crisis were the result of bad leadership.

He rallied the enlightened in the society – academia, students, business class and other professionals not to sit on the sidelines but to take the centre stage to ensure that the right people received the nod.

This, he noted, was the way forward to assure the nation of efficient management of its resources to make things better for everybody.

The former Rector said the next seven months would prove to be a major test for President John Dramani Mahama as he worked to fix the troubled economy.

He cited the high petroleum prices, looming drought, faltering attempts to raise more revenue internally to finance the huge budget deficit and said these provided the opportunity to demonstrate quality leadership.

Dr. Samuel Donkor, President and Founder of the ANUC, said leadership was vital for national development and growth.

The lecture was therefore meant to help highlight the need for competent people with vision and character to be put in elected positions.

He said the ANUC would continue to provide the platform for healthy discourse on national issues to propel the development agenda.