The Former Minister of Regional Co-operation and NEPAD, Dr. Kofi Konadu Apraku has said he "does not believe that the names mentioned by President Kufuor at the Koforidua Conference were orchestrated to promote any individual, neither was it orchestrated to damage any individual".

Speaking to the ADM in an interview, Dr. Apraku said though he believes the President did not have any motive behind the mentioning of the names, people who are desperately looking for a way to boost their candidacy are using it to raise themselves.

"In fact the President did not have any paper in front of him and was just mentioning names even if it is that I am not perturbed", he said.

In a buoyant tone, Dr. Apraku said, "I have no problem, we have done excellent work and it is not, with all respect what the president said at the rally, that would determine who would win the race The people who are going to vote have independent minds. They know each of us and they know the criteria used in choosing a presidential candidate for the party".

He named service to the party, experience, competence, strong leadership, ability to stand up to the NDC in parliament and on political platforms on radio and on TV, competence to provide the solution and the vision that our country needs and requires as some of the attributes that the delegates would be looking for.

With these attributes, he said: "I believe I stand very strong on all of them and if any body wants to do objective, independent survey of the delegates, I have no doubt that I am the number one candidate to lead the party, so I am not perturbed at all".

The Member of Parliament for Offinso North also debunked rumours that he is adding to the numbers and that he would quit at the eleventh hour or form an alliance with another candidate. "It's unthinkable for someone to suggest that I will step down, why should I, when I know I am going to win I am contesting fully and winning", he said confidently.

When asked whether he thinks ethnicity is playing part in the campaign, he said "I don't think so. There are those who are not winning, they are losing and as they say a drowning man would hold on to a straw hoping that it can save him".

He said those aspirants who have nothing to sell, nothing to market would hold on to ethnicity as a factor in this decision process, but "they will fail."

Dr. Apraku said the best example that anybody who is looking for facts would have to focus their minds on is that "when we went to congress last year to select our national leaders, the party knew very well that they had a sitting President, who was an Ashanti; they couldn't do anything about him. They had the choice to select somebody else, they still voted for an Ashanti man. It's very clear that indeed the decision was not based on ethnicity; it was based on competence and therefore if they did that at one point I am sure they are now going to know what they know is right on the basis of competence and not ethnicity". He disclosed to ADM that in all the 230 constituencies, he is the front-runner.

"In all the constituencies, I have more than half of the people's support, what I know is that only time will tell for me to be crowned as the party and the country's choice".

Since the NPP administration begun in 2001, Dr. Kofi Konadu has headed two offices: Trade and Industries and the Regional Cooperation and NEPAD respectively.

He believes that his track record at these offices and when he was working for the UN also makes him a local and international icon.