Outspoken Political Activist and former Acting National Coordinator of the National Youth Council (NYC), Dr. Sekou Nkrumah, is questioning the intellect of the flagbearer of People’s National Convention (PNC), Hassan Ayariga, after what he describes as a terrible and a disastrous performance at the Institute of Economic Affairs organised Presidential Debate.

In what he admitted to be the biggest platform in his political career, Hasan Ayariga, dressed in a resplendent batakari in PNC colours, laid bare on Tuesday, the strategy and policy alternative of his party if voted into power.

Hassan Ayariga, who was the next candidate after the Convention People’s Party (CPP’s) Dr Abu Sakara to partake in the presidential encounter being organized by the IEA for presidential candidates of the four political parties with representation in Parliament contesting this year’s election, said the main theme of his government would be: “Rehabilitation, redirection, youth empowerment and economic growth” and added that he would introduce leadership of hard work, patriotism, truth, honesty and love.

The youngest presidential candidate for the 2012 elections also indicated that his administration will avoid the past mistakes of partisanship in the country’s political system and eschew bias in the award of government contracts and appointments.

“I will also bring on board a long-term national development plan for Ghana which will be for the next 20 to 30 years. It will include a development policy document that contains the national vision. It will be a document that will focus on the rehabilitation of various sectors of the economy, growth and a new direction for our country,” he added.

But contributing to discussions on Okay FM’s “Ghana Decides” Political program, which airs every weekday between the hours of 1pm and 3:00pm, Sekou Nkrumah took a swipe at the presidential candidate saying most of his answers were terrible and his presentation 'lacked substance'.

A clearly unimpressed Sekou also questioned Hasan Ayariga’s intellect describing it as ‘weak’.

“Hassan Ayariga was a disaster (at the IEA), I was very happy when the party elected a young person; we need young people to represent us in presidential and parliamentary elections but youth is not enough; I think we need substance and that was clearly lacking in Hassan Ayariga’s presentation. I think his intellect seems to be weak, his performance during the questions and answers time was terrible; he is not fit to be president, it is a shame and disgraceful,” he said.

To him, the PNC presidential candidate was a flop and could not even communicate the party’s vision to the gathering.

“It was a platform for him to articulate not only his views but the views of the party and his vision in his own way but what we saw yesterday (Tuesday) was like somebody who did not know what he was talking about. He had only one or two words or sentences to answer most of the questions; it was terrible. There was no substance in his answers and it left people embarrassed. Even his own party was embarrassed. I think he really let his party down,” he added.

The political turn-coat also sought to explain why he sometimes comes hard on his sister saying having the ambition to do something is not wholly enough stressing that one needs to work hard towards achieving one’s aspiration.

“People never understood the way I have been hard on my sister, the point is that if you want to do politics, it is not because Nkrumah was my father so I can also become president. No, it can’t be! If I want to become president, I have to build on my substance and experience and rise. I have to climb the ladder from the bottom and rise but not just be riding on somebody’s name,” Sekou said.