A leading member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Dr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, has called on Ghanaians to look into the hearts of their presidential candidates, examine their attitudes to wealth and material acquisition, check their records thoroughly, and judge their motives for seeking high office, before voting for them in the December 2008 elections.

Dr. Spio-Garbrah made the statement when he interacted with a group of Ghanaian professionals in Nottingham, England at the weekend to deliberate on Ghana’s political and socio-economic development. He also made a similar statement at a fund-raising event in London the following day for the NDC candidate for Wa East, Ameen Salifu. He said that the December 2008 polls present the Ghanaian electorate-- with a number of clear choices, but the most important of them all is for Ghanaians to choose between voting for leaders who will lead by example as opposed to those who will use their public offices to amass wealth for themselves. Dr Spio-Garbrah drew comparisons between Ghana’s first president, Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, who, after having served as Leader of Government Business in 1951, Prime Minister in 1957 and President in 1960, did not own a piece of land in Ghana until his overthrow in 1966 by agents inspired and associated with today’s NPP government, and former President Rawlings, who served 19 years as Head of State and chose not to personally enrich himself r and thus did not build a house during that period, and Progress Party Ministers from 1969-72 (the political fathers of the NPP), some of whom had acquired more than 20 houses by the time Colonel Kutu Acheampong overthrew that government in 1972. Similarly, it is well known that the NPP’s campaign to promote a property owning democracy in Ghana has been implemented only for themselves and their business associates, as evident in how government land and bungalows have been re-apportioned in the most expensive neighbourhoods in Accra—Airport residential, Labone, Labadi Wireless, Cantonments and Roman Ridge. President Kufuor, who caused financial loss to the state by refusing to use a presidential jet bought by former President Rawlings, has now turned around to purchase not one, but two presidential jets in addition to building a presidential palace. President Kufuor’s family, to top it all, have acquired a massive new hotel, right in the Centre of Accra, based on a company with no balance sheet at the time of obtaining huge loans from various banks.

Along the same lines, Dr Spio-Garbrah said the NDC presidential candidate, Prof. John Evans Atta Mills, is as people-centred and selfless as Dr. Nkrumah and President Rawlings, because after having served as a law lecturer for 20 years, Commissioner of IRS for eight years, and Vice President for four years he also had chosen not to own a completed house during that period, when he could easily have enriched himself. He wondered whether the same could be said about current NPP leadership who by virtue of their greed and hunger for wealth have turned phrases denoting corruption like “waa waa” and “nyafu-nyafu” into a national sing-song.

With reference to the need to check the backgrounds and motivations of future leaders more thoroughly before voting for them, Dr Spio-Garbrah remarked that. For example, Ghana’s present Head of State was honest enough when he wrote on his CV that his hobby is travelling. Yet Ghanaians complain when he has been travelling too much, because most of those who voted for him did not examine his CV closely. Similarly, Ghanaians should pay more attention to allegations of narcotics use against a certain political candidate, so they don’t get surprised later and claim they were not aware.

The event in Nottingham was organised by a group of Ghanaian professionals who are studying in various fields in UK academic institutions for bachelor, masters, doctoral and post-doctoral programmes. Many of them wanted to honour and acknowledge Dr Spio-Garbrah for having brought into existence the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) which had awarded them scholarships to study in the UK. One student leader from the Northern region reported to the gathering, to Dr Spio-Garbrah’s surprise, how the former Minister gave his student organisation some personal funds, when they approached him for assistance whilst he was a minister. Dr Spio-Garbrah, in response, confessed, that according to the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS), he was the first minister to have allocated a pick-up to that students union and given them computers in 1999, even after they had demonstrated against some of the policies of his ministry.

In another development, members of the NDC have been called to be on duty and be vigilant before and on election day, to ensure that the December elections are devoid of any form of manipulations to favour the ruling NPP. The call was made at the weekend by NDC leading member Dr. Ekwow Spio Garbrah at the fund raising event to mobilise funds to support the campaign of Mr. Ameen Salifu, NDC parliamentary candidate for Wa East. Dr. Spio Garbrah, who is also the CEO of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO), said the signs are clear that Prof. Mills was poised to become the next president of Ghana. However, he was quick to add that this will only happen if NDC members are vigilant at various polling stations and monitor ballot transfers. He encouraged party members in the diaspora to call their relatives back home and ask them to vote massively for Prof. Mills and the NDC, and also to plan to be home to man polling stations and vote in the coming elections.

Also at the fundraising event was Mrs. Betty Mould Iddrisu, a leading member of the NDC, Director of Legal Affairs at the Commonwealth Secretariat, and wife of Alhaji Mahama Iddrisu, a former candidate for Party leadership; the acting Chairman of the UK branch of the Party, Mr Joe Gans-Lartey, other executive members of the branch and some nearly 100 friends and supporters of the parliamentary candidate in London.