Mr. Boakye Kyeremanteng Agyarko, vice president of the Bank of New York, has finally declared his intention to run as one of the presidential aspirants on the ticket of the New Patriotic Party (NPP). The international banker virtually lifted the media black-out he imposed on his strategies, when he granted an exclusive interview to Daily Guide on Sunday, and served notice that the real race for the presidential candidacy is yet to begin.

Speaking on telephone, Boakye said his long stay outside the country would have no negative effects on his aspirations, contending that it had rather given him the needed global exposure to run the country. Asked why he had maintained a low profile all these while, he said his intention for imposing the news black-out was to prevent the media from defining him to the delegates and constituency executives, before he had had the chance to directly present himself to them.

“Now that I have had that chance to deliver my message to all constituencies directly and for them to have the chance to assess and digest the message, they will be in a better position to evaluate any external source of information, in light of what they know and their own direct experience with me.” Describing the current moves being made as mere skirmishes, he said the real race would begin by the middle of this year. Boakye, who admitted he had himself tested the waters by visiting all constituencies in the country, also rubbished the series of surveys supposed to have been conducted, saying they are at best the figment of someone’s imagination, or at worst a piece of paid propaganda.

“Those doing these surveys should first show us their survey methodologies, which must clearly indicate sample sizes, sampling technique, margins of error etc. Failing this, all that they would have succeeded in doing is the process known as “garbage in, garbage out”, he stated, saying, “what they have published are as unscientific as they are untrue.” Being the first among the aspirants to hint of his presidential ambitions, the international banker stressed that the interest of the party takes pre-eminence over any parochial interest.

He has therefore promised that if he had the chance he would involve the party in many more areas, particularly in the appointment of a running mate, ministers and District Chief Executives. “The way we select a running mate is of cardinal importance. I do not believe that there is any person who is good enough or wise enough to be solely entrusted with such an onerous responsibility. Under my leadership it will be a choice in which the party fully participates,” he said.

According to him, those positions are so critical that it needs a collective involvement of the party to make the selection instead of placing it on the shoulders of an individual. “The next presidential candidate of the party,” he stressed, “must not shy away from, but signal and commit to an unambiguous willingness to fully involve the party in the search, evaluation, vetting and selection of Ministers and other senior or significant government appointees.”

He pointed out that if for any reason he is pressed to consider the appointment of any non-NPP person for a specific job, it would be his responsibility to appear before the National Executive Committee of the party to plead his case and seek to convince them and justify the request for such an appointment. “If they should disagree with me, I assure you that appointment will simply not happen,” he assured.

The banker admitted that even though Government had done a lot within the past, in terms of restoring the macro-economic balance both on the current and capital account, lowering and declining rates of inflation, lowering interest rates and a stable currency, a number of Ghanaians still lived under the poverty line. “While these achievements are laudable, and while it is true that this nation has emerged from its dark past unto the brink of a new dawn, there are still the vast majority of our people who still subsist at the grinding edge of poverty and are in constant worry over their families and their future.

I must admit that my travels across the length and breadth of our country have been a truly humbling experience,” he noted. He explained that the highlights of his vision are on two fronts - party and national - which he said would be pursued concurrently. On the party, front Boakye promised uniting it by making sure there are no factions as had happened since 1998. Apart from that he vowed to ensure that foot-soldiers and those who have loyally served this party are adequately taken care of, including revamping the fundamental soundness of structures of the party all the way down to the grassroots, through proper funding of the party.

“At the national level, my concerns are unemployment, education, health-care, housing, transportation, food security and the personal safety and security of all citizens,” he stressed. The observation tallies with one made by Mr. Laud Commey, national organiser of the party, to the effect that people are merely testing the waters. “The black-out period is over and we are going full throttle,” he concluded.