Two-term General Secretary and Field Marshall of the New Patriotic Party, Mr. Dan Botwe, has said he is the front runner of the NPP’s presidential ticket.

He declared to The Chronicle that he is going to secure a first round victory come Congress day.

Several analysts and senior political journalists have predicted that a first-round victory for any of the 20 flagbearer-aspirants is just an impossibility. But Mr. Botwe, also known as the 'Field Marshall,' for his accomplished political strategies, said that he was sure of a first round victory.

He disclosed that he had so far toured nine out of the 10 regions, explaining that the mission for those tours was mainly to first, confirm his intention to run for the presidential slot of the party and second, to debunk the claims that he was just in to campaign for someone else.

“So far the response has been excep¬tionally good. Well, all aspirants will tell you they are getting good respons¬es from delegates but those of us who have always been in the trenches with the foot soldiers and delegates of the party can understand their mood and know them better. So when I say I am getting the needed support I know exactly what I am talking about,” the 49-year-old Anum.

Mr Botwe is widely accepted as a clean man when it comes to corruption and he had the opportunity to serve as a Minister of State just for a year. Many wonder how he has been meeting the resource requirement for his campaign. When asked Dan said, “It is not the question of having resources but it is that of being resourceful.”

He told The Chronicle that there were several people who shared his vision and were prepared to support him, stressing that, that should explain how he had been in a position to meet the requirements for him to go through the campaigning.

“There are places that I visit that after meeting with the-people, the little that I offer them as transport, some of them will return it to me and say I should use it for fuel just because they buy into my vision and would want to support me in my campaigning,” he explained further.

Independently, Chronicle can confirm that as the constituency chairman told this reporter, they know that Dan is not on the money so they have difficulty taking anything from him.

Mr. Botwe could not understand why people would think he was not experienced in the first place and secondly, how people even assessed experience.

He said by virtue of his position as General Secretary of the Party and as Minister of Information, he served as a member of Cabinet between 2001 and 2006.

“I was a member of cabinet which is the highest decision-making body of Government, participated in decision-making, discussed budgets and security briefings and all that cabinet members do. So if it is about decision-making in governance, how can someone say that I don't have the requisite experience after being on Cabinet for about five years?” he wondered.

He said even if he had not served on cabinet, the presidency is about leadership and decision-making and he was of the view that having led the party as General Secretary for eight years, he had demonstrated enough leadership qualities that should prove to all that he has what it takes to lead the nation.

Credit: The Chronicle