A forty-year-old Chartered Accountant based in the Ireland has declared his intention to run as an independent presidential candidate in Ghana’s 2012 General Elections. Kofi Akpaloo’s first bite at politics was in 2004 when he contested the Manhyia Parliamentary seat in Kumasi but lost to former Defence Minister in the NPP administration, Kwame Addo Kufuor. Addressing a news conference to formally declare his intention, Mr. Akaploo called for a change in leadership if Ghana is to come out of the cycle of poverty which he says has bedeviled the country since independence. According to Kofi Akpaloo who is married with six children, both the New Patriotic Party and the National Democratic Congress have failed to meet the socio-economic aspirations of Ghanaians. Mr. Akpaloo’s policy initiatives include the training of more professionals to meet global demands for eradicating poverty and improvement in living standards of Ghanaians. He believes that his declaration to run for the presidency is ordained by God. He says though some independent candidates in past elections failed to make the desired impact, he would change the trend in 2012. Story by Elton John Brobbey