Ex-Defence Minister and NPP presidential aspirant, Dr. Kwame Addo Kufuor, has stated that his six-and-a-half years ministerial job was just a national service to his nation and not for monetary gains or other perks that go with ministerial jobs. In separate interviews with The Chronicle before and after he packed out from his ministerial office at the Burma Camp headquarters of Ghana’s Defence Ministry, Dr. Ado Kufuor said, if it were just for the benefits of being a Minister, he would have remained in his private job as an accomplished medical practitioner. The former Defence Minister who crusades on his accomplishments as Minister and his curriculum vitae and insists on being judged on his track record rather than his blood relations with the incumbent president of the nation, told the paper that though he had established himself as a self-made man, he felt he had an obligation to serve his country in whatever position that would be assigned him at the time the New Patriotic Party (NPP) came to power. Asked why he was seeking to be president of the nation, Dr. Addo Kufuor said, “I believe that I have a lot to offer this nation and it is my strongest conviction that the presidency would offer me the best platform to help move this nation forward. The president has laid a good foundation and it requires a result-oriented person to build upon the foundation.” He stated strongly that those who might doubt his capabilities needed to find out his work as Minister of Defence for the past years to come to the realization that he has the capability to move the nation forward. “All I say is that, I should be judged by my record of performance and I think, that should be the yardstick if only the concern is getting someone who has proven that if given the mantle to rule this nation he can do better. “It is important for people to assess individuals by their records and not who is related to whom,” the former Minister, obviously worried about charges that, for being a brother of the president, he shouldn’t have contested, stated. On issues of corruption, the Minister was quick to point to the Ghana Institution of Surveyors, the Auditor- General’s Department and the National Procurement Board as places that this reporter ought to visit to make enquiries over whether he had been indicted over any procurement or award of contract on the numerous projects that were executed under his leadership. “Why do I have to resort to corruption? I have opened myself for auditing and anybody can go to the appropriate state institutions to verify how projects were awarded on contract and how procurements were made. I made sure that the Ghana Institution of Surveyors was deeply involved as a professional institution in all contracts of the Ministry to make everything transparent. Please go and check, because no aspirant or politician would admit being corrupt,” he threw a challenge. The former Minister who has since made it public to his Manhyia constituents that he would not be contesting again for parliament in 2008, and thus serving notice of his readiness to gamble his parliamentary seat for the presidential ticket of the ruling party, was of the conviction that delegates of the party would give him their mandate to lead the party for the 2008 election based on his track record. Reports say the former Minister was enjoying massive support in the Northern and Western regions but his campaigners say their major difficulty has been how to convince the masses to come to terms with the fact that the issue of the aspirant’s blood relations with the current president was not one that should affect the ex-minister’s chances. “Initially it was difficult for people to agree that they should consider Dr. Addo Kufuor on the basis of his works and track record because many were of the view that once the sitting president was his brother, he should not contest.” “But we have been able to let delegates appreciate the fact that it is about issues and not blood relations. This has been the difficulty but gradually we are getting people convinced and I am hoping that victory would be ours on the day of congress,” a campaigner of the former Defence Minister stated. Source: Chronicle