The only Independent Presidential Candidate during the 2008 elections, Kwesi Amoafo Yeboah has declared his endorsement and support for President John Dramani Mahama for the December 7 elections. He has therefore called on all those who voted for him during the 2008 elections to vote for President Mahama because he (Mahama) represents the ideals he (Amoafo) stood for when he challenges the status quo in 2008. Kwesi Amoafo Yeboah told journalists at a press conference in his Labone Estates residence that this year’s presidential elections is a quest to find a leader who would run an all-inclusive government, support private efforts to create jobs, and also welcome ideas from persons outside of his own political party. “Based on the foregoing I declare my unflinching support and pledge my endorsement for His Excellency John Dramani Mahama for president of the Republic of Ghana. I urge all Ghanaians including the millions who voted for me and liked what I stood for in the 2008 campaign to join me in support of his Excellency John Dramani Mahama for a four-year term of youthful, accessible and all-inclusive government,” he declared. Kwesi Amoafo Yeboah said he knows the president on a personal level and that was how come he is confident the President has what it takes to run an all-inclusive government and also be very accessible to all. He however noted that his support for President Mahama did not mean he supports the National Democratic Congress, saying that “everyone who knows me knows that I am more to the right of the opposition NPP but I just believe President Mahama represents the ideals I have stood for and what the country needs now for it forward march.” “This elections is both presidential and Parliamentary and I am not asking people not to vote skirt and blouse if they so wish – I am only saying that for president they should vote John Dramani Mahama,” he said. Mr. Amoafo Yeboah said he would personally not mount any platform to go campaign for President Mahama, but if the campaign team of the president invites him to come tell the public why he endorsed the president, he would be more than willing to do so. Touching on the hottest campaign issue right now, Free SHS, he stated categorically that “I do not like free things because free is never free – I believe people feel proud of themselves and would want to do things for themselves, and this Free SHS thing creates the mindset that people can sit idle and expect government to spoon feed them.” Mr. Amoafo Yeboah said in 2008 when he went independent, people cautioned him that if he lost his business could be affected, but none of that happened because the then NPP-administration under ex-President Kufuor was forward-looking. “I trust that even if President Mahama does not win, whoever wins will also be that forward-looking and not try to harm people because they did not share the same political ideas,” he said. Kwesi Amoafo Yeboah is the Founder and Chief Executive of Itel Ghana and a proven private businessman running a number of successful businesses mainly in the IT sector.