Professor S. K. B. Asante, an international consultant, has said democracy had come to stay in Ghana but remained fragile enough to require a mature, strong, steady, visionary and knowledgeable political leader to protect it. "This is a crucial matter for high-level consideration by all the political parties that are in the process of selecting party flag bearers." Prof. Asante said with the exception of the National Democratic Congress that had gone through the rigorous exercise of electing a torch bearer, the remaining political parties had their presidential aspirants’ criss-crossing the country making campaign speeches. Speaking at the 10th anniversary of New-Man Preparatory and Junior Secondary School at Kade, Prof. Asante, who is also a Council member of the National African Peer Review Mechanism Governing Council, said while many pronouncements by the presidential aspirants were mature, carefully considered and generally convincing, some of the speeches regrettably left much to be desired. Instead of highlighting their track record, a number of them only hammered out their comparative youthful age as a necessary and desirable qualification for the presidency. "They seem to be oblivious of the fact that youthfulness cannot always be equated with age," he said. He said some presidential aspirants seemed to be living in a world of fantasy when they stressed their capability as if industrialization of Ghana could be hastened with a magic wand. "They claim they have pragmatic and long lasting solutions to the recurring energy crisis and erratic rainfall pattern in the north". Prof. Asante said he would venture to state that the basis for assessing the candidates for the 2008 presidential election should focus specifically on issues like, "contributions, capabilities, conduct, track record of service and commitment". Others are in-depth knowledge of the issues pertaining to the development and smooth administration of the country and the potential acceptability of the candidate by Ghanaians in the selection process. He said there was the need to select a person who "can do the job and not the person who wants the job. We need a visionary leader who can keep up and sustain the macro economic stability, good political governance so far established and achieve the much-needed economic independence to match with our political independence". Prof. Asante said, "indeed we need a leader who has a deep and intimate appreciation of where this country is coming from and where it needs to get in the shortest possible time". Source: GNA