The leader and Founder of the United Renaissance Party (URP), Mr Kofi Wayo, has expressed his frustration with what he says is his exclusion from contributing to solving national problems. He said President J.E.A. Mills in particular was genuinely committed to addressing the numerous socio-economic challenges facing Ghanaians but some of his appointees around him had adopted a posture that undermined the President's intentions. In an interview with the Daily Graphic he said “President Mills is a fine and honest gentle man with a humane character but the problem is that those around him who fail to make him appreciate the enormity of problems of national concern are the very people who would cause the collapse of his government.” According to him, he had the expertise to fix the challenges facing then energy sector but some government appointees, knowing he would not compromise his integrity on corruption were frustrating his effort to get the president to involve him in key positions where his expertise were most required. He explained that those knowing that he would not succumb to corrupt maneuvering when involved in the process, ensured that he did not play any major role in the government. He debunked assertions that his party was solely ran by him. For him, the URP was not a "one-man party" as described by a section of the political divide but rather an organisation strategising on the quiet to contest and win the 2012 polls. He believed the URP, with its motto: “Mercy for the Poor" was the only political party that was committed to addressing the basic concerns of the ordinary Ghanaian if elected and, thus, in its quest to enhance its fortunes in the next polls, the leadership of the party had been strategising on the way forward with respect to putting in place the needed structures to make it attractive to majority of the electorate. Appraising the Daily Graphic in Accra on the party’s relevance in the political discourse in the country given its long silence o the political landscape since the 2008 elections, Mr. Wayo explained that even though the URP was still alliance with the governing National Democratic Congress, its decision to contest the next polls on its own, among other things, stemmed from the fact that his expertise in sector's of the economy where he could contribute meaningfully in solving some major problems had not been sought which left much to be desired. That development, he explained, had necessitated the call by the rank and file of the URP to begin strategising towards making itself relevant in Ghana's political space in order to implement its policies and programmes if given the opportunity to govern. Mr Wayo, who reiterated his opposition to the continued reliance on international donor support, said he believed that the country, after 53 years of independence had come a long way and that given the rich natural resources in Ghana, it was time to exploit those resources and use the proceeds for development. Buttressing his point, he mentioned Romania and Latvia as some of the poor European countries that “instead of begging with caps in hand" from the rich countries they rather depended on themselves by utilising their natural resources to the full benefit of their people" He was convinced that Ghana could wean itself off its continued dependence on the Breton Wood, institutions and that the very international institutions that seemed to be providing aid to developing countries ended up rendering those very countries poorer and called on the government to tread cautiously in its dealings with the West. Source: Daily Graphic