The longest serving Ghana’s finance minister, Prof. Kwesi Botchway, has confirmed his commitment and association with the National Democratic Congress. Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show on Wednesday, he said although he is not a card bearing member of any political party, “I do support the overall politics and objectives of the NDC…my political affiliations and inclinations are towards the NDC”. He is hoping to formally meet the NDC presidential candidate, Prof. Atta Mills, and party founder, J. J. Rawlings, to fashion out “what work I can provide”. The failed NDC presidential aspirant said he shelved his ambition to run for the presidency on the ticket of the Democratic Freedom Party or as an independent candidate because after thorough considerations “I decided in the end that I have done my bit and that I could find other ways of contributing to national development”. Recent media reports linked the former finance to the Obed Asamoah led Democratic Freedom Party, which broke away from the NDC. When asked if Ghana can become a first world country like USA or Japan in eight years as reportedly being preached by Nana Akufo-Addo, he answered in the negative, “I don’t think so…no economist will tell you that”. However he was hopeful Ghana can get to the middle income status within that period. Touching on Ghana’s oil find, he cautioned Ghanaians against over ambitious expectations. He said though the quantity found is significant, it is also not huge adding, “It is not going to solve all our problems”. He expressed worry about political utterances on the oil and warned “if we begin to allow our politics to be affected by these sentiments and these expectations, that are exaggerated in any case, I fear that the stability of our democratic system itself is going to be at stake” He advised the government to tap experiences of countries that have succeeded in utilizing their oil. To rid the country of any misunderstanding or conflict, he suggested that the government keep a transparent account of oil proceeds by publishing them for everybody to know how much they country is getting. Listen to excerpts of the interview in the attached audio Story by Isaac Essel