An NPP presidential aspirant Boakye Agyarko says his passion for Ghana and zeal to serve the country influenced his decision to join the race for presidency.

Speaking on PM Express on JoyNews, he noted that he longs to see the development of Ghana and the people as a whole after witnessing growth in other nations.

“I have in my banking years, 20 plus banking years…I travelled a lot on bank business. I did a lot of work in other countries, and I've seen countries with much less than what we have do much more than what we are dreaming of. It suggests to me that we are not rising to our potential,” Mr Agyarko said.

He told the host Evans Mensah that “I believe that the presidency is the most powerful podium from which a president can assemble the best of ideas, the best of plans, the best of programs, and arrange the constellation of forces in such a way that they lead to the solution of a country's problems.”

The former Energy Minister said that with good leadership, being a president at the helm of affairs is the legitimate way one can direct the country’s progress and development.

“That is why I seek it. I don't seek it because of the trappings of power or the enjoyment of office. I seek it simply because I take it as a sacred leadership, as a sacred duty, and a covenant between the leader and the led,” Mr Agyarko said.

Although he acknowledged that other aspirants have made similar comments he believes having the capacity and tenacity to lead is what counts and differentiate him from others.

“Leadership is a very different risky enterprise. It is also a very lonely position to occupy and therefore if you are not capable and have the tenacity of purpose to cling onto what you set out to do, somewhere along the line you begin wavering and you give up,” he added.

Mr Agyarko is one of 10 aspirants in the New Patriotic Party’s presidential primaries. The aspirants hoping to lead the party to the 2024 general elections will go through a special delegates conference this weekend.

The conference is aimed at trimming down the number of aspirants from 10 to five prior to the national conference expected to be held in November.