Dr Kwame Addo-Kufuor, a flag bearer aspirant of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) last Sunday called on delegates to the party's congress in December to choose a visionary leader. He said flag bearer of the party for Election 2008 should be able to transform the country from a "third world status to a first world status". "If you vote for an aspirant without such a vision, the nation would remain in a third world status for a very long time," he added. Dr Addo-Kufuor, Former Minister of Defence made the call at a forum organized by University of Cape Coast branch of Tertiary-Education Students Confederacy (TESCON) under the theme "The NPP and the Way Forward". He said Africa had not performed well in terms of development because it did not have visionary leaders to manage its affairs adding "to be a leader you have to be visionary and a nation builder". Dr Addo-Kufuor briefed the students with video clips on his achievements as Minister of the Interior for 14 months and Minister of Defence for over six years. He pointed out that during his tenure of office at these Ministries, there was remarkable improvement of facilities in the military. These include the Kofi Annan International Peace Training Centre, which has trained people from over 90 countries, expansion works at 37 Military Hospital and improvement in civilian-military relationship. Dr Addo-Kufuor commended the NPP government for its achievements especially in the economy adding: "I am ready to take responsibility for any failures or achievements of the government of which I was a Minister". Dr Addo-Kufuor said the economy had improved and when elected as the flag bearer and later President, his government would continue to ensure a stabilized economy and ensured lending interest rates were reduced to enhance private sector development. On education, he said teachers would be provided with subsidized accommodation and distance education would be free. He said jobs would be created for the youth through massive construction works and cocoa produced in the country would be processed locally. On good governance, Dr Addo-Kufuor said his government would continue to improve bilateral relationships, tackle corruption with Ministers and government appointees declaring their assets openly hence the offer for forensic auditing of all contracts he had signed, and challenged other aspirants to do the same. He commended government for the efficient and effective management of the energy crisis and pledged to build more dams in the Western Region since they did not have river and water problems. On Agriculture, Dr Addo-Kufuor said food crop farmers would be treated equally like cocoa farmers and provided with credit facilities and ready markets for their produce. Responding to a question on how to prevent any division within the party after the congress and election of another aspirant as the flag bearer, he said all the aspirants were colleagues and friends and would conduct their campaigns in a "clean manner" to safeguard the nation's future adding, "peace is important to us and we would not do anything to compromise the current peace prevailing in the country". Mr Sampson Owusu Frempong, President of TESCON-UCC, commended government for implementing pragmatic policies that were impacting positively on Ghanaians, adding, "the nation's future is bright with the NPP's continuous stay in power so let us work hard to ensure that the party retains power in Election 2008". He said the large number of flag bearer aspirants was not a problem to the party, since a competitive intra-party politics was not new to the members and urged the aspirants to conduct their campaign with civility, maturity and decorum. Source: GNA