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Frimpong-Boateng picks NPP nomination
forms, promises good leadership
Accra, Sept. 25, GNA - Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng,
former Chief Executive Officer of Korle Bu Teaching
Hospital, on Tuesday picked up nomination forms to contest
the presidential primaries of the ruling New Patriotic Party
(NPP).
He paid the required GH˘500 (five million cedis) for the
forms as part of the initial processes for the primaries
which scheduled to come off at the Party's special national
delegates' congress scheduled for December 22 this year.
Prof. Frimpong-Boateng, a renowned heart surgeon, arrived at
the NPP headquarters with hundreds of supporters, backed by
brass band music, who chanted his achievements in a carnival
procession through some principal streets.
Also at the Party headquarters to pick up the nomination
forms were Mr Hackman Owusu-Agyemang, former Minister of
Water Resources, Works and Housing; Mr Felix Kwasi
Owusu-Adjapong, former Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and
Mr Mohammed Musah, a former Regional Youth Organiser of the
Party.
A euphoric Prof. Frimpong-Boateng told the Ghana News Agency
that the basic objective of good leadership in a biological
population was to ensure the continued survival of the
population.
"This involves meeting the basic necessities for survival so
that the population does not die out. These basic needs are
food, shelter, clothing, health and defence."
He said it follows therefore that any population that was
not able to feed, house, clothe, heal and defend itself had
very little chance of long term survival.
Prof Frimpong-Boateng noted that beyond these basic needs,
there was the need for leadership to engage in strategic
thinking and planning to prepare the population for future
challenges.
He said he wants to be president in order to address
challenges resulting from problems associated with increase
in the population size and complexity of the society.
He said in modern, affluent and complex societies,
institutions, which made the population survive and thrive,
needed the proper leadership for their effective
maintenance.
Thus schools, hospitals, markets, industries, law
enforcement agencies, political authority and many others
more or less assumed the status of basic necessities, the
collapse of which would lead to the breakdown of the whole
society, he held.
"I am therefore into politics to fix it all. I have done it
before and I have the capacity to mend the nation. There is,
therefore, no denying the fact that the quality of
leadership that I will offer would directly influence the
success of the country.
"An important function of leadership is to inspire those
being led to greater achievements so as to gain competitive
advantage over similar populations.
"There is a crisis in leadership. One of the most universal
cravings of our time is a hunger for compelling and creative
leadership."
He emphasised that the problem of the absence of creative
and visionary leadership, however, seemed to be acute in
Third World countries, especially in Africa.
"I stand for prompt, vigorous action and I challenge the
delegates to cast their votes for Prof. Kwabena
Frimpong-Boateng as the flag bearer of the NPP for Elections
2008. This is the time to elect a winnable candidate for the
party.
"Prof Kwabena Frimpng-Boateng would inspire a new vision and
enthusiasm in the Ghanaian. Kwame Nkrumah's dynamism
contributed to the political emancipation of the African
continent. J.B. Danquah's unflinching belief in democracy
and the rule of law laid the foundation for a political
system, which had survived decades in the opposition.
"The wisdom and dexterity of King Osei Tutu I culminated in
the establishment of the Asante Kingdom from a collection of
feuding clans.
"Martin Luther King Jr. journeyed in a vision to the
mountain top and gave a vivid description of the Promised
Land to his segregated nation and challenged America to do
better."
Prof. Frimpong-Boateng then asked: "Where are their
successors? Why have we not had any true leaders in the
world in a generation? Why are there no potential leaders,
be they prime ministers or presidents who inspire and
motivate or even excite us to greater heights?
"Where, for God's sake, have all the leaders gone? They
appear to be an endangered species, caught in a whirl of
events and circumstances.
"The quality of life of the society depends on the quality
of the leaders. As a person cannot function without a brain,
so a society cannot function without leaders."
Prof. Frimpong-Boateng said it was obvious that there had
been crisis with leadership for many years now. The current
political and economic problems besetting the country
stemmed from the leadership crisis being experienced by the
country over the past decades.
He said the need for the setting up of a National
Reconciliation Commission was ample evidence that things had
not gone well with the nation.
Prof. Frimpong-Boateng explained that the signs of a
leadership crisis were alarming and persuasive.
"There is a widespread loss of faith in our major
institutions such as the judiciary and law enforcement
agencies generally; there is an alarming breakdown of
traditional values and discipline; corruption is more or
less institutionalised and no serious attempts are being
made to fight it; there is total disregard for environmental
sanitation; our pride as a people capable of playing our
role on the international scene has been totally eroded," he
said.
GNA
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