George Hagan may have an outstanding academic pedigree but he has an exceptionally hard job, because he is not just running for president.

He is also leading the revived Convention People's Party (CPP) of Kwame Nkrumah, who led Ghana to independence 43 years ago and spearheaded the struggle for independence in much of sub-Saharan Africa.

Those are very large shoes for anyone, not least for a 62-year-old retired university teacher, even if he insists he's up to the task.

What is more, the pool of so-called Nkrumahists from which the CPP expects to build its following, is fragmented and scattered among other political parties, such as the ruling NDC and the People's National Convention (PNC), and thus weakens its base.

While Nkrumah's contribution to the founding of modern Ghana and his role in the pan-Africanist movement nearly half a century ago are required reading in school, young voters are not about to thumbprint for the CPP simply because it invokes Nkrumah's name and vision.

Mr Hagan, though well spoken, is not Nkrumah.

Besides, many of Nkrumah's socialist principles which Hagan's CPP continues to espouse dissolved the day a Macdonald's neon-sign went up within view of the Kremlin.

Mr Hagan has declared he will not back the ruling NDC in the case of a run-off.

He could succeed in planting a socialist plank in the NPP's liberal platform, and earn himself a cabinet job on top if he gets enough votes to make him a significant horse-trader in any run-off.

Failing that, his memoirs should be his next recommended project.