Bruce Kyereh-Addo with Prime Minister Stephen Harper ( Photo Provided )  

Bruce Kyereh-Addo, the 23-year-old Carleton student best known on campus for his controversial disqualification as Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) president during the 2009 CUSA elections, has announced that he is seeking the federal Conservative nomination for the Ottawa-Centre riding.

Kyereh-Addo said he does not believe the current MP, the New Democratic Party’s Paul Dewar, is a representative for the student population. He said he thinks he would be able to represent all Ottawa-Centre constituents effectively, including students.

Dean Tester, a fourth-year journalism student and communications volunteer for Kyereh-Addo, said he believes Kyereh-Addo is a strong candidate.

“I knew from the first time I shook his hand that this is a man who is going to go far,” he said. “When you meet him it is very hard not to be swayed by him regardless of your political affiliation. He is really a natural leader.”

Kyereh-Addo has played a leadership role in founding and organizing Rise and Flow, a summer camp for low-income youth, and is a former president of Black Affinity, a group that fights discrimination and racism on campus.

Politically, Kyereh-Addo has experience serving as an assistant to former Edmonton-Strathcona MP Rahim Jaffer.

His campaign manager, Carleton student Emrys Graefe, said Kyereh-Addo has all the skills necessary to be the Ottawa-Centre MP.

“I think age and quote-unquote ‘experience’ are highly overrated. There’s very little you could actually do to get the experience of what it’s actually like to be an MP.”

He notes that Pierre Poilievre, now the parliamentary secretary to Stephen Harper, was elected for the first time at the age of 25.

“Bruce is very young but he is very accomplished for someone of his age,” said Tester. “He is in it to win it. He’s not just doing this as a way of getting experience for the future. He’s very serious about it.”

Graefe said he expects Kyereh-Addo would do well at the polls.

“Bruce may well pull out a lot of people who don’t regularly vote,” he said. “Bruce’s energy is rather infectious and I think he’ll excite a lot of people.”

In order to eventually become the Ottawa-Centre MP, Kyereh-Addo must go through a number of steps. He is currently seeking nomination for the Conservative party candidate in his riding, meaning he is now working to prove himself to the Conservative party as the best candidate to run in the Ottawa-Centre riding.

Two other individuals are hoping to represent the Conservative party in Ottawa-Centre as well, according to Tester.

The candidate chosen to represent the Conservative party in a federal election will be decided by whoever gets the most votes on nomination day.

The riding association has not called a nomination election yet, Tester said, with the earliest-possible election occurring at the end of September.

“It’s not an easy process,” Kyereh-Addo said, noting he is working hard to meet as many people as possible and get his name into the public.

If Kyereh-Addo succeeds in getting the Conservative nomination, he will run against other party candidates, likely including incumbent Dewar, in the event of a federal election.