Ex-Captain John Kwame Nkrabea Effah Dartey, former deputy minister of state and currently a presidential aspirant of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has described Prof. John Evans Atta Mills as a yesterday man whose time is over and, therefore, can never lead the frustrated National Democratic Congress to win the next general election it so much yearns to.

Hear him: "I think that Atta Mills is a wrong choice for the NDC because he is a yesterday man; his time is gone. You know in Ghana, in Senegal and some other African countries, the system is such that one is constantly churned out."

According to The Heritage, Effah Dartey argued that the seven-year term that Abdou Diouf served as Senegalese president made his people got so fed-up that they were eager to see his party pack off from government: hence their opting for Abdoulaye Wade who had groped in opposition for three decades. Similarly, he said, Mills has been vice president for four years and led the NDC for eight years, making the electorate get extremely tired of his presence on the political scene.

He described his former lecturer who taught him both commercial and company laws as a good man but, unfortunately, in a "wrong company", stressing that he, Dartey, would finish him if they both met in the titanic 2008 presidential election. The ex-soldier confidently stated that the NDC flagbearer, on any day, would be absolutely no match for him.

In an interview with The Heritage last Friday at his Citizens Centre office, in Accra, Capt. Effah Dartey noted that Ghanaians, after President Agyekum Kufuor's tenure, would want to see a fresh leader like his good self but never an "old folk" like the NDC flag bearer.

According to the Berekum North Member of Parliament, his decision to fight for the mantle of the NPP was fired by three main objectives: to see that human capacity development is pushed to its apex; to establish a very strong and integrated local government policy that will ensure that government is brought to the door-step of the people; and run a strong law-and-order regime to take adequate care of all the law enforcement agencies and drive them to enforce the laws to near perfection.

According to aspirant Effah Dartey, he has so far toured all the 230 electoral constituencies of Ghana but intends to visit them the second time before the December delegates' congress is due.

He asserted that, if the congress were held today (last Friday), there would be absolutely no justification of he not wining by a convincing majority of more than 60% of the votes.

He was full of confidence and said by the reception his party executives accorded him during the tour and he expressed the hope that the December delegates' congress would be a mere formality.

"It is difficult to look at a person's face to know what exactly he or she is thinking; but, if what I saw on my rounds was anything to go by, then I can say that, at least, I will have about 60%. It will be erroneous for me to say that I have captured one particular region or my base is in one region,” and elated Effah Dartey said.

Reacting to media reports that the tilt of would-be delegates was towards some other aspirants and not him Nkrabea, he snapped that his experience as an Mp, newspaper writer and publisher made him extremely suspicious about such ratings and predictions.

He would not categorically reject those media ratings, but added that some reports, when one read them, gave one the impression that this was a genuine attempt at reflecting what was happening on the ground, while others could easily be seen through as mere trash.

"Readership in Accra is different from the rest of the regions so, if one sits in Accra and makes projections that Effah Dartey is leading or Alan is leading, that is not correct."

Touching on allegations by the opposition parties that the NPP government is corrupt, the Berekum MP described his party men as neither saints nor angels, but mortals who are, therefore, susceptible to temptations, difficulties and pressures. He, nonetheless, admitted that the system needs a lot of cleaning.

Still on the perceived corruption in his party's government, he said that the experience he had gained while working at the National Investigations Committee during the Provisional National Defence Council regime days, had taught him that, at any given time, there could be many high-flying allegations. "But when one patiently takes time to sift through the allegations, invariably they reduce to bubbles."

He called on his party executives who would be voting at congress to seek the interest of the party first by choosing a candidate who could appeal to the conscience of the millions of Ghanaians who would be voting in the next December elections.

Mr. Effah Dartey reminded the potential delegates that, when he was the Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, he visited them several times and related with the constituencies very well and so, if today he needs their votes, they should not disappoint him.

Source: The Heritage