It will be tough to beat NPP - Ex-cadre bares teeth

He says: MILLS MUST GIVE WAY TO BOTCHWEY

THE INDEPENDENT candidate for Hohoe South in the 2000 general elections, Delali Ndo, has appealed the NDC to float Dr. Kwesi Botchwey against President Kufuor in the 2004 elections.

?There is the patriotic need for Prof. Mills to step down for Dr. Botchwey if the NDC wants its strategies to work?, he told the Chronicle in an exclusive interview at Ho.

Mr. Ndo, a cadre of the erstwhile PNDC revolution and an NDC-die-hard, said the Kufuor challenge will be too tough for Prof. Mills in the sense that the NPP is more organised than the NDC. What is worse, he explained that after two years of its defeat in the 200 elections, the NDC is now torn between overcoming and overhauling its internal democratic structures on the ground.

If Dr. Botchwey even loses against President Kufuor in the next elections, he still has the chance to stand against the next NPP Presidential candidate, he said, and asked whether the NDC will still be ready to float Prof. Mills again in 2008 in case he is unable to make it in 2004.

Contrary to expectations that the NDC is trying to win back power at all cost the NPP seems to be growing from strength to strength and this will be a tall tower for Prof. Mills to surmount.

Mr. Ndo said the internal democratic structures on the ground indicate that the NDC has a long way to go to make the party a vigorous party.

He prophesied that no matter how much the NPP fails, the way they package their campaign message will make Ghanaians give them another chance.

The former cadre expressed worry about the composition of Prof. Mills? campaign team, saying it is heaped up with elements that created all the confusion for the NDC during the 2000 elections, adding,?

The team does not look like an energised one but noted that of Dr. Botchwey has a lot of promise; ?they are more principles-oriented.?

Today?s political game is a matter of principles he said, adding that it is for these principles for which the NPP is taking the NDC on issues of accountability, ?which I don?t see as witch-hunting.

Accusing the two gentlemen, Mr. Ndor said as far as the handling of the economy was concerned during the NDC era, Dr. Botchwey opened his chest to carry the broken down economy of the nation for 13 good years.

He therefore gave him plusses over the Professor because Dr. Botchwey went over it practically while Prof. Mills handled only aspects of it.

?Prof. Mills is a nice man, Yes, I know he is a good leader. He is able to bring people together but when it comes to economic issues, I think Dr. Botchwey has the urge.?