I'll Be The Next President - ex-Minister

Just weeks after he was dropped from President Kufuor?s new look government, Deputy Minister of the Interior, Nkrabeah Effah Darteh is considering holding an international press conference although he continues to call for ?media blackout? until the event.In a chat with The Statesman at his Asylum Down office, the Berekum MP declined to give details of what he intends to put out there in the public domain.

?Let me tell you this: because of the reshuffle, the press is interested in knowing what I will be doing. But my response is that I don?t want to be interviewed, I want media black-out for sometime,? he pleaded.


Effah-Darteh, a lawyer, and an NPP presidential aspirant, had been a Minister of Local Government & Rural Development and until the recent cabinet reshuffle was Deputy Minister of Interior.


He has not hidden his ambition to be the NPPs flagbearer in the 2008 presidential elections and political observers believe that the MP will use the press encounter to launch his campaign. ?Whether you like it or not, I am going to be the next president of Ghana,? Effah-Darteh confidently asserted. The aspirant said God has his own way of building up people and that there is nothing one can do to prevent what Gods wants to do.


?God is the final arbiter.? Effah-Darteh concluded ? clearly of the belief that divine judgment will fall down firmly on his side.


A hint of despondency crept into his voice, however, as the Berekum MP went on to share his experiences outside Government.

?I never thought of coming back to practice law. Twenty years at the bar, my office should not look like this but I will pick up,? he lamented.


Quickly recovering from his posture, however and again beaming with smiles, Effah-Darteh returned to his former stance: it was only God?s wish that he was kicked out of government, he reiterated.


Reacting to media reports of his heavy, dismissive criticism of security services and government, Effah-Darteh admitted telling the polytechnic students not to limit themselves to straight-jacket occupations such as the security operatives ? but denied ever rebuking his own government.


According to him, he gave the speech at the Takoradi Polytechnic whilst he was serving as a deputy minister of interior and suggested that the motive of some media houses to release the story could be an attempt to make him look embittered.


Effah-Darteh stated emphatically that forfeiting the privileges which used to be accorded him as a Minister does not bother him all, ?there are more good things to achieve in life,? he insisted.