Effah-Dartey disputes polls ...

... that rated him no of contest.

One of the New Patriotic Party (NPP's) standard bearer aspirants, Captain (Rtd) Nkrabeah Effah-Dartey, says he doubts the recent opinion polls conducted by renowned elections pollster and Editor-in-chief of the Daily Dispatch, Ben Ephson.

The latest of his opinion polls indicated that Alan Kyeremanten is clearly ahead of his colleague contenders to the position.

However, in an interview with The Independent, Capt. Effah-Dartey pointed out that, the survey was flawed; actually riddled with major deficiencies.

He told the paper that, since the "so-called opinion polls" targeted potential delegates and not real or elected delegates for the December congress, he was not the least worried about the outcome of the polls.

Besides, he added, the people Ben Ephson talked to for his polls had questionable credentials.

Dismissing the opinion polls with contempt, Capt. Effah-Dartey said constituency executives only made up 40% of total delegates to the party's December 22, 2007 congress, and suggested that, the polls therefore targeted only a small fraction of the real delegates.

He explained that, the other 60% would be made up of people other than constituency executives, and since they (the 60%) were not targeted, the polls must certainly be flawed.

Capt Effah-Dartey also took solace in the fact that the survey took into account only 185 out of the total of 230 constituencies, and so, to him, there was no cause for alarm.

According to him, he was solidly on the ground and he was sure of becoming not only the NPP presidential candidate, but also the next president of Ghana. He pointed out that, the delegates were constantly assuring him to ignore all the various newspaper reports that always seemed to rule him out of the contest altogether.

"The people believe my message and they always tell me that I should not worry about the negative newspaper reports", said the Member of Parliament (MP) for Berekum in the Brong-Ahafo Region.

In war, according to him, it is always good for your enemy to underestimate you, and the element of surprise is always essential in every battle.

By the grace of God, he said, the wishes of those who continued to write him off would never materialise, and "God will see me through to the end," he stated, adding that his detractors should continue to underestimate him, but come the D-Day, they will be laughing at the wrong sides of their mouths.

Capt. Effah-Dartey also prayed God for continuous strength to operate on the blind side of his detractors. The survey as published by the Daily Dispatch gave Mr. Kyerematen 16.5%, with, the Vice President coming close with 16%. In that survey, Capt Effah-Dartey is no where near the first twelve.

The polls surveyed 900 potential delegates in 185 constituencies.