GCPP elects Henry Lartey flag bearer

Moments after he was elected for the third time as the flag bearer of the Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP) last Saturday, Dr Henry Herbert Lartey said the time had come for the Ghanaian electorate to buy into the party’s ‘domestication’ and modern industrialisation agenda.

He said the twin agenda remained the hope for the nation and encouraged the electorate to rally behind the GCPP by voting for it in the December 7 general election in order to put Ghana’s development on the right course. 

Filing fees

The flag bearer also described the  GH¢100,000 filing fees fixed by the Electoral Commission for the  presidential election  as “no surprise”, and expressed the party’s readiness to pay the amount.

“When the National Democractic Congress held elections for its flagbearership, it put the filing fee at GH¢400,000 but reduced it to GH¢300,000. I was worried and knew the Electoral Commission  was going to go up with its filing fee for presidential aspirants. So if the EC says we should pay GH¢100,000 we will pay it,” he said.

Elections

Delegates to the sixth national congress of the GCPP acclaimed Dr Lartey as the party’s flag bearer for the 2020 presidential election at the La Palm Royal Beach Hotel in Accra.

It was the third consecutive time that Dr Lartey had been elected flag bearer, the previous two being 2012 and 2016.

He emerged the sole candidate for the party for Election 2020 after the close of nominations for flag bearer aspirants for the GCPP.

The delegates also elected the national executives of the party unopposed. They are Dr Henry Herbert Lartey, National Chairman; Mr Andy Bampoe-Sekyi, First Vice-Chairman; Ms Martha Jonah, Second Vice-Chairperson; Mr Citizen Ato Dadzie, General Secretary, and Mr Alhassan Issahaku, Educational Secretary.

The rest are Mr Kaiser Ablorh, treasurer; Mr George Amoah, organiser; Ms Cynthia Atta, women’s organiser, and Mr Jude Balma, youth organiser.

Representatives of some political parties attended the event to deliver solidarity messages, including the Deputy General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Obiri Boahen, and some national executives of the All People’s Congress (APC). 

Domestication

Delivering his acceptance speech, Dr Lartey said ‘domestication’ and modern industrialisation were the surest way to foster the development of the country.

He noted that the outbreak of the COVID-19 had necessitated the need for countries all over the world to domestically produce their own goods and services to bolster their domestic development agenda.

“Most Ghanaians know that we have to help ourselves to become successful because if we do not do that, nobody else will do that for us,” he said.

He expressed joy at the fact that the COVID-19 had particularly triggered the need for local industries to produce critical items for the fight against the disease.

“If we had not started the Planting for Food and Jobs programme, we can appreciate what would have happened, since we could not have gone to buy food from other countries,” he said.

Dr Lartey pointed out that there was no way any country could achieve meaningful development if it did not produce the basic materials it required for its industrialisation growth, adding that “if somebody produces and you buy, you are rather creating jobs elsewhere”.

More votes

The GCPP flag bearer was optimistic that with the domestication philosophy and other campaign messages strongly targeted at the grass roots, the party would secure as many votes as possible at this year’s elections.

He pointed out that the party’s campaign team was launched in Cape Coast three weeks ago and that its supporters were already on the field working to push the winning agenda through

“Now that I have been elected flag bearer of the party, our posters are now out and it is going to push everybody to work for us to win more votes,” he added.

Innovation hubs

Mr Dadzie said the party had embraced the  government’s One-district, One-factory initiative, and added that if the GCPP won the elections, it would build on that initiative.

He said a GCPP administration would set up innovative hubs in second-cycle schools to help young people come up with innovative ideas.

“Out of this innovation, the government will support them to establish factories in their various constituencies and set up innovation hubs in our technical schools and universities that will be provided free Wi-Fi to create jobs for the people,” he said.