A Presidential hopeful of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), Joe Ghartey, has called on the people of the Volta Region to embrace the party and ensure that it retains power in the 2024 general election.
According to him, the region contributed to the formation of the United Party (UP) tradition of the NPP.
Mr Ghartey made the call during a meeting with the Volta Region Executive Committee of the NPP at Ho, the Volta Regional capital.
UP tradition
The former Attorney – General and Minister of Justice explained that two out of the seven political parties that merged to form the UP tradition were from the Volta Region-the Togoland Congress Party (TCP) and the Anlo Youth Organisation (AYO).
He, therefore, urged the people in the region to take their rightful place in the party as foundation members and ensure that it gave NPP a resounding victory come 2024.
“Volta Region was part of the formation of the UP and it is about time you took your rightful place in the party.
They were part of the foundation members…..
Two of the seven political parties that merged to form the UP were from the Volta Region, namely the Togoland Congress Party (TCP) and the Anlo Youth Organisation (AYO)”, he stated.
He also urged delegates in the region to vote massively for him to become the flag bearer of the party.
The politician and former Minister of Railways Development recounted his long association with the region which pre-dated the introduction of party politics.
He recalled that by the early 1980s he was spending the majority of his vacations in Hohoe in the region.
Mr Ghartey said in 1992, he supplied the Hohoe Constituency with bicycles and other logistics and since then he had been supporting the region, and during the last election he supplied motorcycles to each constituency.
He indicated that in 1992, he invited the now deceased founding member, Mr Abenuga, to Accra to sign the incorporation forms when the NPP was being formed.
He said that when he got married in September 1992 to his wife who also believed in the tradition, they spent their honeymoon following Professor Adu Boahen’s campaign in Somanya, and subsequently went to Hohoe to introduce his wife to his ‘family’ there.
Vision
“A Joe Ghartey government will take the necessary steps that will make the country’s universities internationally competitive to attract more international students,” he stated.
These steps, he said, would include increased regulation, targeted scholarships for lecturers and some financial interventions.
For his part, the Volta Regional Chairman of the NPP, Makafui Woanya, said he was confident that with hard work and the necessary support the region would exceed expectations.
NPP not Akan party
Meanwhile, speaking to delegates in Oti Region, Mr Ghartey debunked the perception that NPP was an Akan party.
“The truth of the matter is that Central Region and Western regions for example are swing regions, we win sometimes, we lose sometimes, Western North, Bono Region and Ahafo Regions, we win and lose at sometimes.
And so for you to say you are an Akan party is a grand scheme to make us lose focus.
So my message is that we are not an Akan party, we are a national party”, he said.
Touching on why he is the best man for the job, Mr Ghartey said he had the experience and had been a long serving member of the party.
He said he has been at the forefront of the affairs of the party since 1992.
“I was part of the people who wrote the stolen verdict in 1993, supported the party, chaired conferences, the 2009 conference; that changed the constitution of the party, I chaired it.
I have served the party, I understand the party, I am a party person, the DNA of the party is in me”, he stated.
He added that his role as a former Attorney General, a Deputy Speaker of Parliament and Railways minister, among others, had equipped him for the job.
Focus
Mr Ghartey, who is also the Member of Parliament for Essikado-Ketan in the Western Region, said when given the nod, the Joe Ghartey administration would focus on every sector of the economy.
He said deliberate interventions in the education sector of the country could earn Ghana more than $2b to 3$b annually.
He added that health tourism would also be part of his agenda to boost the country’s economy.
Mr Ghartey is scheduled to tour the Central Region next week, then parts of the Ashanti as well as five Northern regions, and back to the Ashanti Region to canvass for votes in his bid to lead the party.
SOURCE: graphic.com.gh