Dan Lartey's Son For President

Credible information picked by The Heritage newspaper indicates that there is serious lobbying within the ranks of the Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP) over who to succeed the late Daniel Augustus Lartey, the man of Domestication fame to lead the Party for victory in the 2012 polls.

Sources within the Party have hinted that at least three names have popped up to keenly contest for the flagbearer position of the GCPP expected to be held during the 2012, Election year. The contenders, the paper gather, are not leaving any stone unturned and have already commenced moves to woo delegates for their votes.

The eldest son of industrial leader, Dan Lartey of blessed memory, Henry Lartey, 55, is tipped to succeed his father to continue the propagation of the ideas and principles of Domestication to ensure Ghana is self-sufficient in Agriculture and other sectors of the economy. The paper gathers that there is overwhelming support for Henry Lartey. The reason Party insiders have hinted is that he bears the name of Lartey, which is believed will be very much easy to market to face such political gurus as incumbent President John Evans Atta Mills of the National Democratic Congress and either Nana Akufo Addo, Alan Kyeremanteng or any of the three other flagbearer contenders from the leading opposition New Patriotic Party.

The paper’s sources further revealed that there are, however a section of the Party gurus that is of the opinion that, considering the huge sums of money involved in campaigns, the Party needs to elect somebody with sound financial footing to help it fund its activities, before, during and after the 2012 polls. Admirers of Mr. Lartey Jnr., however insist he is capable of raising funds to build the Party structures across the regions for victory in 2012. “He is an astute businessman and very hardworking, he can lead the Party”, a source said.

The admires argue that since Mr. Lartey Jnr., is an astute exporter and has several hectares of farms on the outskirts of the capital, Accra, plus the advantage of running businesses in London and Germany, resource mobilization to push the Party forward would not be much of a problem for him. Adams Ali, General Secretary of the Party, confirmed in an interview with the party that some executives of the party, had indeed, expressed interest, but they had done so rather on the quiet, lobbying the leaders of the Party for their support before open declaration.

He said the party was putting finishing touches to plans for its conference next year to elect regional and constituency executives for the political battle ahead. Quizzed on the constitutional requirement that only persons who are, or have once been, chairmen of the party could contest the presidential slot, the general secretary had this to say: “That Clause is one of the grey areas in the constitution which will be considered for amendment at conference next year.