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| Dan Lartey: Huffing, puffing and getting it straight |
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| Posted on: 2008-Oct-23 Joy FM |
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At 82, Uncle Dan Lartey, presidential candidate, leader, founder and (chairman) of the Great Consolidated Popular Party is not getting too popular with Elections 2008.
At least he is officially off the ballot papers for the December polls, which are some 45 days away. But he is keen in getting things right, including getting his name on the ballot paper even though the Electoral Commission of Ghana has closed the door on him and others who the EC adjudged to have defaulted in their documentation in the exercise.
In the immediate, he has asked his lawyers to work on the case and dare the EC in court to prove which Ghanaian or international law permits Dr Kwadwo Afari Gyan, EC Chairman, to disqualify him in the national exercise.
On Thursday, Mr. Dan Lartey was guest of Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah’s Super Morning Show on Joy FM, and the encounter may have left many with a lot of admiration for the zeal of the ageing politician and his candid desire to see a better Ghana.
But what the encounter also did was to cast a huge dampener on the credibility of Dan Lartey’s very credentials for the very job he so passionately seeks and promises to pursue as long as his ‘bones are straight.’
He left too many questions unanswered, threatened to walk out of the programme if his host was going to pursue a certain line of questioning, and will not discuss his running mate or what he brings to his ticket. Sounding also temperamental, Dan Lartey will not even entertain any phone-in questions, and he really meant his words when about a month ago he proposed his host on the programme for the slot of running mate.
Kojo: You say you are taking the EC to court?
Dan Lartey: Yes, because I have a right to vote and a right to be voted.
Kojo: But your right to be voted for doesn’t mean you can do things at your own pleasure. The EC says on a particular day and particular time you should have filed and paid on a particular…
Dan Lartey: And the particular day I was there, on the 17th I was there, on the 17th of October and I paid my 50 million and I submitted my papers and they say there is some errors in the paper. And the paper can be corrected.
Kojo: What were the errors?
Dan Lartey: Well I don’t know what the errors were.
Kojo: Did they explain what the errors were to you?
Dan Lartey: They didn’t explain it.
Kojo: So they just told you that because of errors you cannot participate in the elections…
Dan Lartey: …which I think is unfair.
Kojo: So where is your money now?
Dan Lartey: What is it?
Kojo: Where is your money now?
Dan Lartey: The money has been given to me and is in my custody now. It’s made as a bank draft to the Electoral Commission and is still there, fifty million.
Kojo: We were told that you were supposed to get signatories from all over the country, you didn’t have all those signatories?
Dan Lartey: Well, I don’t know, I know the signatories have gone, that was the papers which was supposed to be done and it was done.
Kojo: Everything was in order?
Dan Lartey: Everything was in order and if the Electoral Commission says there is some errors in it, then the errors should be corrected. You don’t reject.
Kojo: But you should bring the document in good standing by the time they are looking for…
Dan Lartey: In good standing or not, I brought it.
Kojo: But there were errors…
Dan Lartey: But that is not the question. Now if you are going to ask me these questions then I’ll rather want to leave because… Don’t ask me these questions which…Now you gave the time, I was there at three o’clock and I paid the fifty million and the papers were given to you and you said there were some errors in the papers and so…is it fair to reject it? …
Kojo: You think that it is deliberate or it’s just…?
Dan Lartey: …I think it is deliberate attempt to get Dan Lartey out of the …
Kojo: Why would the EC do that, deliberately get you out?
Dan Lartey: I don’t know why he should do it but he’s done it and so the courts would have to decide.
Dan Lartey said he had tried to meet the EC chairman for an amicable settlement but the latter insisted that the courts would be the best option and so he would meet him there.
Dan Lartey also insisted he had executed an effective campaign and if the polls were to be conducted today, he would win the presidency.
Kojo: What is the status of your campaign, have you been on the campaign trail?
Dan Lartey: Look my campaign is already done. You can’t run a nation, you can’t do this thing without planning it. We have planned our win and we’ve planned it all over the place.
Kojo: Have you executed it?
Dan Lartey: It’s all over the place. We know that we have the men to vote and today, if we go to the polls today, I’ll win.
Kojo: You’ll win?
Dan Lartey: Exactly, because I’ve worked.
Kojo: But I haven’t seen you at any rally, I haven’t seen you…
Dan Lartey: Attending rallies does not mean you are going to win.
Kojo: Where have you been, Uncle Dan?
Dan Lartey: I’ve gone to the grassroots, I’ve done all what I could do…
Kojo: Where? Give me specifics…
Dan Lartey: All over the country and so it’s not one place where, where, I’ve done it all over the country…230 constituencies.
Dan Lartey believes the country has all she needs - capital, mineral and human resources - to develop, lacking only the skilled leadership to harness them for that goal. In the 2000 elections he had predicted a win but failed, and reminded that he was repeating the very promise, he said he was new at the time, and yet brought Ghanaians “domestication.”
Dan Lartey: But of course I brought you context. I brought domestication and I said everybody, this country, you cannot just rely on foreigners to, you know, give you money to run tour country. And this is what they are doing, they are not producing, we have a lot of agricultural food to produce, we have a lot of minerals, we have a lot of everything, and we have the money too in the country. Look, don’t forget that any country the government does only one-third of the economy, two-thirds is with the people and if you don’t know how to harness that money to be able to use it for development then don’t go near government…
Kojo: What happened to the vice presidential choice?
Dan Lartey: The vice president?
Kojo: Yes
Dan Lartey: I have to choose somebody who I should be able to use and let him do things and that’s what I have chosen.
Kojo: Initially I thought you were considering me what happened I didn’t hear from you again?
Dan Lartey: No you told me you are not a GCPP and so it means if you are not CPP it means you have refused it, that is the impression that I had.
Kojo: I see, so what was your shortlist, how many people were you considering?
Dan Lartey: Now that is finished with. I’ve already named the man and so
Kojo: And who have you chosen now?
Dan Lartey: I’ve chosen George Amoah.
Kojo: Who is he?
Dan Lartey: He is a businessman in Accra.
Kojo: And what’s his background, what does…
Dan Lartey: Well his backgrouond is not to be known now here. All what is that I have chosen him and I will run with him.
Kojo: What does he add to your ticket?
Dan Lartey: He’s added what he should be added to which I need to be able to go ahead.
Insisting that he will go the distance with Afari Gyan and his EC, Dan Lartey asked his supporters not to give up because he has not and will not give up.
Kojo: I want to give you an opportunity to say something to your fellow candidates who are campaigning and as you can tell, you know there is a little incident of violence here and there, some are talking about things that are not feasible, some are talking about other things, what would you want to say to Professor Mills and Nana Akufo-Addo for instance?
Dan Lartey: Look, I’m not to say anything to them, they are doing their campaign and they must go on with their campaign….
Kojo: What do you think of their campaign?
Dan Lartey: Well, I think I will win the elections by all means whatever campaign that they do and I’ve got my supporters ready to do it. So therefore what they are doing is their own method and they must go ahead with it.
Uncle Dan also appeared to have too many issues with the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) and labeled it a conduit for the imposition of foreign ideologies.
His party manifesto is ready but he will launch it only when he gets his name on the ballot sheet, and even if he has a day to the polls to launch it, it is not late and he would launch it.
“… You are telling the people that this is what I am coming to do and so when you are on the list you tell them.”
Dan Lartey acknowledges he is old, and readily pointed out that his youth policy centres on working with the youth in whom he would put his ‘fine ideas’ to turn the nation around. But he is strong and healthy enough to challenge Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah to a 100-metre race.
Kojo: GH¢5,000 it took you a while to raise it. If I may ask, what happened?
Dan Lartey: But I’ve raised it..I say I’ve raised it so don’t ask me how I raised it.
Kojo: Friends?
Dan Lartey: Well it can be friends, it can be anything but I raised it and paid the money to the Electoral Commission.
And then towards the end of the encounter;
Kojo: Uncle Dan let me take some calls from some of our listeners…
Dan Lartey: No, I don’t want any calls.
Kojo: You don’t want calls?
Dan Lartey: No.
Kojo: Why not?
Dan Lartey: I don’t want any calls. I’ve come here to tell them exactly what has happened…No I won’t take any calls.
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