President’s address, window dressing — Dan Lartey

Page 17, Feb 19, 2008
Story: Emmanuel Adu-Gyamerah

THE Leader of the Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP), Mr Dan Lartey, has described the President’s State of the Nation Address presented to Parliament last Thursday as “mere window dressing”.
He wondered why the President did not address the drug menace confronting the country and said there was the need for tough security measures to be put in place to curb the situation and save the youth from further destruction.
Mr Lartey told the Daily Graphic that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) had not been able to provide jobs thereby worsening the plight of ordinary Ghanaians.
He said the address was a well rehearsed propaganda tool aimed at shifting the attention of the people from the harsh economic realities that Ghanaians were currently facing.
He added that a critical look at the address revealed that he had woefully failed Ghanaians.
“If I were him, I would have apologised to Ghanaians and asked for their forgiveness for not being able to fulfil the sweet campaign promises”, he said.
Mr Lartey stated that the GCPP was ready to assume power to correct the ills that had been visited on Ghanaians by both the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the NPP.
“My party will provide jobs and adjust salaries and wages to reflect the realities of the day to ensure the comfort of workers whose salaries did not commensurate their sweat and toil, he said.
Mr Lartey indicated that the GCPP was ready for the onslaught in order to give the people what they wanted and called on Ghanaians to give him their mandate during the December elections.
Asked how he was going to win the December polls, the 81-year-old politician said it was clear that his domestication policy had now caught on well with the people.
He explained that the party’s quest to contest all the 230 seats and form a majority in Parliament was not a fluke and challenged all political parties to the contest.