The former Attorney-General and Member of Parliament (MP) for Essikado-Ketan constituency in the Western Region, Mr. Joe Ghartey, has called on delegates of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to elect someone who was experienced and trustworthy to lead the party.
He said that the party needed someone who was loyal and also had compassion to lead the party.
The former Minister of Railways Development, while talking in an interview with Sir John on Fox morning drive on Tuesday as part of his tour of the Ashanti Region, monitored by The Chronicle, urged the delegates to do the needful by voting him if they wanted the party to break the 8 years myth.
Joe Ghartey explained that he had been a member of the NPP since 1992 when the party was formed, and had since touted the ideals and campaigned for the party to move the country forward.
He indicated that Railway Transport was his priority and was dreaming to bring it back into operation to facilitate internal traveling for Ghanaians, stressing that as a country “we must always strive to go forward and not backwards.”
Talking to yet another Kumasi radio station, Angel FM, Joe Ghartey claimed the Justice for All programme he initiated had decongested Ghana’s prisons.
According to him, the introduction of the Justice for All programme had reduced the number of remanded persons in Ghanaian prisons to 9% from 33%.
“Justice for All was a programme which took the court into the prisons to find out the trials of the people. Today, I say this to praise the Lord, that only 9% of our inmates are remand prisoners,” Joe Ghartey educated listeners of Angel FM.
He explained that the decision to introduce such a life-touching programme was realised after visiting the Kumasi Central Prison, where he saw that the place was overcrowded, during which he met a young lady who had been jailed because she could not pay the bail amount.
“When I went to the Kumasi Prisons, the place was so crowded, and you were not allowed to talk to the inmates,” he recounted.
The former Minister for Railways Development further revealed that “before the Justice for All programme, there were about 33% of inmates who were remand prisoners. There were people who had not been convicted by a court, while some of them had never been made to appear in court.”
He added that “other African countries like Kenya have adopted the programme to help reduce the number of remand prisoners in their prisons in their countries.”
The Essikado-Ketan lawmaker affirmed that these initiatives made him happy, because it was all about making a difference wherever he found himself in serving the people.
The governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) has set November 4, 2023 for its presidential primary to select a flagbearer for the general elections in 2024.
Former Attorney General and Minister for Justice Joe Ghartey will face former Agric Minister Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, Mr. Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen, Former Trade Minister, Mr. Boakye Agyako, former Energy Minister; Mr. Kennedy Agyapong, Mr. Kwabena Agyapong, former General Secretary of the party, Mr. Francis Addai-Nimoh and Dr. Kofi Konadu Apraku alongside the Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, who have all declared their intentions to contest in the upcoming presidential primary to seek the mandate to lead the party ahead of the 2024 polls.
