Dr Henry Lartey, son of the founder and leader of the Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP), the late Dan Lartey, has promised to help build a solid and more attractive GCPP to honour the memory of his father. He said for a start, he had been in touch with the leading members of the party in Accra and across the regions on how to build the structures of the party. Dr Lartey, an economist and one of the biggest exporters of organic fruits to Europe was speaking to the Daily Graphic in what he termed his first political interview after the death of his father, in Accra. Dr Lartey, who is also the Shadow Member of Trade and Industry in the CPP Shadow Cabinet, noted that his father had left an impressive and indelible mark in the political history of the country, and that the best that a son could do was to support those left behind to ensure that the "Domestication" ideals were realised for the betterment of all. He made it categorically clear that it had always been the dream of his father to ensure that the GCPP was part of the greater Nkrumahist family and gave the assurance that he, together with the executives and members of the party, would pursue that vision to its logical conclusion. He, however, noted that his decision to be a Shadow Cabinet member of the Convention People's Party (CPP) "does not mean that the GCPP has joined the CPP." Dr Lartey described his father as a dyed-in-the-wool Nkrumaist who had always sought for the unity of all Nkrumaist factions into a bigger family capable of winning elections and implementing the idea, polices and programmes on Dr Nkrumah. He noted that the GCPP would only join the CPP when it realises that the latter had put its house in order and those individuals who only fight for their own interest had abandoned such moves and concentrated on building an effective party structure that was attractive. He stated that election results in the Fourth Republic were clear indications that no single Nkrumaist political party could do the magic of winning any election on its own, hence the need for all such parties to build their structures and have the consent of their highest decision making body to move into an Nkrumaist unity. Dr Lartey pointed out that one of the main problems affecting the Nkrumaist unity and particularly the CPP was that people were interested in what positions they would gain in the party and not how they would work assiduously and selflessly to fashion out strategies to attract voters. "The GCPP is also building its structures and continuously embarking on membership drive and when the time is ripe we would also join the CPP. But we would go alone if the CPP did not put its house in order," he added. Dr Lartey noted that, although he had said that he would not be interested in politics after the death of his father, he had come to realise that the days when democracy was not stable in the country was over and that his person and businesses would not suffer like what his father went through. He said he was a member of the Young Pioneer at the age of 10 during the First Republic and still remember some of the teachings, including self-reliance and the African personality, among others, which he said had guided him in his life, leading to the decision to leave very lucrative jobs in the UK to take to farming in Ghana. Source: Daily Graphic