"I'll support Kufuor in election run-off" –Lartey

Mr Daniel Augustus Lartey, presidential candidate of the Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP), said Wednesday he will urge his supporters to vote for New Patriotic Party presidential candidate J.A. Kufuor in the December 28 presidential run-off.

The NPP now has the support of all the opposition parties, who polled 6.8 per cent of the total valid vote cast in last Thursday's presidential election.

Mr. Lartey told the GNA that he was supporting Mr Kufuor because his "message of government of national unity is synonymous with the policy of 'domestication'."

The theme of Mr Lartey's campaign was domestication: "growing what we eat and wear, eating what we grow and stockpiling the surplus for export."

Mr. Lartey, who polled one per cent of the total votes, had said earlier that he would only support the candidate who agrees to implement his domestication policy.

"I have held discussions with the highest in the hierarchy of the NPP, the chairman of the Council of Elders, on three occasions and I am convinced we share the same principles," he said.

Asked why he would not support the NDC, Mr Lartey said: "They are a spent force, their knowledge is gone and they would not be able to move the country ahead.

"I spoke with Mr Kwaku Baah, first vice-chairman of NDC, and Mr Dan Markin, leader of DPP, and my decision is that they are hollow. They do not know what to do, except to continue with what I call neo-colonialism."

Mr. Lartey defined neo-colonialism as a "white-man- painted-black government," which he said must be replaced with "a government of the black man for the black man."

Mr. Lartey said his decision is in the interest of national development and not based on partisan considerations.

Asked whether he expects any appointment should the NPP win, Mr Lartey said: "I am only interested in the progress of our nation and the situation where everybody becomes useful to the nation. I am above ministerial positions and I don't want any."

He said his decision reflects that of his supporters who have called him from across the country to discuss the issues. The supporters, he said, will consequently campaign for Mr Kufuor. The other opposition parties the PNC, CPP, UGM, and NRP have already pledged to support the NPP.

In the presidential election the NPP won 48.3 percent and NDC won 44.9 per cent of the vote. Neither party obtained more than 50 per cent, thus necessitating a run-off.