Ace broadcaster Joe Lartey, famous for the phrase ‘Over To You, Joe Lartey’- is pushing 90 years now, but still has quite a lot to say on the Ghanaian political situation.
The 89 year old appeared on Starr Chat Wednesday with Bola Ray, and touched on several issues. When asked to comment on the best leader this country has had since the return to constitutional rule in 1992, he chose President Kuffour, his favourite by a mile.
“Kufuor did a lot of good,” he said.
“He did a lot of school feeding programmes, health insurance was a good move and went to the extent of having the insurance of lactating matters being taken care of. Kufuor’s policies were good and Ghana was back from HIPC,” he added.
Talking a little about his history, the legendary commentator touched on how he diverted his path from law to broadcasting, even though his family were far from happy with it.
“I went into sports commentary by accident, my parents did not allow me to do sports…my father wanted me to be either a lawyer or a priest,” he revealed.
“I was doing a course at the Law School and you know why I stopped, because of commentary…my frequent outings on commentary assignments made me stop”.
Follow your dreams must be the lesson here.
Joe Lartey was, for many decades, the face of commentary in Ghana. There is no Ghanaian alive who cannot utter his catchphrase. He was the first President of the Sports Writers Association of Ghana after its formation.