Joe Ghartey

Ghartey is a member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).^[6][9][10] He started off as a member of the Sekondi Campaign Team and became chairman of the Greater Accra Regional Disciplinary Committee of the Party. He was part of the team that wrote the "Stolen Verdict", in 1993, which was a detailed account of the widespread electoral malpractices that occurred during the 1992 general election in Ghana. He chaired the Session of the National Conference which amended the constitution of the NPP at the Trade Fair Center in Accra on 22 August 2009. This was when the Electoral College for the election of the presidential candidate was expanded from a few thousand delegates to more than one hundred thousand delegates. He was a member of the team of legal experts appointed by the National Council of the NPP to review the conduct of the election petition that was filed in the Supreme Court after the 2012 general elections and to provide recommendations going forward. The Committee submitted its report to the National Council. The report included proposals for reform of the electoral process in Ghana.

Along the coastal belt of Ghana, Ghartey has supported constituencies in the Western, Central, Greater Accra and Volta Regions, including Shama, Sekondi, Takoradi, Effie Kwasimintsim, Tarkwa, Prestea, Amenfi, Korle Klottey, La-Dade Kotopon and Hohoe. In 2000, he was part of the Western Regional Presidential Campaign Team of the NPP, travelling the region with the then candidate John Kufuor, who went on to win the general elections in December that year.

Ghartey is the NPP Member of Parliament for Essikado/Ketan Constituency in the Western Region of the Republic of Ghana.^[11] He was first elected to the seat in the December 2004 elections and was re-elected in the December 2008 and December 2012 elections. In all the three elections, he was not contested in the primaries of the NPP to choose the parliamentary candidate for the Constituency.^[12]

During the administration of President John Agyekum Kufuor, Ghartey was appointed Deputy Attorney General and Deputy Minister of Justice in March 2005. He was promoted and appointed as the substantive Attorney-General and Minister of Justice in June 2006, a position he held until January 2009 following the electoral loss of the NPP in the 2008 general elections. Ghartey was the longest-serving Attorney-General and Minister of Justice under the Kufuor administration. He was also a consultant to the Parliament of Sierra Leone and drafted a code of conduct for that parliament in May 2017.^[13][14]

In June 2006, a Ministerial reshuffle by President Kufuor saw Ghartey being elevated from the position of Deputy Attorney-General and Minister of Justice to the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice. He was subsequently sworn into office by Kufuor on 16 June 2006 as the 20th Attorney-General and Minister of Justice of the Republic of Ghana.

As Attorney-General, Ghartey launched an Agenda for Change in the Ministry of Justice. The main aim was to improve the effectiveness of the office and justice delivery in Ghana. Its flagship programme was Justice for All which, among other things, aimed at providing access to the courts for people who had been in remand custody for long periods without prosecution. This programme saw the release of hundreds of incarcerated persons from custody who had not been prosecuted or convicted but were being held by the State.

As Attorney-General, he led his legal teams to court on several high-profile cases.^{[clarification needed]} His interest in investment law was evident in the development of the legal framework and infrastructure for the Oil and Gas Industry in Ghana. As a member of the Mines and Energy Committee of Parliament, he was instrumental in the decision to establish the Petroleum Commission of Ghana. As a cabinet minister, he represented the pre at several international fora on legal and investment matters.

After the 2012 general elections, Ghartey was nominated by the NPP minority to the position of Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament. The position of the 2nd Deputy Speaker of Parliament by precedent goes to a minority party. However, following the NPP's challenge of the validity of the election of John Dramani Mahama as president of Ghana and their subsequent boycott of his inauguration, some members of the majority NDC were of the view that, "the NPP should not be rewarded with the position since it had decided to boycott the inauguration of John Mahama of the NDC as President in the same election it is challenging." The NDC, citing precedent by the NPP, who in the past had chosen to vote for Malik Alhassan Yakubu (an NPP candidate) against the NDC's Ken Dzirasah, wanted to sponsor a PNC newcomer to the position instead. However, Ghartey was eventually unanimously elected to the position by Members of Parliament on 7 January 2013.

Since assuming office, he has championed the formulation of rules to guard against conflict of interest among Ghana's legislators. Until his rise to the position of 2nd Deputy Speaker of Parliament, he was the Ranking member of the Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee, member of the Government Assurances Committee and a member of the Mines and Energy Committee. He chairs the Committee of Members Holding Offices of Profit. He is a member of the Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Committee and the Standing Orders Committee.

In May 2017, President Akufo-Addo created the Ministry of Railways Development as a cabinet position and named Ghartey as the sector Minister.^[15]

Ghartey declared his intention to contest the position for presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party before the 2016 general elections. He filed his nomination papers for the position on 7 July 2014, along with six other aspirants. There was a Special Delegates Congress on 31 August 2014 by the Party to trim the number of aspirants down to five, in accordance with the Constitution of the NPP. He was third but chose not to go for the second round and supported the winning candidate, Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo-Addo, the president.

Joe Ghartey is married to Efua Ghartey, a lawyer and co-founder of the law firm, Ghartey & Ghartey. Efua Ghartey is the Chairperson of the Bible Society of Ghana and the Chairperson of the International Board of the United Bible Societies (UBS), which operates in more than 200 countries. She is the president of the Greater Accra Ghana Bar Association as well as a member of the Constitutional and Legal Committee of the New Patriotic Party. They have five children.^[7] Ghartey is a Christian.^[16]