CPP internal challenges under control - Bright Akwetey
A leading member of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), Bright Akwetey, has stated that the internal challenges confronting the party are under control.
“There is no challenge or problem that cannot be solved. In order to win, we need harmony and togetherness, so we will deal with everything,” he said.
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Speaking with journalists at a ceremony to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the death of the Founder of the party and Ghana’s first President, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, in Accra last Wednesday, Mr Akwetey said the party would deal with the challenges and come out stronger.
“I want to also say that anything going on is a constitutional issue and we will deal with it as such. The revival of the party is paramount to us and in the end, the CPP will stand tall,” he said.
Context
The CPP had been embroiled in some confusion after three members of the party, the first Vice-Chairperson, Onzy Nkrumah; the General Secretary, Nana Yaa Akyempim Jantuah and the party’s Youth Organiser, Osei Kofi Acquah, were interdicted by the central committee of the party chaired by its Chairperson, Nana Akosua Frimpomaa Sarpong-Kumankumah.
But a counter-central committee (CC) meeting chaired by Emmanuel Ogbojor, second Vice National Chairperson with seven of the elected executive members present, as well as 11 of the regional chairpersons and chairpersons of other committees of the CPP, overturned that decision.
It also asked Nana Sarpong-Kumankumah to step aside to enable the party to hold a rerun of the election held on August 22, 2020 between her and the first runner-up in the chairmanship race, Hajia Hamdatu Ibrahim.
But in a counter statement issued by the party’s Council of Elders, it dissociated itself from the meeting and described it as an unlawful meeting.
It said the meeting was an attempt to sow seeds of confusion within the party.
“The said meeting, by our reckoning and the constitution of the party, is unlawful,” it said in a statement signed by the council’s secretary, Islam Subiri Isah.
The statement said the Council of Elders, pursuant to the mandate granted under Article 68 of the CPP constitution, viewed with concern the recent events engaged in by certain members of the CPP.
However, the General Secretary of the CPP, Nana Yaa Akyempim Jantuah, in a rebuttal of the council’s statement, insisted that the said CC meeting was lawful and properly constituted.
Erasing
Mr Akwetey said there were attempts by some unscrupulous people to erase the name of Dr. Nkrumah and his achievements from the history of Ghana.
He said the party would not allow it to happen.
“There has been an attempt to erase Dr Nkrumah from history but that will not fly. Why should that happen? The African struggle has not ended. What Dr Nkrumah stood and fought for has not been achieved, so why would we want to take him out of Ghana’s history? I will not allow that and the party will not allow that either,” he said.
Funeral
On her part, Nana Yaa Jantuah said plans were in place for the party to give Dr Nkrumah a befitting funeral which would take place in November, this year.
"A befitting funeral he did not get; a restless soul which needs to rest is the bane of Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah. It is on this premise that the CPP and like-minded people in the diaspora and on the African Continent would organise a befitting funeral for Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah,” she noted.