CPP holds family Dialogue

The Chairman of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), Mr Ladi Nylander, has called on the members of the party to re-orient themselves and turn the party into a formidable political entity capable of winning elections.
In so doing, he has charged them to refrain from always cleaving to the successes of its founding fathers.
“Our generation cannot cling forever to the successes of Nkrumah, Gbedemah, Botsio, Jantuah, Amuah Awuah and the other first generation CPP leaders. We must write our own history of struggle, sacrifice, and our very survival as a viable political party must necessarily undergo some changes,” he added.
Mr Nylander was speaking at the opening of a one-day meeting dubbed “The family dialogue”. It was aimed at addressing the challenges that had bedevilled the party over the years and strategies for the way forward.
The dialogue, which was organised for some selected CPP leading members, was held behind closed doors.
Some of the leading members who presented papers were Prof. Ivan Addae Mensah, a former Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana and the General Secretary of the People’s National Party (PNP); Ambassador Kabral Blay-Amihere, Ghana’s former High Commissioner to Sierra Leone;Prof Francis Nkrumah, the son of the Dr Kwame Nkrumah; Prof. Mike Hagan, 2000 Presidential Candidate of the party; Prof. Agyeman Badu Akosa, a presidential aspirant of the party in 2008.
According to the National Chairman, the CPP’s performance in the Fourth Republic had been “disappointing”, it had not won elections, and that the CPP of today bore no resemblance to the CPP of the glorious First Republic.
He expressed the hope that the forum would provide the leading members the opportunity to brainstorm and find solutions to what he termed as the “desperate situation” of the party.
He said the party could only make a headway if the members acted with discipline and behaved as members dedicated only to the improvement of the livelihood of Ghanaians through the winning of power by a properly organised CPP.
Mr Nylander attributed the current state of affairs of the party to the actions and inaction of the members and said “what we do within these four walls in the next eight hours will determine the future of this once great party if we are serious”.
The Chairman of the Planning Committee of the programme, Mr Kojo Armah, appealed to the participants to be frank and come up with what they believed was the problem facing the party and boldly but decorously point out personal problems they had with other members of the party concerning the organisation of the CPP and suggest pragmatic ways of repositioning the party to win elections.
Most of the leading members the Daily Graphic attempted to talk to were tight-lipped about what they would discuss at the meeting and explained that it was a family dialogue meant to iron out differences and not for public consumption.
Mr B. K. Senkyire and Prof. Nii Noi Dowuona presented papers on “Party constitution and the need for a review” and “Critical look at the party and the leadership structure” respectively.
Some former party presidential aspirants and Members of the Parliament (MPs) held a panel discussion on challenges facing the party. They are Prof. Akosa, Mr Bright Akwetey, Dr Kweku Osafo, Alhaji Ibrahim Mahama, Dr F. W. A. Akuffo and Ms Samia Nkrumah.
It was moderated by Mr Blay Amihere, Mrs Monica Evans Quayson and Mrs Elizabeth Akpalu. The second discussion on the challenges facing the party was held by some chairmen and flag bearers of the party. They are Prof. Hagan, Mr George Aggudey, Dr Paa Kwesi Nduom, Prof. Abubakar Alhassan, Mr Felix Amoah, Dr Edmund Delle and Mr Donkor Ayifili.
Apart from the leading members of the party, regional executives of the party from the entire country were also present.