After frank and serious discussions at its Family Dialogue, the Convention People’s Party (CPP) has decided that strict adherence to disciplinary codes and membership drive are part of the main antidote to the party’s dwindling fortunes.
Consequently, the party has decided to focus on these two areas to turn its fortunes around and to be able to win elections in future.
With the disciplinary whip, they agreed that it should be applied rigorously to CPP members who openly declare their support for other political parties and their candidates.
According to a source at the one-day Family Dialogue which ended last Saturday, they noted that lack of internal discipline over the years had contributed to the woes of the party, and that the earlier the PCP constitution was amended to implement the very biting rules and regulations the better.
The meeting of nearly 100 leading members of the party, including current and former presidential candidates and aspirants, national chairmen and general secretaries, member of parliament as well as regional executives from all over the country, was considered successful by many party members.
Some of the leading members who gathered included all the current national executive headed by its chairman, Mr Laid Nylander, 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 Dr Kwame Nkrumah; Prof. Mike Hagan, Dr Paa Kwesi Nduom, the 2000 and 2008 Presidential candidates respectively of the party.
Others are Prof. Agyeman Badu Akosa, Dr Kweku Osafo, Mr Bright Akwetey, presidential aspirants of the party in 2008. Prof. Abubakar Alhassan, Mr Felix Amoah and Mr Donkor Ayifili.
As a first move, the party had proposed an early national executive congress to be followed by another congress to elect its flag bearer, but this would be preceded by amendment to the party’s constitution so that it would be adopted by the congress.
It said ambitious reorganisation and rebranding of the party coupled with uncompromising adherence to disciplinary codes would make the party attractive to both the youth who form a greater segment of the population as well as sources of funding.
Another issue that cropped up was the long talked about unity talks with the People’s National Convention (PNC), and although this had not been achieved over the years,the members agreed that new strategies must be evolved to bring all Nkrumaist political parties under one umbrella.
The source said the family dialogue was one of the activities marking the 60th anniversary of the formation of the CPP as well as the centenary celebration of the birth of Dr Kwame Nkrumah, the founder of the party.
Opening the dialogue, Mr Nylander called on 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 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.
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.
The dialogue, which was organised for some selected CPP leading members, was held behind closed doors.
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