...for political and economic emancipation

Accra, May 1, GNA - The Convention People's Party (CPP) on Thursday

urged workers to lead the struggle for political and economic emancipation. In a statement signed by Dr. Kweku Osafo, CPP spokesperson on labour issues, the party reminded workers that they played key and crucial roles in the struggle for political independence, citing strikes and protests that were crucially important to the liberation struggle in Ghana and Africa.

"The workers, in spite of the severity of the ecology of colonial rule and formidable constraints on their organizational efforts, managed to assert themselves first on political issues and then on economic questions," the CPP said. Today, the dynamism of the trade unions has slowly faded and their influence on economic and political issues is virtually non-existent. "Workers have to wake up from this present prostration and lead the struggle for economic and political emancipation," he added The CPP said like the colonial period, the same dominance of the economy by external forces still existed. It said natural resources, service and industrial sectors were all externally dominated to the detriment of workers across board. "In the new era of globalization, Ghana and Africa have lost the capacity for independent policy and have completely succumbed to the forces of neo-colonialism." The party said it would support the workers if it won the December 2008 elections.