General News of Friday, 28 April 2006

Source: GNA

CPP commemorates Nkrumah's death anniversary

Accra, April, GNA 28 - A wreath laying ceremony was held in Accra on Thursday to commemorate the 34th anniversary of the death of Dr Kwame Nkrumah.

Dr Edmund Delly, Chairman of the Convention People's Party (CPP), said the ceremony was to remember the "most illustrious political figure in the 20th century" and to renew the comradeship of all Nkrumaists both at home and abroad to vigorously pursue his ideals.

He said the task of rebuilding the Party required a revival of comradeship and commitment, in order for the Party supporters to work assiduously to close the rank and file of the CPP, and facilitate the harnessing of human and material resources to forge the task ahead. He said the task to revive the Party demanded selflessness and sacrifice, devoid of unbridled ambition and acrimony saying: "We must rededicate ourselves to the vision and ideals of Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, a Pan-Africanist par excellence and Founder of Ghana". Dr Delly noted that there was also the need for the re-dedication of efforts to assist in facilitating the functional roles of the CPP's organisational structures and officials, in order to attain the Nkrumah's objective for peace.

The CPP, he said, was still committed to Nkrumah's vision for Ghana to become socially stable; politically united; independent and economically free and prosperous and opposed acts such as, elitism and intellectual arrogance that sought to marginalise the broad masses of the people.

He noted that it was only when the human and material resources of a country was fully utilised, especially among its women and youth, that the country could break the frontiers of ignorance, poverty and exploitation.

He called on Ghanaians to commit themselves to the noble objectives of the ideals for equality for all and to ensure the emancipation of women and the under privileged.

Mr Dan Lartey, Leader of the Great Consolidated People's Party (GCPP), in his solidarity message also tasked the CPP to focus on the Nkrumaist ideals, because it was time for the Party to take stock of all issues breaking its untied front.

He said the CPP could only win elections with a united front, and when it was able to package its information well, to tell Ghanaians how its policies could improve their economic conditions.

Mr Lartey said the country needed good governance to harness its natural and human resource to achieve development and that gaining confidence in the citizenry was crucial, especially the youth. Dr Kwaku Osafo, an economic consultant and comrade of the CPP, also said the prophetic words of Dr Nkrumah had been fulfilled with the liberation of all African States and the emergence of neo-colonialism, as he predicted.

"Indeed neo-colonialism is the cousin of modern day globalization because it has not relaxed the grip of imperialists over the wealth of the Continent", he said.

Dr Osafo said the dignity and self-esteem of the Continent was now at its ebb and patriotism was no longer fashionable for most Africans. He noted that the CPP, a vanguard party that liberated a whole Continent was "now a shadow of itself with it's kneels splinted into factions, and groups with no commitment to ideals and seriously under torture".

Dr Osafo advised the Party functionaries to work with honesty, transparency, and dedication to rebuild it to win the Elections 2008, since that was the only lasting tribute that the Party could pay to Dr Nkrumah.