“Under the CPP a child from any village in Ghana with talent could leave his village and attend Achimota School, or indeed any other top school in Ghana. There are many examples within the current ruling NPP government and yet those who have benefited from the CPP have gone on to disenfranchise the ordinary people and continue to denigrate the name of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah and his CPP government”. These were the words of Prof. Agyeman Badu Akosa, former Director General of Ghana Health Services, speaking at the CPP’s Monthly Forum in London. where he was the Key Note Speaker.

The Medical Professor went on to say – “ they have created a state of hopelessness and the CPP must now bring hope, our school children and young people have today been compromised and forced to do virtually anything to survive, the CPP must come to their rescue. The CPP owes it to Ghana to return to government and restore to the country the values we all learned in our youth - the love of work, humility, discipline and love of country”.

Prof Akosa said the task ahead for the CPP was not going to be easy but that the CPP owes it to Ghana to continue to organize and return to government to save the country from leaders who were greedy, arrogant, selfish, disrespect Ghanaians and hate the poor” In particular reference to the Kufour NPP government, Professor Akosa lambasted the NPP government on its failure to address the basic needs of Ghanaians ( food security, shelter, quality education, water, accessible health care delivery system) by stating that “ the NPP government has squandered the significant goodwill that the people of Ghana gave them and in line with their Danquah/Busia tradition, the welfare of the Ghanaian is not part of the NPP government agenda and whilst many Ghanaians continue to wallow in abject poverty the NPP’s arrogance, greediness, selfishness and disrespect for Ghanaians has become the order of the day. This visionless NPP government has woefully failed Ghana and the entire goodwill they received in 2001 has now been abused by sheer arrogance, greediness and opulent lifestyle of government functionaries.

Professor Akosa further accused the NPP government when he said “A country in which 42% of schooling ends before or at the end of primary level is certainly a country that is not going to move forward and that great talents, particularly among Ghanaians in the rural communities are being wasted because of the prevailing government policies. These marginalized individuals would have no choice but to hunt the Ghanaian political system.

Prof. Akosa who claimed to be a “dye in the wool” CPPist and activist paid glowing tribute to all the CPP leadership and rank and file stating “ I would like to put it on record that I am eternally grateful to all those who have worked tirelessly to keep the CPP going since 1992 in the face of the adversity and hostility from our opponents in the NDC and NPP, from the bottom of my heart I say thank you to all our elders and the young unsung heroes and heroines currently working to energize party structures” but he was quick to point out that “ we cannot allow the CPP to be stagnant and it is because of this that I and others have decided to end our political hibernation to join forces with all Nkrumaist to make the CPP electable, by making it attractive and appealing to its natural constituencies-women, workers and the youth through whose efforts Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah won independence for Ghana.

Professor Akosa ended his speech with the famous CPP song of “Work and Happiness… I will Do My Best… You Will Do Your Best…. For Beautiful Ghana” and said “The CPP is the only party in Ghana that puts the welfare of Ghanaians at the heart of its economic development agenda. We did it for Ghana and we shall do it again come 2008”

The main topic of the CPP’s London Forum this month was “Ghana’s Energy Crisis – What Are The Solutions For The Future. Professor Akosa in his submission stated that,” 40 years ago, the Akosombo was commissioned, the Russians were in Ghana to start the Bui dam, the atomic Energy Commission had been set up to explore the possibility of nuclear energy for both agriculture and industrial purposes .A Science Park was commissioned for which solar energy and renewable energy resources were fundamental to the entire scientific needs of Ghana. If 40 years ago, the CPP government did not think the Akosombo Dam was adequate for Ghana’s future energy needs how come the country abandoned all that and went to sleep? Thanks to the Danquah/Busia/NLM/UP tradition and the traitors of our country in 1966, Ghanaians are now being forced to live under a period of erratic energy supplies and misery .This shows a total lack of foresight and the willingness to think through and solve problems- these were the hallmarks of the CPP government and shall surely be the hallmark of a future CPP government: Ghana and Ghanaians deserve better”. Professor Akosa with his oratory prowess and alacrity with his speech interlaced with statistics on the Ghanaian economy got a standing ovation from the party faithful who had come to welcome one of their own.

The Chairman of the CPP UK Branch, Mr. Nii Armah Akomfrah, said “the energy crisis facing Ghana is symptomatic of the way and manner the Kufour government has handled the country’s affairs since 2001. They have shown that they have no solutions to the myriad socio-economic problems facing the country, and it is high time the NPP stop the blame game for the crisis they have plunged the nation into. This is the government that continues with its mantra “Golden Age of Business” and claims to have the interest of the private sector at heart. Yet, whilst President Kufour and his NPP government continue to chant the Golden Age of Business mantra and junket to all parts of the world to woe investors, they forget to plan for the Energy that the private sector they claim to champion needs. It is sheer incompetence and it shows that the NPP has woefully failed to deliver its “Positive Change Chapter 1 and 2.”

Various speakers contributed to a lively and informative debate noting that the CPP had long ago drawn up a blueprint for the countries energy and power needs comprising a mix of Hydro Power , Atomic(Nuclear) Power and `Solar Power. The meeting noted also that the foresight and strategic planning of the CPP government has not been displayed by subsequent governments and that the NPP government would seem not to have been aware of the energy needs of the country, and have waited for the country to be plunged into crisis and darkness before appearing to want to do something.

The meeting noted further that those who abandoned the Bui Dam Project 40 years ago were now in Government and searching for funds across the globe to finance the same Dam.

Most people at the Public forum felt that it is opportunistic for the NPP which claimed Nkrumah’s overthrow was justifiable to turn round to talk about Nuclear Energy when its antecedent Danqua/Busia tradition castigated the CPP for building the Akosombo Dam and plans for Nuclear Energy in the 1960’s.

Options discussed at the meeting included:

• Further Hydro Power Generation , which the forum felt could not be delivered in the short term and is also no longer viable due to the current ecological changes as a result of global warming drying up rivers and the water table in the West African sub-region

• Thermal Generation, which it felt risked, increased electricity prices in Ghana due to the ever increasing cost of oil.

• Nuclear Power, which the forum felt with the kind of incompetence shown by the NPP cannot plan its development and attendant safety measures associated with it, coupled with the ecological and environmental, waste and decommissioning issues.

• Solar Energy, which it felt with abundant sunshine Ghana should to be able to provide the country abundant energy for both domestic and industrial use. The view was that the NPP recalcitrant posture on the Energy issues does not have the wither all to pursue such a life-saving energy policy

• Sea Water Reverse Osmosis Desalination, which it felt with a huge coastline, Ghana should be able develop to provide drinkable fresh water whilst generating electricity at the same time.

The meeting ended with a call on government to stop its arrogant posturing of looking at the current Energy crisis from a partisan point of view to one of a bi-partisan position to assemble urgently a Team of Experts, within a short time limit to consider Short, Medium and Long Term options, and report on technical, economic, environmental, possible sites etc. Such a Task force should have within its remit all the country’s Energy policies developed since independence to enable us to find lasting solutions to the current NPP created Energy crisis.

All at the meeting agreed that there was a need to return to the strategic economic planning of the CPP which is similar to the South East Asian economies, where in most of their economic planning the “State is the Engine of Growth”. Contributions from the floor pointed to the development path of the West, including Britain, and the EU countries where their development path was led by state economic planning.

R.N.A Akomfrah

Chairman For Convention People’s Party (CPP) United Kingdom and Ireland Secretariat