The CPP will be going to Congress soon to elect a new national executive in what is turning out to be the most fiercely contested national officer elections in the party since the advent of the 4th Republic. This is also the first time that the CPP is separating the election of national officers from that of the presidential candidate. The objective it seems is to give the newly elected executives some time to bond and strengthen their hold on the party before a presidential candidate shows up. This way it is argued will prevent a presidential candidate from "highjacking" the party. The new executives it is felt must ensure that the party is supreme.

It seems that to some people, this is all about Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom. So even contests to elect constituency elections have been turned into Nduom and Against camps. The regional conferences held so far have not disappointed in that regard. In Koforidua, when someone won or lost, some sent text messages that Nduom has won/lost! Reports indicate that the Upper East results sent the Against Nduom (AN) people regrouping to find an antidote to the scramble by contestants to be seen as "Nduomites". All of this has been happening while Dr. Nduom himself has been away most of the time in recent months in Canada and the USA on business assignment. Reliable sources tell us that Central Committee meetings held to solve problems that arise from constituency and regional elections have been turned into sessions to determine how to reduce the Nduom influence by the ANs. It is reported that anyone who is losing a contest or unsure of himself/herself quickly blames "movement" people. For the benefit of the uninitiated, the movement is the organisation Dr. Nduom is reputed to have formed with teachers, nurses, traders and young people in 2006. It is these people who it is said helped him win at congress in 2007. This as opposed to the patriots who were made up of lawyers, professors, business owners and medical doctors. These are the people stuck in Accra, collecting money and waiting for regional conferences and the national congress to go and use the funds to win votes to their side. In other words, hoping to reap where they had not sowed.

Professor Badu Akosa who is nursing ambitions to contest to become CPP's flag bearer for the 2012 elections has aligned himself with the campaign of Samia Nkrumah to become the new chairman of the party. He has been on radio station after radio station endorsing her while at the same time condemning the current chairman Ladi Nylander who somehow he blames for his defeat in the 2007 attempt to become the CPP flag bearer for the 2008 elections. In what seems like a choreographed attack reminiscent of what they did to derail the CPP's 2008 elections, the Akosa team seem to have thrown caution to the wind in a seeming zero sum battle to as they put it, rid the CPP of people they do not approve. Sometimes it appears as if this is all a rehearsal for making excuses or even withdrawing from the party should the Akosa/Samia/Akomfrah/Hamdatu/Rauf/Ayarna team lose at congress.

It is clear that the CPP will change after the 2011 congress. What is brewing is a battle for the heart and soul of the party. Will it become the party of entitlement with positions assigned to children and relatives of pre-1966 party leaders or a grassroots party of hard work and sacrifice in which people get what they work for?

What we know for sure is that the CPP needs people willing to invest time and money at the grassroots/community level to help organize the party to become an effective political force. This should not be all about Nduom. It must be about building a mass party Ghanaians will like to vote into power soon.


KINGSLEY SEGUM
CPP ACTIVIST - OSU KORLEY-CLOTTEY
kingsbec@gmail.com