The Convention People’s Party soon goes to congress to elect a National Executive Officers to steer the affairs of the party for the 2012 national elections and beyond. This appears to be a critical moment for the party as for the very first time leadership positions of the party are being keenly contested. This is in part due to the appearance on the scene of Hon. Samia Yaba Nkrumah, the daughter of the Late Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of the Republic of Ghana and the founder of the CPP. Ever since Samia declared her intension to seek the chairmanship, she has faced a stiff opposition and mud sliding from certain corners. A group amongst current leadership see her as a threat to the positions they have enjoyed at the top of the party. They sense the rallying call by the masses for a wind of change in the CPP, different tactics have thus been employed to stifle Samia’s attempt and thwart this wind of change. Despite the frustration amongst Ghanaians due to the failure of NDC/NPP, the CPP has been unable to take advantage and finds itself in a terrible position. The party now needs a new breed of leadership that will propel it to it rightful place in Ghanaian politics.



Leadership of the CPP has for so long been detached from the grassroots, leading to lack of proper organisation of party structures on the ground, a situation resulting in some of the chaos, misunderstanding and the court suits witnessed during constituency and regional elections across the country. As a parliamentarian, Samia has been in close contact with her constituency, visiting her constituents at least ones every month to see to their needs under difficult circumstances. In a similar fashion, she will build close relationships with regions, constituencies, grassroots and ordinary members to ensure appropriate party structures and discipline are maintained at all levels.



Lack of accountability and transparency has been a big issue for the CPP. The absence of regular, detailed program and report on the state of the party to ordinary members has contributed immensely to the demise of the party. Samia during her campaign for the chairmanship has spoken strongly about the need for accountability and transparency within the CPP. Doing things the ‘old ways’, seeking office but not performing the required duties and not being accountable to membership should be a thing of the past. CPP needs a leadership that will seek to serve the people and not themselves, we need a leadership that will show transparency, we need a leadership that will be accountable to ordinary card bearing and dues paying members of the CPP. Samia is ready and willing to provide such leadership.



The CPP leadership has always thought success for the party could only be achieved by aligning with NPP or NDC. They do not seem to believe in their ability and confidence to organise the CPP into a strong force to independently contest and win elections. The party leaders are comfortable with the CPP doing back deals to win seats. If our opponents felt they could win the seats in their own right, they would not collude with the CPP leadership. These deals have only served our opponents, served the interests of a few leading members of CPP and provided a very weak voice for the CPP in parliament.



Samia in her quest for parliamentary seat contested against and defeated a very powerful NDC candidate in the person of Lee Ocran, and a strong NPP candidate. She did not need help or alliance from any other party, group or individual apart from the support from CPP members and her campaign team. Samia, as the chairperson will organise and lead an independent CPP to contest elections in the country. On entering parliament, Samia sought an independent voice for the CPP, our previous parliamentarians always aligned themselves with the NPP or NDC and this action of Samia’s goes to prove her determination to organise and lead a CPP independent of the other two main parties.



Since Samia burst unto the political scene and declared her interest to contest for the CPP chairmanship, she has faced numerous attacks on her personality, with certain corners describing her as greedy for vying for the chair as well as her constituency. Have these people forgotten that we have had and still have ministers in Ghana (including CPP members who recently served in governments) who doubled as parliamentarians? Some voices are also calling her inexperienced, again forgetting that the abundant experience they claim to have hasn’t really cut the mustard for the CPP. Being the only candidate who has won a seat in parliament for the CPP without the help from any of our opponents implies that all the accusations against Samia are made out of fear and sheer jealousy.



The CPP is not a gentlemen’s club nor is it an arm of certain person(s) cooperate institution. It is a political party seeking to win power to serve the good people of Ghana. The party cannot continue to attract just 1% of electoral votes. We need a change in leadership, a leadership that will provide strong opposition to both NDC and NPP as they have proved to be the same. We need a leadership that will not go into hibernation after congress and wake up just before the next congress. We need a leadership that will instil confidence in the CPP that we can win without aligning with any other party. Samia Yaba Nkrumah will provide that able leadership and we urge delegates at the upcoming congress to vote overwhelmingly for her as the next Chairperson of the Convention People’s Party.



Forward Ever Backwards Never



Young Nkrumaist Movement