“Unite or Perish”, Samia warns at Joint Session of Brong Ahafo CPP and PNC Executives in Sunyani

The Honourable member of Jomorro, Madam Samia Nkrumah, on Saturday the 8th of January, told a joint session of the Brong Ahafo CPP and PNC Regional and Constituency Executives and leading Nkrumaist in the region in no uncertain terms that the unity of the Nkrumaist before 2012 is not a luxury but a matter of survival.

Paying tribute to the founders of the tradition, Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, Alhaji Imoru Egala, Dr Hilla Limann, she challenged the CPP, PNC and other Nkrumaists to commemorate the anniversary of the declaration of Positive Action with their own positive action to rebuild and re-group as a political tradition.

She identified the goal of all Nkrumaists as “a vibrant political party that will serve the interests of the average Ghanaian”. The vision she said “is people-centred, that is a vision of a people enjoying a high standard of living through economic, social and political activities that involve the harnessing of their energies to exploit the vast pool of our national resources.” This, in practical terms she said means “creating jobs for our people, providing shelter, health facilities, and affordable and quality education for both young and old.”

This Nkrumaist vision she said, “is still relevant today as it was immediately after independence in order to empower our people.”

She recognised and commended the Brong Ahafo Regional and Constituency Executives of the PNC and CPP for working for unity at the grassroots level long before any other group.

In their respective statements, both Regional Chairmen also buttressed the need for the two parties to unite and expressed their wish for Hon Nkrumah to contest for the National Executive position within the CPP. In his statement, the PNC Regional Chairman Nana Kyeremeh also made it clear that he was not deterred by the threat of being expelled from the party for campaigning for unity. The CPP Regional Chairman B.K. Ameyaw further stated that he envisaged a unity where only one candidate would be fielded also as a way to use resources meaningfully. Constituency Executives from both the PNC and the CPP who spoke also pledged their commitment to the unity at all levels particularly those in constituencies who had already made plans to field only one candidate at the next general election.

The CPP and PNC women also pledged their support to Honourable Nkrumah if she would see through her intention to contest for the Chairperson of the CPP.

The joint session held in Sunyani is part of a series of sessions being organised under the auspices of Nkrumah Rising, a group composed of young elements within the CPP and the PNC whose objective is to create sufficient pressure at the grassroots to bring the two parties together. It follows the one held earlier in Wa in the Upper West Region in November 2010 where Hon Nkrumah announced her intention to contest for the Chairperson position of the CPP. At that session, both the Upper West Regional and Constituency Executives wholly endorsed her intention and pledged their support to her, other pro-unity candidates and the goal of a united Nkrumaist political party for 2012.

Full Statement

Statement by Hon. Saima Nkrumah, CPP Member of Parliament for Jomoro at Nkrumah Rising Brong Ahafo Regional Forum on January 8, 2011 at the Teacher Hall, Sunyani

Mr. Chairman, Regional and Constituencies Chairmen of the PNC and CPP Elders of the Nkrumaists Family in Brong Ahafo Region Members of Nkrumah Rising Comrades Brothers and Sisters Friends from the Media

I am very pleased to be here with you this morning. I know you have all travelled across the length and breadth of the region to be here. Your presence here shows your commitment to ensuring that we re-build a vibrant and attractive Nkrumaist Party.

Mr. Chairman, permit me to pay tribute to the founder of the Nkrumaist movement, Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, Alhaji Imoru Egala, Dr Hilla Limann, of blessed memory, and all those who have held the fort and kept the flame alive despite all the travails and temptations.

Mr. Chairman, today marks an important landmark not only in the history of the CPP but also in the history of Ghana. Today we are commemorating the anniversary of the declaration of Positive Action, which signalled a change in strategy in the struggle for independence. This day has relevance to our meeting today because we are in an era where we now need another positive action to rebuild and re-group as a political tradition. The passive sympathy and goodwill of the majority of our people must be converted into active participation in the effort to rejuvenate the Nkrumaist movement.

This is why the Nkrumah Rising project is so dear to my heart. It calls us to change the way we have done things in the past. In the past, unity has been talked about at the top. Today, we are taking the unity talks from the grassroots. We want to make sure that you are part of the unity process and that we have your blessings. It is our belief that you are significant stakeholders in the unity process and that is why we are here with you to take the unity agenda one step further.

Permit me to quote Dr. Kwame Nkrumah in his book AFRICA MUST UNITE, “Looking back, and trying to determine the reasons for the successful outcome of our struggle for freedom, one factor stands out above all others, namely, the strength of a well-organized political party, representative of the broad mass of the people…” He also advised us to, “Go to the people, Live among them, Learn from them, Love them, Serve them, Plan with them, Start with what they know, Build on what they have.”

Comrades, Brothers and Sisters, since 1992 unity amongst the Nkrumaist parties has eluded us but we are at a junction where we either unite or we perish. We must unite or perish.

Unity between the CPP and PNC and other Nkrumaist groups is not a luxury but an absolute necessity if we want to win political power in order to transform our country. This cannot be achieved by a tradition that boasts of not more than three Members of Parliament. We must start to do things in a different way.

Doing things in a different way requires a different mind-set.

What do I mean by a different mind-set? We have grown accustomed to the belief that the Nkrumaist tradition as represented by the CPP and PNC cannot got beyond three percent of the national vote and all we can offer as a political tradition is to base our fortune on other political parties. Is this the tradition we want? I have no doubt that all of you will agree with me that this is not what we want.

What we want is a vibrant political party that will serve the interests of the average Ghanaian and that means that we have to return to our roots and re-connect with the people and the people must own our political party. It is only by this way that the political party will remain relevant to their hopes and aspirations.

We in the PNC and CPP are descendents of the same tradition. We are a family and no matter our current challenges, it is imperative that a tradition like ours emphasises unity above all else. Symbols and names are important but we have to learn to focus on what unites us. If we look at our manifestoes, there is very little that divides us. We have more in common than we think and all we have to do is to have faith in the Nkrumaist vision and work towards it. So what is our vision?

Our vision is people-centred, that is a vision of a people enjoying a high standard of living through economic, social and political activities that involve the harnessing of their energies to exploit the vast pool of our national resources. In practical terms this means creating jobs for our people, providing shelter, health facilities, and affordable and quality education for both young and old. Our vision is still relevant today as it was immediately after independence in order to empower our people.

Empowering our people on the basis of our vision can however not occur in a vacuum or in an atmosphere of weakness. This is the time for the PNC, CPP and GCPP and other Nkrumaist groups to form a formidable, unified, alternative political force to contest 2012 elections as one Nkrumaist Party. Let us promise never to allow a situation whereby the CPP and PNC field candidates for the same constituency only to allow another political party candidate to win the seat.

It is against this background that I intend to contest for Chairmanship and leadership of the CPP in order to facilitate and cement the unity agenda that is before us.

Before I conclude, I would like to specially commend the Brong Ahafo Regional Executives of the PNC and CPP for working together long before any other group started talking about unity on the ground. We recognize your pioneering role in this endeavour and I am here to be part of this process without which our revival as a one Nkrumaist Party will not be possible.

We must unite or perish. We must unite or perish. We must unite or perish.

Forward Ever, Backward Never!

Forward Ever, forward with vision!

Forward Ever, service with honesty!