I am Comrade Divine Nkrumah, ardent member of the Convention People’s Party and the author of this book titled “Shackles of C.P.P”. I would like it to be known to the general public that though maximum efforts were geared towards the December elections by the Convention People’s Party, it resulted in the abysmal performance which brought about a shock-fever griping the entire nation. This poor performance by C.P.P. imbued in me the passion to delve critically into what had been the cause of this ‘bane’. The question of poor performance of the C.P.P. has been my sphere of interest over the past few months after the 2008 elections. I have lived within, observed and experienced the poor performance; all in an attempt to answer this question: “why is C.P.P. not thriving on the Ghanaian political platform”? The end result is this little book titled SHACKLES OF C.P.P.
This book highlights a lot of factors which include various aspects like the negative attitude of executives, self interest in the party, activities of Parliamentary Candidates & Polling Agents, Credibility of Paa Kwesi Ndoum, Party’s Mouthpiece etc. They have been cited as areas to be looked at for possible solutions which have been tried but to no avail.
Let us be honest about just what went on here. It wasn’t a case of a surprise upset here and there. What happened was a complete utter and virtually unrelieved disaster. The news was so bad and so utterly shocking that, media pundit couldn't think of a thing to say about it for days. In fact, the performance by C.P.P. in the 2008 general election was worse than ever, because it was so unexpected. It looks quite abysmal to realize that “our C.P.P.” could not even reach the ladder of at least 2% of the total percentage of vote cast. This was very not worth mentioning and embarrassing to all die-hard comrades like myself.
The awful performance of the C.P.P. in the 2008 general election can be attributed to a wide range of factors, the discussion of which I believe, would require more than my only point of view.
• NATIONAL EXECUTIVES & SOME MEMBERS The C.P.P. which contested the 2008 general elections had in its set-up some very dominant forces, prominent amongst them was the left and right elements. Faced with this situation, there was a clash of ideologies which reflected on the choice of direction the party must take if it were to make any significant headway. This became more evident after the party's congress to elect the flag bearer and other executives of the party. Some members of the party who failed in their bid to be elected or other persons whom they preferred for certain positions in the party, resorted to activities that tended to derail the credibility of the party as a formidable one, capable of winning the elections. It is evident that the bizarre and poor performance which C.P.P. suffered in the 2008 general election is as a result of ineffectiveness, incompetence and complacency that characterised the activities of some party national executives. From top to down, some of executives were confused and had no clue.
• SELF INTEREST Some people entered into the party to further their own interests without taking the interests of the party into consideration. The individuals did not lend credence to any philosophy that requires the sacrifice of self devotion without benefits. In relation to self-interest, it was simple greed or the concept, in which people acted according to their own selfishness. These foot soldiers were by nature untrustworthy, malevolent and self-serving, and thus maintain their act of amassing wealth through exploitative and deceitful actions in the party. When people chose to help the flag bearer, they did so ultimately because of the personal benefits that they themselves expected to obtain, directly or indirectly from doing so. No matter how spiritually committed they appeared to be, their real concern was with their own pocketbooks.
• PARLIAMENTARY CANDIDATES & POLLING AGENTS These so called polling agents and M.P.s were affiliated one way or the other to one of the two major opposition parties that is NPP and NDC. For this reason, even on the eve of election, these people could not exhibit any form of commitment but rather combined seriousness with expensive jokes. They could not distinguish between transparency, fairness and status quo of negligence of duties and responsibilities. It is quite evident that some of them have the reflections of other party colours in the kind of politics they assume to be practicing.
• RELEGATION OF ACTIVISTS AND PROMINENT MEMBERS FROM THE PARTY These are the people who are in constant touch with the grassroots and those who mattered so long as the running of the party is concerned. They have what it takes to rally the masses around a certain agenda. Neglecting such people was suicidal and a stab in the back of the C.P.P especially at a time when N.P.P. and N.D.C. had waged a vicious campaign for the elections.
• CREDIBILITY OF DR. PAA KWESI NDOUM ( FLAGBEARER ) It is important to reckon that, reasons we can assign as accounting for the C.P.P's poor performance were the unrealistic, unjustifiable and untimely charges leveled against Dr. Paa Kwesi Ndoum by some members; which to a very large extent undermined the credibility of Dr. Ndoum. Some few national executives went a step further to pull off several antics during the electioneering era with the express purpose of impeding Dr Nduom's presidential bid. On the other hand, Dr. Ndoum's inability to disapprove or deny the charges as raised against him, left bad impressions on the minds of people and led some individuals including members of his party to doubt the confidence supposed in him as a flag bearer and subsequently if his successful election as a president.
These and other issues have been cited as factors which contributed to the C.P.P.s poor performance in the 2008 general elections.
A closer look at our party shows that irrespective of what happens nothing seems to go right. Most remedies that have been successful in other parties are virtual disasters in our case. This work is not only meant to prescribe solutions to the obstructions of our progress but to trigger off the continuous and a more critical discussion on the question of growth generally. It is expected that by provoking the ‘comrades’ of the party, they would be compelled to take a closer look at themselves. This could eventually develop into a culture. The ultimate objective of this work is to initiate a fresh approach to the search for solutions to the plight of failure. If the issue is well illuminated it could be easier for most committed members to provide the right prescription for the symptom.
Long Live C.P.P., Long Live Ghana.
Thank you.