CPP youth to petition party over suspensions

The Youth League of the Convention People's Party (CPP), has said it will petition the party's leadership over the  suspension of its National Youth Organizer, Ernesto Yeboah and General Secretary, Nii Armah Akomfrah.

The two were suspended after they publicly contradicted the party's flagbearer, Ivor Greenstreet, over President John Mahama's Ford Expedition saga as well as petitioning the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice CHRAJ, to investigate the President.

The two have also been accused of publicly chastising and humiliating the party's flagbearer in the media after Mr. Greenstreet reportedly dismissed claims that the Ford Expedition gift to the President amounted to bribery.

The party insists that, the said the petition was a unilateral one that did not reflect its stance on the issue.

Speaking to Citi News however, Secretary to the CPP's Youth League, Hardi Yakubu, said the youth will not relent until the decision to suspend the two is reversed.

“We will in the coming days, following an official communication on the reasons for the suspension, we will seek to petition the leadership of the party to take a second look at the decisions. Because we think that, it is a very crucial moment at this point and we cannot have national officers being suspended at this crucial moment of the election year.”

The Youth League in a separate statement said it “stands shoulder to shoulder with Ernesto Yeboah and Nii Armah Akomfrah” since “we believe that they spoke and acted in the best interest of the party and of Ghanaians in general.”

Ernesto Yeboah had also told Citi News that he is not ashamed to be suspended from his position for waging war against corruption.

“We would rather seek to petition state organizations that have the required constitutional powers to ensure that the truth of the matter is ascertained and we are not reneging on that. So if we are being honest simply because of this, then we are not ashamed,” he added.

Below is the full statement from the CPP youth league:

THE YOUTH LEAGUE IS AGAINST CORRUPTION
Greetings from the Central Command of the Youth League.

The general public should by now be aware of a decision of the Central Committee of the party to supposedly suspend the Commander-in-Chief of the Youth League and the General Secretary of the party. This said decision was taken at a CC meeting held yesterday at the party headquarters.

The main reason for this supposed suspension is the decision of the Youth League to petition CHRAJ on the Ford Expedition gift saga. It must be made clear that THE YOUTH LEAGUE STANDS SHOULDER TO SHOULDER WITH ERNESTO YEBOAH and NII ARMAH AKOMFRAH. We believe that they spoke and acted in the best interest of the party and of Ghanaians in general.

In the wake of outright misinformation, malicious misrepresentation and criminal propaganda, it is necessary to set a few issues in their proper perspective.

1. The decision to petition CHRAJ was not a unilateral decision taken by Ernesto in his individual capacity. It was a decision taken by the entire leadership of the Youth League. We have communicated this clearly in previous releases.

2. It has been claimed that the position of the Youth League was against the official position of the party. For the record, the Central Committee of the party has not till date taken any position on the matter. So which official position did we contradict? Indeed, even at the CC meeting yesterday, when the matter of the suspension came up, some right thinking members of the committee asked what the party’s official position was, the contradiction of which should cause the suspension of Ernesto Yeboah and Nii Akomfrah. No one could answer that.

3. People are assuming that the position of the flagbearer is the official position of the matter. These people are under the impression that the flagbearer is the leader of the party. They could not be further from the light. Unlike other parties, in CPP, the Chairman and not the flagbearer is the leader of the party and not the flagbearer at any time. And in a meeting with the Commander-in-Chief, the Chairman and Leader, Prof Edmund Delle categorically stated that he didn’t see anything wrong with the position of the Youth League. The General Secretary also spoke in favour which is the cause of his supposed suspension as well.

4. Article 13 (j) of party’s constitution places an obligation on all party members to “study the ideals and vision of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah and be guided in action by these principles. To this end, our view on this matter is based upon the ideology of the party, previous benchmark behaviours of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah as well as his sayings and writings. Flagbearers come and go but political parties and their ideologies remain. Our duty therefore is to defend the party, its ideology and its image at all times as prescribed by the same article.

5. Many have asked what the implications of this are for the petition at CHRAJ. The simple answer is that there are no implications. The Youth League stands by the petition and we are prepared to follow through to its logical conclusion. The League is bigger than any individual.

All fighters are encouraged to stand firm and to be relentless in their fight against corruption both within and outside the party. Even if we are too young to know anything, we know that Nkrumaism is against corruption. Therefore the League is against corruption.

Revolutionary regards
Commander Hardi Yakubu
Secretary to the Youth League
–
By: Godwin A. Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana