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28.03.2007 General News

CPP, Patriots Forge Ahead In Unity

28.03.2007 LISTEN
By Daily Graphic

The Convention People's Party (CPP) has set the tone to mend its ways, forge ahead in a united front and in readiness for the 2008 general elections.

This was amply manifested in the manner in which the party's national executive and some members of the party known as “The Patriots” came together to formally open a refurbished regional secretariat and offices of the New Juaben South and North constituencies in the Eastern Region.

The commissioning of the offices together with the seven others which were commissioned last week formed part of the 12 party offices secured and refurbished by the Patriots in the Eastern Region for the CPP.

Hitherto, the relationship between the two had been characterised by suspicion and anytime The Patriots tried to open a new office for the party, the national executive would boycott the event and in some cases, open another office in the same area.

Last week, a feuding group in the party that had taken the national executive to court for dereliction of duty agreed to an out-of-court settlement, all in the interest of party's unity.

However, at the Koforidua function, which could be described as one of the largest gathering of CPP youth in recent times, the leadership of the Patriots and the party echelon, led by the National Chairman and Leader of the party, Dr Edmund Delle, sat at the high table.

The immediate past Director-General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Professor Agyeman Badu Akosa, was the toast of all, as he led the youth to sing 'jama songs' while dancing at the same time to the admiration of the gathering.

After a procession of about 20 cars decorated with CPP paraphernalia had gone through the principal streets of Koforidua, members of the party and their leadership opened the regional office, which is located near the former Children's Hospital and later proceeded to the Kama Conference Hall for the main speeches.

Apparently elated by the sight of the numerous youth at the function, the Chairman of the Patriots, Mr Eric Benyarko, said that the large number of youth was enough indication that the CPP was not a party for the old people because “90 per cent of the people here are below 25 years.”

He urged members of the party to stop the petty bickering and solve the problems of the party, which was primarily the organisation of its structures.

He said the party would be holding its national congress soon, and challenged the youth to take up positions at the wards, constituencies and the regional levels.

Mr Benyarko called on members of the party who would attend the congress as delegates to vote for committed, capable and hardworking executives who had the progress of the party at heart.

Dr Delle, ostensibly referring to the Patriots, said “what has happened today should tell Ghanaians that the CPP is united. We are one indivisible party”.

“Never again should we allow people to divide our ranks, because we are capable of winning power,” he said.

He said the party did not discriminate against any one. “We regard each member as an equal hence the accolade 'comrade' used to describe each other.

Dr Delle, who said he was enthused about the turnout, decried the canker of ethnocentrism creeping into the Ghanaian society and said that was a situation the CPP had always abhorred and urged Ghanaians to close their ranks.

He said the party's detractors, in their bid to run it down, branded the CPP party as the preserve of the aged or the old and that the patronage of the event was a manifestation that the party was an epitome of a well established family where the old were always on hand to use their experience to guide the youth.

He urged the membership of the party and Ghanaians in general to contribute their quota to the development of the party to enable it win back political power and to better the lives of Ghanaians and never to ask what the party could do for them.

Story by A. Kofoya-Tetteh

& Donald Ato Dapatem

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