CPP, Blay reconcile

After weeks of wrangling that also culminated in a legal tussle, the Convention People's Party (CPP) has finally agreed to the candidature of Mr Freddie Blay as the party's aspirant for the Ellembele seat in the upcoming parliamentary election.

This was the outcome of a Central Committee meeting held in Accra on Tuesday.

The Chairman of the party, Mr Ladi Nylander, disclosed this development to the Daily Graphic soon after the meeting.

According to Mr Nylander, the meeting was attended by a high-powered grouping, including Mr Blay himself, who did not mince words explaining his position to the committee.

The CPP Chairman further said the meeting had been held in an atmosphere that depicted the building of a united, peaceful party determined to win the elections.

He described the meeting as one of the good things that had happened to the party because it gave all contending parties the opportunity to go through the various motions in a frank and cordial manner.

"In every family there are problems, but we rally together in times of trouble and find the way forward, without compromising principles," he told the Daily Graphic.

He said the party had reached an amicable settlement, sorted out its differences and was ready to work in harmony in the larger and supreme interest of the party.

Earlier in the day, the party's flag-bearer, Dr Paa Kwesi Nduom, had played a mediating role prior to the Central Committee meeting.

When he was contacted after the meeting, he told the Daily Graphic, "I felt 1 had to step in and lead to resolve the matter."

According to Dr Nduom, he had met with Mr Blay, who is also the First Deputy Speaker of Parliament and incumbent MP for Ellembele, as well as the leadership of the party, just before the Central Committee meeting to interact with them on the issue and find an amicable way of resolving it.

He said discussions with the leadership of the party had been positive and that he had been able to get the support of the party leadership to allow Mr Blay to contest the seat.

He added that he had also been in discussion with Mr Blay and had made him aware of the sentiments in the party.

"I made him aware that there was a strong desire to see the CPP stand on its feet. I wanted to seek confirmation from him whether we are fighting the same battle - to build a CPP capable of winning elections. We are okay with each other; we are on the same page. I don't find an area of disagreement", Dr Nduom stated.

The CPP flag bearer explained that initially he had refused to make any public comment on the issue because he was confident in the ability of the National Executive and the Central Committee to resolve the issue amicably.

He said he had rather committed himself to the field where he was building the party to win the confidence of the people and let them know that the CPP was ready to govern the nation.

"When the court action came up, I realised that there was something more serious," he stated.

He said all along he had been assured that the issue would be resolved before judgement was given by the court.

Dr Nduom emphasised that the Central Committee never annulled the results of the elections that made Mr Blay the party's parliamentary aspirant for Ellembele.

"What the committee had said was that it objected to what had happened at Ellembele and wanted Mr Blay to explain what had happened," he stated.

Dr Nduom said the reference to his (Dr Nduom's) support of the NPP presidential aspirant in the past was baseless, as the position of the party then was different from its position today.