Pratt calls on CPP to rise above individual ambitions

A leading member of the Convention People's Party (CPP), Mr Kwesi Pratt Jnr, has called on the rank and file of the party to rise above individual ambitions which have weakened the party and rather unite to form a viable party to win power in order to defend the philosophy, legacy and name of Dr Kwame Nkrumah.

He said the failure of the members to form a strong and united CPP had offered the detractors of the founder of the party, Dr Kwame Nkrumah the opportunity to denigrate him because the CPP was not in a position to defend him.

"The opponents of Dr Nkumah still hold sway in Ghanaian politics and are able to mobilise their forces to malign the name of Dr Nkrumah and oppose the decision to make his birthday a national holiday", he added.

Mr Pratt was speaking at a public lecture on the topic, "The Fallacy of the Big Six" organised by the Greater Accra branch of the party in Accra on Thursday.

"Instead of rallying together to build a viable and strong political force to fight neo-colonialism, we are concentrating our efforts on individual ambitions of a few people who will want to lead us to nowhere", he said.

He added that with the current staggering state of the party, it would be a fallacy for anyone to believe that he or she could become its presidential candidate and use such weak structures to the presidential elections.

He also appealed to the party's members especially the leadership, to stop the blame game and added that in the recent history of the party some members had found it pleasant to blame the leadership and brand them as inept thus calling for their dismissal, while the leadership also blamed the party members for sitting on the fence.

"How different is the debate in the party today concerning the leadership, from when Dr Edmund Delle was the chairman," he asked.

According to Mr Pratt, the only antidote to the current woes of the party was the recruitment and education of cadres as well as regular meetings to discuss the welfare and the forward match of the party as well as the mobilisation of funds from the membership.

He said since the formation of a party was an intellectual exercise, the CPP must make conscious effort to ensure that members understood the economic and social situation pertaining in the country and the party's position on them.

Mr Pratt said because Dr Nkrumah imbued the members of the party with good education, people like Mr Krobo Edusei who had very little education could work assiduously in the First Republic to become one of the best ministers in Ghanaian history.

Touching on the topic, "The Fallacy of the Big Six" he alleged that Dr J.B. Danquah and other members of the UGCC could not be described as members of the Big Six because they never provided any leadership role in the fight for independence.

He described them as "enemies" of the Republic of Ghana because they connived with the colonial masters in their bid to thwart the independence struggle.

"The ideas of Dr Nkrumah which included mass mobilisation, strikes, agitation and propaganda to overthrow the colonial rulers was against what J.B. Danquah and others stood for. They believed in accommodation and negotiations” , Mr Pratt said.

He, said Dr Nkrumah would remain the founder .of the nation because he provided an outstanding leadership role in the formation of the state of Ghana.

Mr Kosi Dede, another leading member of the party, for his part said there was nothing like the Big Six, and explained that apart from Dr Nkrumah and some chiefs and grass root members, Dr J. B. Danquah and others played no role in the independence struggle.

He said Dr Nkrumah had already started mobilising Blacks in the Diaspora for the independence battle and that was what made the members of the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC) to invite and make him their General Secretary.

He said if there were other persons who needed to be remembered for their contribution towards the independence, it should not be Dr J.B. Danquah, Mr Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey and Dr K. A. Busia but the market women and members of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) who held high the flame of the struggle.