Samia wins heart of CPP guru
A Kumasi-based veteran political activist, Opanin Kwame Afreh has congratulated Madam Samia Yaba Nkrumah on her election as Chairperson of the Convention People's Party (CPP), which her father, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah of blessed memory, founded.
Samia Nkrumah beat incumbent chairman Ladi Nylander, former chairman Edmund Delle and Madam Araba Bentsi-Entsil to the chairmanship race at the weekend, polling 1,151 votes to become the first woman to become chairman of the party, and the first woman chair person of a political party in the history Ghana.
He urged the new chairperson not to be complacent with the victory, but work hard and build a better image for the party, in order to push the CPP's agenda through, and hold the flag of the CPP high in honour of Dr. Nkrumah.
Opanin Afreh also congratulated the rank and file of the party for a successful congress, saying it was a commendable feat and sign of a united front.
Mr. Afreh said the choice of Samia Nkrumah would help rekindle unity among all Nkrumahists, and bring the vision of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah to bear on the political scene.
The veteran urged the national executives to give Samia all the support to mobilise local and foreign resources to relive Nkrumah's vision and 'historical and economical' wonders in shaping the destiny of Ghanaians and Africans.
According to him, the emergence of Samia as the CPP's chairperson should propel the CPP as a force to reckon with, and make the desired inroads in the impending elections.
Opanin Afreh advised the executives to adopt effective strategies to make the party attractive to the electorate. He said it was high time the youth in particular and Ghanaians in general, are reminded of Nkrumah's legacy which made him the great leader, and suggested that the hallmarks of these legacies in each region be catalogued and publicized for the benefit of the youth and the entire Ghanaian populace, with the objective of capturing more parliamentary seats.
He suggested that it would not be out of place for the national executives of the party to adopt campaign strategies tailored to suit each of the regions. The veteran said the campaign messages must ask constituents of the various regions to show lasting gratitude to Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah for his historical achievements, by voting 100% for CPP parliamentary candidates.
He said if this strategy is well executed, the People's National Convention (PNC) should not have a single seat in parliament from the north, where Osagyefo's far-sighted programme to add an industrious atmosphere to the savana region, modernise and strengthen the economic power of Northern Ghana and helped hundreds of people to study and work in the north.
Opanin Afreh further noted, but for Nkrumah's overthrow, the factories in the north could have made the entire Northern Ghana an economic paradise, which no government after Nkrumah had ever attempted to do.
The staunch CPP sympathiser reminded the people of the Western Region, the home of Dr. Nkrumah, to appreciate the fact that the region produces almost 75% of Ghana's resources, yet had received less attention from various governments, and urged them to make political capital of this neglect, and campaign for the CPP.
Turning to the Central Region, Opanin Afreh noted that Cape Coast, with its top educational institutions built by the late Kojo Botsio, the CPP Minister of Education under Osagyefo, should show appreciation to CPP.
He said constituents in the Ashanti Region should be reminded of the Shoe and Jute factories and State Farms at Ejura and Sekyedumase, as well as irrigation projects which provided food security.
Opanin Afreh said with this strategy, the CPP could spend less in terms of effort, time and funds, to make a peaceful and effective campaign.
As a result, he has recommended that committees should as a matter of urgency be appointed to work out the modalities of the party reaching out to the people, with election messages to attract enough votes from the populace to champion the cause of forming an alternative government in the 2012 elections.
Meanwhile, Opanin Afreh has reiterated his call on all Nkrumahists, including Dr. Kwabena Duffuor, Messrs. Asoma Banda, P. V. Obeng and the Ahwoi brothers among others, to gather resources for the reconstruction of the party.
He has also called on Mr. Abdul Malik Kwaku Baako Jnr., son of the late Comrade Kofi Baako, who he described as a fine journalist, to bring his experience to bear on CPP's proper growth.