SACK ME & MAKE MY DAY

Dr. Paa Kwesi duom (left), Samia Yaaba Nkrumah, CPP Chairman(right)

Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom, the Convention Peoples Party's (CPP) presidential hopeful for the 2012 general elections, who is at the center of whirling controversies in the party, has dared those seeking to expel him from the party to be quick with their action.

The internal bickering within the CPP assumed warhead status when in an uncharacteristic manner, the Chairman of the party, Madam Samia Nkrumah, launched a blistering attack on Dr. Nduom, accusing him of gross indiscipline, and waging a relentless campaign to demoralise sympathisers and well-wishers of the party.

Samia backed her accusations on the premise that her office had traced all the negative publications about the party and her person as chairman to the office of Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom.

She was of the view that Dr. Nduom was behind plots to undermine her authority, and orchestrate a campaign to derail the party's progress.

She served notice that her administration was ready to go to any length to ensure that all persons within the party live by the tenets of its constitution and guard its integrity, even if it meant expelling persons such as Dr. Nduom from the party.

'We will not tolerate this nonsense any more. Enough is enough,' she stressed. According to her, the party would not tolerate anymore acts of indiscipline, and would go the long haul to stop it.

Meanwhile, the spokesperson for Dr. Nduom, Kofi Asamoah-Siaw, in a quick response, has called the bluff of the Chairman, asked her to go ahead and sack Dr. Nduom.

'If  Samia Nkrumah and Ivor Greenstreet are looking to push Dr. Nduom out from the CPP on trumped up charges, because they know any congress held today, tomorrow, December, May or November 2012, will elect him (Nduom) as the CPP's presidential candidate, then we ask them, why bother?  If that is the objective, then we say to Samia and Greenstreet, sack him NOW!'

Dr. Nduom's troubles in the CPP have been his call for an early congress to elect a presidential candidate for the 2012 general elections. This call seems to have been the last straw to break the camel's back, exposing an ugly power struggle that threatens the very existence of the CPP.

The party Chairman, Samia Nkrumah, maintains that what the CPP needs now is to increase its visibility and profile at the grassroots, among other party structures, and not to rush into fielding a candidate who would only score a paltry 1.3% at the polls, but Dr Nduom and his followers beg to differ on this approach.

'We want to state that if wanting the CPP to be more serious about being a contender for BOTH parliamentary and presidential elections in 2012 makes Dr. Nduom an unwanted person in the CPP, then we want him to be proud to be different.

'If by supporting the CPP with 60 constituency offices, offering to sponsor 50 parliamentary candidates, and making available 50 motorcycles and 15 vehicles for the ten regions, makes Dr. Nduom a cause for disunity in the CPP, then we ask him to stand firm and proudly, and be different from those who are bringing confusion into the CPP,' Nduom's spokesperson noted.

At a news conference, which was heavily guarded by armed policemen at the CPP head office in Accra yesterday, Samia Nkrumah reiterated her resolve to stamp her authority to increase the fortunes of the party, and also 'to break my silence on certain calculated attempts to discredit the new leadership of the party.'

She noted that processes had begun to make the CPP visible at the grassroots, while keeping links with her international partners. 'Before arriving at any decision on behalf of the party, I have always sought consensus, and I am happy to say that the majority of the party is behind me.

'Our party is not divided, and what is perceived as division, is what I, as leader and chairperson of the party, consider as indiscipline, selfishness, and an attempt to impose a course of action on the whole party by Paa Kwesi Nduom, a course of action that in the past has only got our presidential candidate 1.3% of the national vote. This is unacceptable,' she asserted.

She noted that on the priority list of the new leadership for developing the party are – Increasing the visibility and profile of the party, reconstituting the Central Committee, launching a membership drive, begin polling station organisation, strengthening the party at all levels, opening offices in all constituencies and regions as needed, holding outstanding regional congresses, conclude legal disputes and fundraising in the name of the party for the party.

She noted that the party would soon finalise the formation of the remaining committees, headed by their respective chairpersons to 'work on Ideological Clarity to sharpen our message and make it relevant to today's global and national circumstances and challenges.'

While the conference was underway at the party's head office, two bus loads of youth tried to besiege the venue, but were marched off by police personnel who were there to ensure that the programme went on without any hitches.