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12.05.2012 General News

Who Leads CPP

By Daily Guide
Bright Akwettey and Abu SakaraBright Akwettey and Abu Sakara
12.05.2012 LISTEN

The Sekondi Sports Stadium at Essipong in the Western Region will today play host to the Convention People's Party (CPP) as it holds it delegates congress to elect a flag-bearer for the December general elections.

Two stalwarts of the party, Lawyer Bright Akwetey and an Agronomist, Dr. Abu Sakara, are slugging it out to win the mandate of delegates to lead the CPP in the December 7 elections.

Dr. Abu Sakara was the running mate to Dr. Paa Kwesi Ndoum in the 2008 presidential election whilst Bright Akwetey was a flag-bearer aspirant in the same year.

DAILY GUIDE gathered that the CPP congress had to be postponed for two consecutive times, due to organizational challenges.

The congress was initially scheduled for March 31 then shifted to April 29, and finally to May 12, 2012.

More than 2,000 delegates are expected at the Essipong Stadium to decide the fate of the two contestants who have stepped up their campaign across the country to galvanize the support ahead of today's congress.

The Sekondi congress will be without the popular face of Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom, the 2008 presidential candidate of the party who has resigned and formed his own party, the Progressive People's Party (PPP).

This was after the party had gone to congress to elect the Samia Nkrumah-led administration last year.

A visit by DAILY GUIDE to Nkroful, the birth place of Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah, founder of CPP and Ghana's first president yesterday, revealed that hundreds of CPP supporters were gearing up for the congress.

Scores of MMT buses with posters of the two presidential aspirants of the party were seen all over, ready to convey delegates from the Ellembelle constituency to the congress venue.

The walls of Essipong Stadium had also been pasted with some campaign posters of the two aspiring flag-bearers of CPP while some party flags had also been hoisted around.

Speaking to DAILY GUIDE , Samuel Gordon Etroo, Western Regional Chairman of the CPP, indicated that the congress would start at 6:00am with the issuance of accreditations to allow for a National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting to commence by 10am.

He pointed out that the congress itself would begin at noon and feared that the election of the flag-bearer might eat into the night.

He explained that members of NEC were expected to pass key resolutions and agree on crucial strategies to prosecute election 2012 as well as to increase the party's representation in Parliament.

Mr. Etroo mentioned that the party was determined to come out of the congress better organized and ready to prosecute a campaign of fresh ideas.

He gave the assurance that all logistical arrangements, including venue, accommodation, transportation and security, were in place.

At the end of the congress, Mr. Etroo added that some local musicians, including Nhyirabo Kojo and Castro, both from Effiakuma near Takoradi, would be performing at the stadium to entertain the delegates.

 From Emmanuel Opoku, Takoradi

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