CPP might dump Dr. Nduom soon

....In Spite of 'Bakatue Declaration' THE RECENT declaration by President Kufuor during the Bakatue festival in Elmina recently, which offered his support for the Energy Minister, Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom as the Convention People's Party (CPP) parliamentary candidate for the Komenda Edina Eguafo Abrem (KEEA) seat, may after all, fizzle into a wasted effort, as the true membership of Dr. Nduom with the CPP is being questioned.

Credible information available to The Chronicle indicates that the Energy Minister may soon be booted out of the party on the decision of the Central Committee.

The embattled Energy Minister is reported to have, in the last few weeks, appeared before the Disciplinary Committee of the party twice, regarding his fate as a member of the party.

Recently, the minister, together with Prof. George Hagan, Dr. Vladmir Antwi Danso, Mr. Kwaku Baako Jnr. and Mr. Fred Blay were made to appear before a special committee set up by the Central Committee (CC) of the party to defend their true membership.

This came up as a result of certain pronouncements they had made and which the elders of the CPP had found inconsistent with the aspirations and fortunes of the party in the forthcoming elections as well as its constitution.

The committee's report, which will determine the five people's fate, regarding their continued membership or otherwise, would soon be released, The Chronicle has gathered.

Speaking in response to the President's declaration of support for Dr. Nduom, which appeared on the front page of the July 12, 2004 edition of The Chronicle, the CPP Ashanti Regional Secretary, Mr. Kwabena Anim said, "Even if the committee's report does not expel him, as long as he doubles as NPP's choice of candidate, the CPP will not use Dr. Nduom as its candidate for the KEEA seat."

According to him, the CPP would not forge any political alliance whatsoever with any political group to contest the December election.

On whether the CPP had endorsed the candidature of Dr. Nduom before the President's declaration, he answered in the negative, pointing to the fact that the party's Central Committee had not yet accepted him as their obvious choice.

Anim revealed to The Chronicle that in all, the electoral alliance his party had had with the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), the CPP was deceived afterwards, citing the 1996 and 2000 elections as instances.

He gave the assurance that the party would field candidates in all the 39 Ashanti constituencies, and that the electorate, having realized the failure of the NDC and the NPP, it was a foregone conclusion that the CPP would form the next government in 2005.

The CPP scribe urged the youth to embrace the policies and ideologies of Nkrumah and mandate the party to rule Ghana.