CPP has not merged with PNC - Prof Dowuona

Koforidua, May 20, GNA - The General Secretary of the Convention Peoples Party (CPP), Prof. Nii Noi Dowuona, has denied that the party had merged with the Peoples National Congress (PNC). He said leadership of the two parties only signed a memorandum of intent between them.

Speaking at an emergency Eastern Regional Steering Committee meeting at Koforidua on Thursday, Prof Dowuona assured CPP members that there will be consultations with the various structures of the party including its congress before a final decision is taken on the proposed merger of the two Nkrumahist parties.

The meeting was held ostensibly in response to a request by a group of constituency chairmen in the Eastern region, for an emergency Regional Steering Committee meeting for the leadership to render accounts on finance and electoral activities of the Party. Prof. Nii Dowuona asked the Party leaders to continue to organize the members and win more adherents for the party, whether there would be a merger or not.

The chairman of the CPP's 'Ways and Means' Committee, Dr Kwabena Dufuor, asked all structures of the Party to embark on an effective campaign to raise enough funds to support its growth.

He asked them to regard the party as their collective enterprise and not to expect the national headquarters or individuals to give them funds to run their branches, adding that they must work towards attaining power "and nothing else."

A member of the Committee, Mr Ken Ampratwum, announced that the Party was embarking on an image-building crusade to market the "New CPP" to the electorate, especially the youth, and showed a recently developed policy document of the party for that purpose.

The Eastern Regional Chairman of the CPP, Nana Owusu Sekyere, who gave a brief account of the stewardship of the Regional Executive, called on the members to show more commitment towards the development of the party and avoid petty bickering and character assassination.

In another development, Mr Kobena Greenstreet, the CPP parliamentary candidate for Ayawaso West Wuogon in the last elections, announced the formation of a Positive Action Group (PAG) to propel the Party's message to the electorate.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency, he said the membership of the Group was made up of the parliamentary candidates in the last election and some "youthful activists" who were seeking a re-engineering of the "once dynamic CPP into a winsome party, come 2008."

Accompanied by the First Deputy National Youth Organiser, Mr George N.L. Lamptey, Mr Greenstreet said the PAG was embarking on a nationwide tour to sell its message and collect signatures towards the re-organisation of structures of the Party into more viable ones. 20 May 05