The National Chairman of the People’s National Convention (PNC), Alhaji Ahmed Ramadan, is set on a destructive mission, reminiscent of the old foxy games of his party towards yet another merging process with the Convention People’s Party (CPP).
Acting on their beliefs as members of the two leading Nkrumaist groups in Ghana, the rank and file of these parties has begun series of merger talks which, from all indications, are yielding positive results. The latest move by the parties’ grassroots members, TODAY’s scouts discovered, is a way of putting pressure on the leadership of the two parties to forge a common front to contest the 2012 general election.
The advocates believe previous merger or alliance talks between the two broke down because it lacked honest and genuine commitment on the part of the leadership of the two parties.
Obviously enjoying the pecks that often come with their political offices, some leaders of the two parties were really not prepared to cede that parochial standing to the general cohesiveness of all Nkrumaists elements.
Last week, the PNC chairman was reported to have said that some CPP people were going around, especially in the Brong Ahafo Region and elsewhere, to get PNC people to unite with the CPP. He claimed the move by the CPP people do not have the approval of the CPP’s national leadership.
TODAY’s search has established that the statement is not only wrong, but very dishonest. Indeed as the paper found out, Alhaji Ramadan and other members of the PNC leadership are counting the possible lost of their positions or standings in any alliance/merger with the CPP, and are just doing everything possible to thwart the move.
But that sectoral thinking had long proven to be defeatist and dead. Indeed former PNC Chairman, Felix Amoah and General Secretary, Prof. Nii Noi Dowuona, all deserted the PNC to hold key portfolios like chairman and general secretary respectively of the CPP.
The Ramadan statement is just a replica of the many mind games that the PNC had waged on its supporters and members in the past against any such merger between the CPP and the PNC where the latter made a huge capital out of issues like party name and symbol.
The PNC was, however, one of the many Nkrumaists splinter groups that fought to legitimize the use of the CPP name, albeit unsuccessfully.
And when the CPP name was finally restored to majority of the Nkrumaist groups, the general belief was that the PNC would willingly join forces with those who had succeeded to get back the CPP name. But that never worked.
The obvious trickery and dishonesty exhibited by the PNC leadership at the time forced some prominent members of the PNC like Felix Amoah, Chris Zigah, Professor Nii Noi Dowuona to abandon the party that has become more of a northern representation than a national party.
TODAY can report on authority that the CPP Central Committee has met on the matter and encouraged its functionaries and supporters to seek out PNC people to get together with. The CPP move, the paper gathered, was influenced by previous merger talks which never worked out because it had no basis on the ground.
with Dr Edward Nasigri Mahama
With the new approach, the CPP believed, unity between the two Nkrumaist traditions at the grassroots level would put enormous pressure on the leadership of the two parties to, for once, consider the merger talks as a priority for the next elections. The CPP, the investigations showed, is threading very cautiously this time around.
The party is obviously being careful because in a similar move in 2008, the PNC concocted all manner of theories to torpedo a strenuous PNC-CPP alliance for that year’s election.
After sorting out every detail of the alliance, where a vote by some executives of the two parties marginally approved CPP presidential candidate – Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom, as the presidential candidate of the CPP-PNC alliance with Dr Edward Nasigri Mahama as the running mate, the PNC hierarchy made a dramatic u-turn and back-tracked, citing flimsy lack of faith in the CPP executive as the main reason for the pull out.
The PNC accused the CPP of disclosing the details of the alliance plans prematurely to the media when the two had agreed at the Golden Tulip meeting that a joint press conference should be held to announce the outcome of the meeting.
Interestingly, an executive member of the PNC had earlier disclosed to the media the outcome of the said meeting.