My Withdrawal From Cpp Communications Team

Nii Armah Akomfra,

Following the Communications Committee (Comcom) meeting to which you had earlier invited me to be part of on Saturday 4th December2011, I engaged in some hard thinking and came to the conclusion that much as I did not expect a radical transformation for the better in matters of the CPP – particularly in the management of the Communications Committee, I was left devastated and downhearted after the above meeting.

Suffice it to say that, free from being on the leash of any faction or person in the Party, I found the brazenly negative comments made against some members of the Party at the said meeting, extremely unfortunate and ominous for the CPP.

As can be substantiated by others, I was not too happy with the quality of performance of the previous leadership of the CPP as well as the Comcom but I hung on in there and duly contributed my bit to advance the aspirations of the Party firstly because, I appreciated the style of the then Comcom Chairman and members who exhibited an open desire and commitment for the homogeneous development of the CPP – a Party that suffered fatally from debilitating internal wrangling that eventually facilitated the 1966 coup d’état.

Secondly and more importantly, the Chairman of the previous Comcom did not encourage nor tolerate any of the warped prejudicial sentiments such as were shamelessly expressed against (prominent) other members of the CPP in the first Comcom meeting which you chaired on the 4th December 2011 and to which incidentally, you the Chairman and most other invited members arrived over an hour late, betraying a gross lack of enthusiasm, commitment, respect and Party discipline – if there is any of this virtue left in the Party.

To be very honest with you, I cannot fail to express to you the level of shock, disappointment, disgust and despair at your clearly unprincipled posture in openly siding with and actually applauding – during the said meeting, the crass, arrogant and vulgar public outburst by the current Chairperson of the Party. This reprehensible indiscretion can be described as reckless by all known standards of decency – at least for a celebrated Party like the CPP. Predictably, this has been unanimously condemned by an overwhelming number of right-thinking persons across the political divide in Ghana and abroad. That single blunder has had the nasty effect of reducing the entire CPP to public ridicule, scorn and contempt.

Now even though you claim to be unaware of these unsavory and freely circulating negative repercussions, those of us who take our politics and our country serious and who for good reason have been keeping a tab on the political pulse of the nation for many years, have observed with discomfort how the media, including the internet, is awash with damning sentiments against the CPP and the Party Chairperson in particular. This has had the added and unfortunate effect of gravely dampening the esprit de corps of an already weak, dispirited and considerably demoralized Party – and your curious reaction to this crisis is that we should simply forget about it and put it behind us??? Fa ma Nyame! right?

To add insult to injury, that infamous outburst was inflicted on the Party by no less a person than a biological child of the most illustrious son of Africa – Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, a man who founded the CPP, a man whose hard work led to the independence of Ghana, a man whose unsurpassable moral and political credentials instigated, directed and won freedom and independence for many other African countries and people around the world. He was and he is still is a man who stands high and tall above many other esteemed world leaders in the annals of the history of mankind. What a travesty of fate, what a shame, what a pity. It appears that as a result, the image of the CPP has in the past few days plummeted to an all time low – perhaps to its lowest ebb since the infamous 1966 coup. I dare say that it will take quite some doing for the CPP to dredge its dignity from the murky depth to which it has sunk or indeed to reverse the many possible side effects and aftereffects. Whatever the case, I fear that, that inexcusable gaffe will remain a malicious blight on the corporate image of the CPP.

On your part, as a Chairman of the CPP Communications Committee, I really cannot come to terms with your shamefully skewed factional posture. How, for instance, will you be able to reconcile this posture with the CPP election campaign in the event that Dr Nduom wins the flag-bearer race? The worse fallout is the wrong - or bad signals that the ramifications of the Party Chairpersons outburst and your support for it is likely to have on the greater number of young up and coming CPP Comrades, some of whom you had also invited to that Communications meeting. It is unacceptable and morally wrong for anyone to encourage or mislead young persons – whether they be your own off-spring or CPP members, to take a cue from the Party Chairpersons disgraceful display of public indecency.

As I stated at the said meeting, I personally find it disappointing and unacceptable for any adult to comport him/herself in public in such a vile manner. Worse of all is when such behaviour comes from a person who one had previously considered as a respectable lady, even worst still is if it comes from the leader of a political Party and worse of all is if it comes from the leader of Kwame Nkrumah’s own CPP – our CPP. What is the world coming to?

As a result of the willful vulgarization of the political domain by the neo-colonial proxies - the NDC and NPP, the political temperament of this country is overcharged with senseless and ‘nonsensical’ antagonisms and we stand perilously close on the precipice of a socio-political inferno. Many strikingly similar circumstances have in the recent history of Africa, transpired to warn us of the dire consequences of some of our irresponsible actions and inactions. No decent minded African, with all our overburdening problems, should therefore tolerate, much more defend or encourage such acts of political delinquency.

We do not need any more of this kind of ‘nonsense’ to push the country over the brink into an abyss of chaos. It is not all of us who have a safe haven to run to. If the leadership of a purported socialist Party does not have the pluck to employ the principles of simple dialectics, dialogue, organizational skills or any other peaceful or sensible means to resolve internal differences, what else can such a leadership then be capable of? Lets be real, man! Due to the deficiency of ideological substance and political experience at the executive leadership level of the Party, it appears that those currently leading the Party, are at a total loss as to how to reasonably manage internal differences. Whats more, this problem is further worsened by others who are deviously stoking the fires of dissent and discord only to create space and favor for their largely lame and therefore, doomed political ambitions.

On my part, since I also cannot continue to lend myself to this on-going parody and what seems to be an emerging trend to undermine the socialist and democratic traditions of the Party by all sorts of pseudo-socialists and elitist Nkrumaists, I have opted to withdraw from all official and active involvement in CPP affairs. I will maintain that stance until those who have been voted to run the Party and to develop it to assume its rightful place in the body politics of Ghana and Africa, wise up, amend their political inadequacies, apologize to the entire membership of the Party as well as to all Ghanaians and finally, undertake to turn a new leaf to properly do what they were elected into office to do. Mark my word, anything short of this will leave the Party seriously stigmatized, stunted and condemned to suffer continuous electoral defeat in the foreseeable future.

It must be made clear that the CPP is not a limited liability company nor is it an exclusive social club or a monarchy. Nobody should therefore flippantly place him/herself above the intrinsic values and the original aspirations of the Party. The Party, as a democratic organization, must have the gall to bring any leader who misuses his/her position to publicly defame the Party’s public image, to order, in the same way that all other members should likewise be obliged to comport themselves according to Party principles and regulations.

It is inconceivable that a socialist Party, an Nkrumaist Party – a Party that avers to lead the critical vanguard of the long-suffering people of Africa against the resurgent imperialist onslaught, should itself succumb to such puerile, self destructive and divisive tantrums as if the Party has been surreptitiously compromised to fall into bed with other imperialist serfs. Though I have lost interest in the Comcom, I wish to advise you that as an appointed leader of that committee, it is unwise to explicitly take sides and to behave like the proverbial ostrich in pretending that an arising conflagration does not exist when that problem needs to be recognized and quickly neutralized. Failure to do so can only lead to further confusion and chaos which may engulf you yourself. Life is full of such examples to learn from.

As the matter stands, it is now not too difficult for the electorate, in making political choices, to place the now considerably disfigured and belittled CPP in the same unfortunate category alongside the NDC and the NPP. As they say in our local parlance, the value, after all, is now all the same. That being the case, why would anyone then wish to vote for the CPP?

For now, I can only wish you and members of Samia’s Comcom, the best in your endeavors. I’m out.

Jojo Grant 0244645012