Paa Kwesi Nduom quits CPP

After much haranguing and trading of accusations and denials, Dr Paa Kwesi Nduom, Minister for Economic Planning and Regional Integration, has finally called it quits with the Convention People?s Party (CPP).

The soft-spoken Nkrumaist, who together with other colleagues chose to support the Kufuor administration with their expertise, have constantly come under attack from other Nkrumaists who see their action as a betrayal and desertion from the CPP?s sinking ship.

The latest to join the fray is the United Kingdom and Ireland for the expulsion of Dr Nduom and Freddie Blay, the First Deputy Speaker of Parliament for what they described as ?indiscipline and undermining of the party?s position on national issues.?

An unimpeachable source close to Dr Nduom told The Evening News that he had finally resigned from the CPP. According to the source, Dr Nduom?s resignation from the party followed his observation that a ?very vocal extreme left wing Minority wants the CPP to engage in perpetual agitation or activist politics.?
It said Dr Nduom wanted to be part of a mainstream CPP with a significant social conscience that would engage in a credible and sincere effort to fight poverty and bring about social justice. The source quoted Dr Nduom as saying that efforts made by him and others to establish new policies and actions that would make the CPP a mainstream credible party had been stalled.

It said Dr Nduom virtually left the party in 2000, after the plans prepared by the Organisation Committee which he chaired were not approved by the party, leading to its humiliating defeat.

Asked whether the resignation was due to the recent newspaper publications that he should be sacked, the source said, ?Dr Nduom had not been bothered much by attacks led by the militant wing of the CPP. They were a disappointment to him. It said Dr Nduom had been more bothered by the weak leadership that could not move the party to gain credibility and bring out prominent members of society who are close CPP supporters to come out openly to support the party.

In the final analysis, the source said it was the realisation of Dr Nduom that if he did not act in a timely manner, his hopes of winning the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abirem (KEEA) seat in the 2004 elections could be dashed.

It said he had engaged in broad consultations over the past three months with chiefs and political activists from the various parties and opinion leaders to win all inclusive support in 2004.

Dr Nduom, it said, had won solid support from the influential fishermen association in the constituency, after he had been urged to run an active, clean and grassroot campaign without the distraction of national politics. He was a leader of the Parliamentary Action Group that tried to get the CPP to pay attention to winning Parliamentary seats in the 2000 elections.

When contacted, Dr Nduom declined to comments on the story. He, however, lamented that ?the CPP today is not what my father laboured in trenches for. Ghana needs more inclusive nation-building politics.?