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| Ghana Not Ready For NDC''s Return |
8/27/2007 |
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Even though Ghanaians are yearning for a change of government in 2008, they are not in any way ready to witness the return of the opposition National Democratic Congress to the corridors of power,” says Alhaji Iddrisu Egala. The declaration by the CPP guru comes as an unspoken opposition to the recent claim by John Evans Atta Mills, NDC flagbearer, in Boston, USA, that he is all set to spearhead the NDC''s return to power in 2008 "to make a difference” in the lives of the people because, as he put it, “NPP''s end is near.”
Alhaji Egala believes that the group that was led by former President J J Rawlings to “mismanage” the affairs of the nation for almost 20 years did not leave behind any commendable legacy that the electorate could feel nostalgic about and vote to return their destinies into their hands."Human nature is such that we always want a change. Ghanaians desired a change in 2000 and they got it through the NPP. Now the situation is the same, and the CPP is the alternative and not the NDC.
" It is therefore up to us to take advantage of this bright opportunity that stares us in the face to put our house in order, to ensure the CPP’s return to power after a long period of wobbling in the political wilderness," he added.In an exclusive interview with The Statesman, the aspiring CPP National Chairman decried the fragmentation that had over the years remained the major blight of the "forward ever, backwards never" march of the party, attributing the situation to the self-absorption of the top echelons of the Nkrumaist group.
"What we have had over the years is a fragmented approach to the whole process of rebuilding the Nkrumaist tradition, where people are interested in selling themselves and seeking their individual gains instead of the party. "If we can relegate our selfish interests to the background and pursue our common interest, then we can come back to power. We did that in 1979 when my father formed and led the PNP," Alhaji Egala stated. Asked if the CPP’s problems could be attributed to ineffective leadership, he answered in the negative, and paid glowing tribute to all those who had toiled to keep the party alive till now. He, however, agrees that the leadership had not done enough to make the party "attractive and winnable."
"I salute them for keeping the party alive, but what has been done over the years has not been enough to take us to where we had wished to be; everybody appreciates that," he observed, adding that there was the need to inject some kind of dynamism and vibrancy into the organisation of the party to put it in a good shape that will make it more appealing to the electorate, especially the youth and womenfolk.
The son of the late Imoro Egala, Founder of the People’s National Party, who describes himself as being "genetically connected" to the CPP, assured the fraternity of the CPP that his chairmanship, something he feels certain about, would evolve pragmatic strategies to galvanise all the rank and file of the Nkrumaist group and unite them to make the group a force to reckon with in contemporary Ghanaian politics.
He laments, "it is a pity that we have allowed the CPP to come to this low level" in the nation’s politics and governance, even though he sees some ray of hope ahead of the party in the run up to next year’s elections. "The many competent people who are contesting both the presidential slot and the various executive positions clearly shows that the ''sleeping giant’ is rising to take its rightful position in the nation’s politics and governance." The Chartered Accountant who sees himself as the best Chairman the CPP can get at the moment says he will not be an "arm-chair" Chairman who will sit in his office in Accra and pretend that the party’s organisation is on course, but will move to the grassroots to interact with them, educate them about the ideologies of the party and set up offices in the various constituencies.
While acknowledging the serious financial and logistical constraints that bedevil the party, Alhaji Egala assured his comrades that he would extensively exploit his professional background as an Accountant to "employ any legal means possible" to mobilise the needed resources to facilitate the execution of the party’s activities. He attributed the sorry financial state of affairs of the party, which is having a telling negative effect on the organisation of its National Congress, to "our collective" inability to organise the party’s rank and file to pay membership dues, lamenting "Even if somebody wants to pay dues there are no offices in the constituencies to facilitate such transaction."
The Statesman
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