Personal animosities boil over at CPP Meeting

What started as a peaceful National Executive Council meeting of the Convention People?s Party (CPP) last weekend was punctuated and nearly marred by skirmishes between the outspoken Publicity Chairman, Mr. Kwesi Pratt Jr and a ranking member of the party over copies of delivered statements?

The executive meeting, which involved open and closed sessions, took place in one of the lecture theatres of the University of Ghana, Legon.

The altercation started after the end of the open session when Mr. Pratt was distributing copies of delivered statements to invited Media Personnel. The ranking member, whose name could not be immediately ascertained requested for some copies of the handouts.

Pratt however refused to give any of the copies to him, saying, they are meant for accredited media personnel only.

The ranking member, who did not take kindly to the answer, returned the fire claiming that Pratt has no mandate to decide who should get the copies of the speech.

The ensuing face-off attracted by-slanders and other executive members of the CPP to the scene. Not even the intervention of top party officials could dissuade the man from carrying out his threat to teach Pratt a lesson.

But for the timely intervention of the police, it would have been a different story. Members, who were sympathetic to Pratt, whisked him away and holed him up in the theatre hall. Three policemen were then detailed to shield him from any further attacks.

The police commander backed down from bringing in reinforcements when Pratt told him he felt safe with the three policemen.

Inside the theatre hall itself, some party officials were alleging that the enemies of Pratt and CPP orchestrated the incident even though they could not give any single name of the people allegedly behind it.

Mr. Pratt, in his remarks said, ?The CPP cannot be built on the basis of gangsterism.?

He seemed surprised at the whole incident when he was asked to recount what happened.

The Minister of Regional Planning and Integration, Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom, who was incidentally in the theatre asked of the identity of the people behind the attack.

When there was no answer from the on-lookers, he advised against anything that would disrupt the peaceful interaction of party members.