The People's National Convention (PNC) on Thursday said its refusal to merge with the Convention People's Party (CPP) was because CPP did not have the political strength to capture power now.
"The main reason why we in PNC would not join hands with the CPP is that it is not prepared for political power now" Mr David Nibi, Publicity Chairman of the PNC, told GNA in Accra.
Mr Nibi said CPP was on record for having said that it wanted to assist the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to increase its (CPP) numerical strength in Parliament.
That measure the CPP believed would pave the way for it in the 2008 general election to capture power.
"The PNC need power to salvage the suffering of Ghanaians now, not to think of 2008 when most Ghanaians would become more frustrated and poorer under this HIPC hard conditions," he said.
He said the PNC would welcome any political party that has the nation at heart to join hands with it to end NPP's rule in 2004.
He said it was not ideology or finance that was holding back the Nkrumaist parties from merging but the political will to work hard to unseat NPP now.
Mr Nibi said Nkrumah was never thinking of redeeming the country in future, he needed redemption now as he did in 1957 and asked why should true Nkrumaists be thinking of power in the future.
Mr Nibi said at the moment there was so much confusion within the CPP and that the party only existed in name, adding that PNC would not be proud to be associated with such a party.
He called on Ghanaians to have faith in the PNC and that the electorate should galvanise countrywide support for it to win power in the next elections.
President John Agyekum Kufuor's frequent travels abroad, the Publicity Chairman said, he had the right and liberty to travel but not as frequent as he was doing at the expense of the taxpayer.
He said the President would have to listen to the people, who voted him into power and minimise the rate at which he travelled "under HIPC conditions".
Mr Nibi said the President's initiatives in salt and cassava production were laudable but added that Ghanaians would hold him responsible if he failed to let Ghana to benefit from his travels.
