CPP member wants Greenstreet sanctioned over stance on Ford saga

A member of the Convention People’s Party (CPP) has petitioned the leadership of the party to punish the flag bearer Ivor Greenstreet over what he described as “utterances that bring the party’s name into disrepute”.

In a letter dated September 14, 2016, addressed to the Chairman of the Disciplinary Committee, Zir Zirmio Dy-Adaba indicated that Mr Ivor Greenstreet “vehemently supported the President’s acceptance of the gift [Ford Expedition]” for which he was accused of putting himself in a conflict of interest situation.

Mr Mahama received the car from Burkinabe contractor Djibril Kanazoe. He was subsequently given contracts by the government.

The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) has been petitioned by the youth wing of the CPP to investigate the matter.

During the Institute of Economic Affairs’ (IEA) Evening Encounter in July, Mr Greenstreet indicated that he saw nothing wrong with Mr Mahama’s acceptance of the gift.

This, the petitioner said, “convinced many Ghanaians that the CPP was not ready to fight corruption since its flag bearer sees nothing wrong with public officials accepting gifts from commercial people and organisations”.

For him, the Central Committee of the party had not “taken a decision on it” and Mr Greenstreet’s views could, therefore, not be taken as the position of the party.

Additionally, he thinks the action by Mr Greenstreet amounted to a breach of the party’s procedures and to the extent that his view became a “yardstick to judge the party… this is so grievous”.

Apart from the Ford SUV issue, Mr Greenstreet also recently threatened to pull out of the 2016 presidential race to register his displeasure at the filing fee announced by the Electoral Commission (EC).

This was after an Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting held in Accra on Thursday, September 8, where the EC announced that parliamentary nominees would have to pay GHC10,000 to file their nominations, while presidential nominees were expected to part with GHC50,000.

The petitioner, however, argued that he knew for a fact that “the decision to back out of an election is not the sole decision of the flag bearer” and “the Central Committee has not discussed this matter…”

For him, these two acts by the flag bearer constitute “indiscipline” and has, therefore, asked the party to investigate and punish Mr Greenstreet accordingly if found culpable.