EDITORIAL: Unity In Nkrumaist Party Crucial

On-going attempts of the main Nkrumaist parties, namely the Convention People?s Party (CPP), the People?s National Convention (PNC) to forge a united front in the build up to the 2008 General elections ought to be applauded by all lovers of multi-party democracy in Ghana.

For the core members of the Nkrumaist family this exercise provides an opportunity for the Nkrumaist family to assume the pre-eminent role it once played in the political history of Ghana.

However unsuccessful attempts in the past to unite the Nkrumaist family has left in its wake a large army of cynics who are very disenchanted with the leadership of the party and for good reason.

The CPP as it stands presently is a very unattractive quantity when it comes to electoral appeal. A large percentage of the youth demographic has no idea what the principles of the CPP are and do you know their leadership from Adam. This might sound harsh but that is the reality of politics in the 21st century.

Leaders of the Nkrumaist fraternity seem to have a lot of expertise on singing discordant tunes especially when the issue of forging unity is raised. The only area they seem to achieve consensus is in the area of their antecedence- they are very stoic in expressing their loyalty to the ideals and the vision of their leader, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.

If politics is about accentuating one?s strong fortes then it behoves members of the Nkrumaist family to build on the issues where there is consensus and then use it as a spring board to move the organisation forward.

Party politics is about appeal. Parties have to make themselves attractive and this should encapsulate programmes, ideas and message. Political survival depends to a large extent on how parties make their message relevant in terms of the impact it would have on their publics-the voters.

Parties like those who belong to the Nkrumaist family are gradually making themselves irrelevant to the political establishment due to their lack of appeal and non-attractiveness. They need to as a matter of urgency apply themselves to Forging unity among their ranks is one sure way the electorate would consider them relevant in contemporary Ghana politics. That is when they would be taken seriously.

Who would have thought that the New Patriotic Party (NPP), which is an off-shoot of the United Party (U.P), would win political power after spending several decades in the political wilderness.

The UP tradition has never won an election in which the CPP featured very prominently. The only time the UP tradition won an election was in the 1969 general elections when Dr. Busia was the leader of the People?s Party-the CPP had been banned then.

They lost the 1979 general elections to a CPP-affiliated party, the People?s National Party (PNP) in the 1979 elections and emerged after a 21-year hiatus to clinch the 2000 general elections.

What is the point? Parties thrive on re-inventing themselves. That is what the NPP has done quite successfully. The political wilderness is a place political parties visit once in a political life time. No party worth their salt loves to be consigned to such a place. For some reason it appears members of the Nkrumaist family are oblivious to the dangers of overstaying their welcome in the wilderness.

Gye Nyame Concord would like to appeal to members of the Nkrumaist fraternity to rise from their slumber in order to make their party a force to be reckoned with in the country.