Cape Coast (Central Region) – Confusion has erupted in the united front of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), in the Cape Coast Constituency, following a protest by some concerned party members over elections held last month.
A protest letter signed by the constituency secretary, John Kwansah-Paitoo, stressed that the elections had brought disunity in the Cape Coast constituency, and called for a new date for the elections to allow all the 42 electoral areas to fully participate in order to promote peace and harmony in the party.
According to the protesters, the Regional Chairman, Kwesi Brew, ignored the protest letter when it was sent to him and went ahead to conduct the elections, to the disbelief of the members.
The letter said when the protesters demanded an explanation from him, he said, it was under instructions ‘from above’ and was, therefore, not personally liable for the conduct of the elections.
The concerned party members strongly accused Madam Araba Bentsi-Enchill, the party’s parliamentary candidate in the 2000 general elections, of engaging in some acts that could only benefit herself and not the party, and of bringing division into the united front of the new party to foster her own ambition.
The prostest letter went on to state that about 90 per cent of the entire membership of the party are embittered about the turn of events and have, therefore, threatened to leave the party if proper elections are not held, and demanded to know why out of 17 constituencies in the region the executive chose to fix a date that would suit only the Cape Coast constituency to the detriment of the other constituencies.
The protestors warned: “We cannot sit down to allow majority of the membership to break away to spell the total collapse of party in the constituency as well as the region,” and called for the nullification of the results of the elections for a fresh ones to be held.
As a result, the protestors called on the leadership of the party to institute measures to have the problem solved, warning that “otherwise it would one day wake up to learn that the party has been disintegrated leaving behind only Madam Araba Bentsi-Enchill and her few fanatics.”
When Chronicle contacted Madam Araba Bentsi-Enchill to comment on the allegations that had been levelled against her, she explained that before the elections, about four meetings were held and decisions taken by all parties on the mode for the elections which all present agreed by consensus and, therefore, she did not know why the few disgruntled elements had turned round to criticize decisions they themselves were parties to them.
She accused the secretary, Paitoo, of incompetence, adding that he had neglected his duties and relied on one A. A. Adongo. Madam Araba Bentsi-Enchill, who is the current constituency chairperson and a national council member of the party, also accused Nana Antobam Woode and Robert Mensah, who are regular members of the party, of engaging in machinations to break the party’s united front.
According to her, it had come to her notice that when the protestors sent their petition to the national headquarters of the party in Accra, Prof. M. M. Owusu-Ansah of the national secretariat was sent down to conduct investigations into the so-called allegations but nothing has come out of it.
When confronted with allegation that she had diverted ?3m allegedly sent to her from the party headquarters to organise the elections, Ms. Bentsi-Enchill denied emphatically, saying that no amount was brought to her from the national headquarters.
Pressed further, she admitted that she personally went round to raise a loan of ?10m to acquire a new office for the party, as well as pay other expenses in the interest of the party and has had to render accounts of the money to the donor.
