CPP’S internal wrangling can negatively affect party’s performance – Lecturer

A senior political science lecturer at the Kwame Nkrumah University Science and Technology (KNUST) says the current wrangling in the CPP can negatively affect the party’s fortunes in the upcoming December polls.

The Youth wing of the Convention People’s Party has been battling their leadership for weeks following the suspension of the national youth organizer, Ernesto Yeboah.

The most recent confrontation had to do with the selection of Nana Gabby Nketiah, a retired diplomat in erstwhile Kufuor’s administration as the running mate of the presidential candidate, Ivor Kobina Greenstreet.

Speaking on the back of these developments, Dr. Edward Brenya says these divisions if not resolved immediately can negatively impact on the performance of the CPP on December 7 “So in a party that is divided among itself cannot gain the kind of support that is needed. If this youth wing thinks that we are campaigning, if this youth wing feels that they don’t support the current leadership, the probability is that the majority of them might be campaigning on different grounds. They might be campaigning for parliamentary candidates”.

He further stated, “The message, the kind of enthusiasm, the kind of activism that they are supposed to go into the campaign will not be exercised to the fullest because they don’t believe in the current leadership and it’s more dangerous when they say well we not targeting this year’s election but targeting future elections.”

He underscored the need for all political parties particularly the CPP to pay attention to the entire structure of their parties, while finding amicable means of solving their grievances “If you look at the kind of policies we having right now, almost all the political parties, the NDC and NPP and other political parties are now focusing on the youth and how the youth can make a difference in their political fortunes. So therefore it’s ironic that the CPP seem not to have seen what is going on.”

He added “It is unfortunate that some of these political parties feel that they can ignore a section of their group and still win election. That is very unfortunate”.

He emphasized that election is about numbers and therefore political parties must strive to work towards unity after disagreements.

“Election is about numbers and if you are talking about numbers I think what you do is to try to settle all differences that you can go into the election as a united group. So when you have some of these grievances and people are turning a blind eye on it, you really question yourself is this leadership really interested in winning election or making a difference in Ghana election.”