OBUASI CPP MARKS NKRUMAH'S ANNIVERSARY (PAGE 14)

THE Obuasi Branch of the Convention People’s Party (CPP) has celebrated the 59th anniversary of the founding of the party by Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, calling on beneficiaries of both the erstwhile Kwame Nkrumah Ideological Institute and the Young Pioneer Movement to explain the ideas, policies and doctrines of the founder to the Ghanaian public.
Dr Nkrumah, who was the Secretary of the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC), resigned to form the CPP on June 12, 1949 and declared Positive Action for Independence from the colonial authority.
Mr Baafour Awuah (alias Opanin Beekye), 81, the Chairman of the Council of Elders of the CPP, who explained how the party was formed, the imprisonment of its leader, Dr Nkrumah, and how he became the leader of Government Business, advised the party’s followers to open their hearts to serve the party and the nation.
Mr Atta Gyekye, a member of the Council of Elders, said people had criticised Nkrumah in his bid to construct the Akosombo Dam but said “now it is the greatest legacy bequeathed to Ghanaians.”
He added that all the factories Nkrumah built, the state farms and the Workers Brigade had been left at the mercy of the weather and others closed down, hence the problem of unemployment facing our able youth.
“There’s no profit from our independence. We have political independence but not economic. It is now armed robbers independence,” he said.
The parliamentary aspirant of the CPP for Obuasi, Mr David Kenyah, said no government after Dr Nkrumah could equal his record, saying the party had come to teach the people “how to fish, not fish for them every time”.
He urged Ghanaians not to consider degrees or educational qualifications only before they voted for a candidate and referred the public to Mr Krobo Edusei and Mr Kwame Kwakye who performed creditably in their respective fields, adding that there was the need for attitudinal change, for Ghana to move forward.
He assured residents of Obuasi that if they voted for him, there would be a three-month general prayer for Obuasi, the Member of Parliament, the municipal chief executive and assembly members, for God to help re-cloth the municipality.
A minute’s silence was observed in memory of Dr Nkrumah and other departed souls of the CPP.