Ms. Samia Nkrumah, Member of Parliament for Jomoro, at the weekend stressed that the Nkrumaist groups would only win political power when they unite.
“Unity between the Convention People’s Party(CPP) and People’s National Convention(PNC) and other Nkrumaist groups is not a luxury but an absolute necessity if we want to win political power in order to transform our country”, she said in Sunyani.
Samia, daughter of Ghana’s first President Dr Kwame Nkrumah, was addressing regional and constituency executives of CPP and PNC at a forum organised by Nkrumah Rising.
Nkrumah Rising is an organisation of CPP and PNC elements pre occupied with the creation of sufficient internal pressure at the grassroots level within the two parties to bring about their total unification.
The regional forum in Brong Ahafo was therefore part of a nation-wide tour by the organisation to assess the views of the CPP and PNC grassroots on the issue of uniting the two parties.
Samia said the Nkrumah Rising project was dear to her heart as “it calls us to change the way we have done things in the past. In the past, unity has been talked about at the top. Today, we are taking the unity talks from the grassroots”.
The MP stated the country as well as the CPP was commemorating the anniversary of the declaration of Positive Action, which signalled a change in strategy in the struggle for the country’s independence.
“This day has relevance to our meeting today because we are in an era where we need another positive action to rebuild and re-group as a political tradition”, she said.
Samia stressed that the passive sympathy and goodwill of the majority of the people must be converted into active participation in the effort to rejuvenate the Nkrumaist movement.
She quoted from his father’s book, “AFRICA MUST UNITE”, in which Dr Nkrumah said a factor that stood out above all others in the successful outcome of the struggle for freedom was “the strength of a well-organised political party, representative of the broad mass of the people”.
“Comrades, brothers and sisters, since 1992 unity amongst the Nkrumaist parties has eluded us but we are at a junction where we either unite or we perish. We must unite or perish”, the MP added.
Ms Nkrumah stressed that the PNC and CPP were descendants of the same tradition and no matter their current challenges it was imperative that the tradition emphasized unity above all else.
“Symbols and names are important but we have to learn to focus on what unites us. If we look at our manifestoes, there is very little that divides us. We have more in common than we think and all we have to do is to have faith in the Nkrumaist vision and work towards it”, she said.
The MP explained that the Nkrumaist vision was people-centred, a vision of a people enjoying a high standard of living through economic, social and political activities that involve the harnessing of their energies to exploit the vast pool of our national resources.
“In practical terms, this means creating jobs for our people, providing shelter, health facilities and affordable and quality education for both young and old. Our vision is still relevant today as it was immediately after independence in order to empower our people.
Mr Kwame Ameyaw and Nana Kwasi Kyereme, regional chairmen for CPP and PNC respectively, pledged to work assiduously towards a unified Nkrumaist front for victory in the 2012 general elections.
Mr Ameyaw expressed regret that “every year we proclaim and sing that ‘there is victory for us’ but at the end of elections, we perform poorly because of a disjointed Nkrumaist front”.
They urged members and sympathizers of both parties to take the unification process seriously and work towards it, especially at the grassroots, so that the Nkrumaist vision could be realized for the benefit of all Ghanaians.