CPP Chairman is ‘Konongo Kaya’

Mr. Ladi nyalander is the National Chairman of the Convention Poeple's Party (CPP)

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Monday November 1, 2010
The intractable in-fighting that has dogged the Convention People’s Party’s (CPP) effort to make good impressions on the Ghanaian electoral landscape is rearing its ugly head once again, even as the party struggles to present a united front.

Supi Araba Bentsi-Entchil, National Vice Chairperson of the CPP has unleashed a stinging attack on National Chairman and leader of the party, Ladi Nylander, describing him as ineffective.

“He will not travel to encourage the building of the party and he will also not allow people to do it either. He has become “Konongo Kaya” – he will not work for the party and will not allow others to do it,” the Vice Chairman had said in a memo sighted by Daily Guide.

The memo dated March 21, 2010 titled: “Visit to Constituencies” copied to all members of the Central Committee, the highest decision-making body of Ghana’s first ruling party said “I want to ask the Central Committee that if, if we sit down doing nothing, how are we going to develop the party.”

“I want the Central Committee to know that of all the four Chairmen under whom I have served namely: Alhaji Banda, Dr. Adubakar Alhassan, Dr. Delle and Mr. Nylander, the latter is the most ineffective, uncompetitive and divisive amongst them”.

“I would like to point out to him that when the members become angry about his ineffectiveness, they will say the leadership is doing nothing, they will not say Chairman Nylander is doing nothing. By leadership it includes all of us who were elected, so I want the Central Committee to ask him why he thinks we should sit down doing nothing after elections.”

Araba’s problem stem from the fact that when she needed a vehicle to use to help strengthen the support base of the party at the grass root, Chairman Nylander allegedly scuttled the plan by refusing to release a vehicle.

The memo said “I am wondering why he is behaving this way towards me; could it be because I once called a leadership meeting to confront him and ask him to resign if he thought he could not do anything.”

Prior to the 2008 general elections, the National Women’s League of the party expressed similar worry about Chairman Nylander’s leadership style when they said among other things that they are handicapped by the lack of good vehicles, fuel and other logistics to enable them to perform their task and even questioned whether it was a sabotage or an oversight.

Mr. Nylander made it clear when he was elected CPP Chairman that he will not seek re-election when his tenure of office expires but recent media reports have it that the plan could change following a call on him by some un-named leading members of the party to contest the position again.

However, DAILY GUIDE learnt that most of the publications attributed to unnamed sources urging My Nylander to re-contest the chairmanship slot were stage-managed by either the chairman or his associates, because of damming verdict by the Central Committee which has lost confidence in the chairman.