SAMIA MAD WITH CPP

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Thursdat February 17, 2011.
Samia Yaaba Nkrumah, the only daughter of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first President is seething with anger following a decision by the Convention People’s Party (CPP) to charge what she described as exhorbitant filing fees for members willing to contest national executive positions in the party.

The Central Committee of the CPP on February 10, 2011 approved filing fees for regional and national executive positions in the impending national delegates congress, but Samia, CPP’s only MP is not happy and has called on CPP supporters to speak out against the “hihg fees” so it can be reduced.

The fee for the national chairman has been pegged at GHC 20,000.00 while that of Vaice Chair, Treasurer and General Secretary are going for GHC 15,000.00 each.
Samia is contesting for the national Chairman position while Kwabena Bomfeh aka Kabila CPP National Youth Organiser who is Samia’s close ally is gunning for the General Secretary position.

Speaking to Citi FM in Accra yesterday, Samia said “I think we need to do what is right with the way decisions are made in the party. Some of us have tried for the fees to be reduced and would wish to see them further down.”

“I think I will urge many of our supporters to speak out against these high fees. It is time we do things very differently within our party. We need to appeal to young people because many of them will not be able to afford these exorbitant fees. We need more people to contest so we should be able to accept them”, she added.

She also want the fees to be rebated for prospective female aspirants to enable many of them to participate in the party’s activities.

“We know that most of our women have less economic capabilities and definitely we need more women to correct the imbalance in the political representation between men and women. Women make up more than fifty percent of our population and that is a good move by the two main parties and we would want to follow suit”.

But the CPP National Chairman, Ladi Nylander disagreed with Samia and said the fees are reasonable.

“The filing fee was something that was decided, debated and recommended by the Central Committee. So in its wisdom, I would imagine that the Central Committee thinks it is right. Everybody will have something to say about the price of something", he told Citi FM.

"Obviously, there are those who will think it’s too high. But it is the Central Committee that took this decision, so whether we like it or not, that is what we are all faced with and have to work with” he insisted.

An internal memorandum announcing the fees said “I wish to confirm that, at the Central Committee meeting held on Thursday February 10, 2011, the following filing fees were approved for candidates who wish to contest for national and regional office positions at the next regional conferences and national delegates congress respectively

The memo said the fees for national chairman has been pegged at GHC 20,000.00 while that of Vice Chair, Treasurer and General Secretary are going for GHC 15,000.00 each.

It said any member willing to contest for the position of Organizer will pay GHC 5,000.00 as filing fee.

For those interest in Regional Executive positions, the Chairman pays GHC 1,000.00 while Vice Chair, Regional Secretary and Treasurer will pay GHC 800.00 each.

The said all others are supossed to pay GHC 500.00.

It said nominations for regional positions opens between Wednesday February 16 to Monday February 25, 2011 while that of national positions opens from Monday March 7 to Friday March 25, 2011.

The memo had asked Regional Officers to supervise constituency elections and submit reports by Monday, March 7, 2011.