Why Ernesto Yeboah was sacked from CPP
Yesterday was the 4th anniversary of Operation Mango Tree.
This was our mass action at the CPP headquarters demanding for the reinstatement of Ernesto Yeboah and Nii Armah Akomfrah, who were then National Youth Organiser and General Secretary respectively.
I was also a member of the party at that time and Secretary to the Youth League. In the run-up to the 2016 elections, renowned journalist Manasseh Azure Awuni uncovered that then President John Mahama had received a Ford Expedition vehicle from a contractor contrary to the code of conduct of public officials.
How could somebody who was bidding for state contracts be gifting the Head of State a car?
The Youth League of the CPP took the matter up and formally petitioned CHRAJ to open an investigation into bribery and corruption allegations against the president in relation to the Ford issue. As secretary of the Youth League, I signed the letter.
Photo: Hardi Yakubu
CHRAJ launched an investigation. We were expecting support from the party leadership. In a normal, anti-corruption party, that’s what anybody would expect. But this was not one.
We got massive backlash.
The flagbearer of the party, Ivor Greenstreet, was in support of John Mahama’s action. Ernesto Yeboah as leader of the Youth League on whose authority the petition was sent was suspended by the Central Committee, largely a body of questionable characters with few exceptions.
When Nii Armah Akomfrah as General Secretary spoke out in support of Ernesto and the Youth League’s anti-corruption stance, he was also suspended. They then referred the two cases to the Disciplinary Committee.
The committee cleared the two of them of any wrongdoing and applauded their anti-corruption stance in line with party principle. It said they must be re-instated. But that was not done.
This directive was flouted by the Central Committee. They later issued a statement that they had sacked Ernesto from the party. The CPP sacked Ernesto Yeboah and suspended Nii Armah Akomfrah indefinitely for fighting corruption.
Operation Mango Tree was launched at the party HQ demanding the right thing to be done. It was one of several actions taken to make sure the party leadership followed the Nkrumahist principle. Leadership was more focused on making money.
The party was intractably corrupt and in good conscience, we had to redirect our energies into something more positive rather than flogging a dead horse. I personally could not see how I could criticise NPP and NDC for being corrupt while being in the CPP. The current CPP doesn’t reflect Nkrumaism.
It is using the identity to prop up the system while Nkrumah’s CPP remains proscribed under the 1992 sakawa constitution. This was for us just one lesson on the road to our non-partisan stance.
The good thing about the Economic Fighters League is that there are people who felt the same way in NPP and NDC and joined us to change the system for a better future.
The NPP, along with the NDC, this imposter CPP and others are all just parts of a system designed to oppress us. The system must fall. The People must stand
In full agreement with views shared and reported on this platform. Is this group aware of the independent Presidential candidates who have just finished their debate at UPSA? Please check them out. Kofi Koranteng is one of them, he can be contacted on Facebook.
Is the disciplinary committee that cleared Ernesto Yeboah not composed of only members of the CPP? Doesn’t its clearance imply that the members supported the action of the Youth League and Ernesto Yeboah? Were the members of the Youth League that participated in the demonstration to get Ernesto Yeboah reinstated not CPP members? Yes of course members of the disciplinary committee and the Youth League are also members of the CPP like the members of leadership are. At this point it is clear that members of the CPP were divided in their stances with respect to the action of Ernesto. Why then draw the conclusion that the Party(CPP) i.e its entire membership is a dead horse that cannot be flug to life and does not reflect Nkrumaism and the Nkrumaist principle. That is a misleading conclusion considering the facts contained in the post. The members of the disciplinary committee and the Youth League with respect to the issue under consideration are the living part of the CPP that only needed to organized to effect positive change. This you failed to see and do.
But please how do you intend to use the Economic Fighters League to change the system whilst it remains nothing more than a pressure group? Note Kwame Nkrumah wrote seek ye first the political kingdom and all others i.e economic independence shall follow though not necessarily. Kwame Nkrumah by this see political power as a necessity to economic transformation. What this should mean to the Economic Fighters League is that without political power in its hands all the quest for system change will be in vain. How does Economic Fighters League acquire political power in order to meet its ultimate aim in our political dispensation? The answer lies in its transformation from a pressure movement into a political party and to contest in elections. Take a cue from the Economic Freedom Fighters in South Africa under the command of Julius Malema. Pressure groups have not succeeded in pushing governments of Ghana to pursue any line of positive system change and neither will the Economic Fighters League succeed as a pressure group. I cannot pretend to know what the plans of Economic Fighters League are but you better consider becoming a political party if you indeed aim at a system change.