Ivor, new kid on the block

Mr Ivor Kobina Greenstreet, a former two-term General Secretary of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), made history last Saturday by winning a decisive victory to become the party’s presidential candidate for the 2016 elections.

At the CPP’s national delegates congress at the Ghana International Trade Fair Centre at La in Accra, Mr Greenstreet shrugged off stiff competition from a former party chairperson, Ms Samia Yaaba Nkrumah, who is the daughter of Ghana’s first President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah; Mr Bright Oblitei Akwetey, a lawyer, and Mr Joseph Agyapong, a businessman, to become the CPP’s candidate of choice for the 2016 elections.

The Daily Graphic congratulates the new kid on the block on emerging victorious at the CPP’s presidential primary.

His election is a manifestation of the party’s determination to work to deepen multi-party democracy in the country.

We also applaud the three aspirants who contested the primary for accepting the outcome of the election.

But while the applause is still loud, the Daily Graphic reminds Mr Greenstreet of the responsibility ahead of him as the CPP’s presidential candidate for the November 2016 polls.

It seems Mr Greenstreet wields some magic wand that many are not aware of. It is recalled that he was not given a dog’s chance when he first contested the General Secretary position, but he managed to pull a surprise by winning that contest and was able to retain it.

This time round, the CPP presidential primary seemed to favour Ms Nkrumah, but Mr  Greenstreet conjured some magic to receive an overwhelming endorsement from the party delegates.

Mr Greenstreet, who was born to two dons of Ghana's premier university, the University of Ghana, Legon, in his speech at the congress just before voting commenced, told the delegates debilitating policies of governments over the last two decades had disabled Ghanaians and that he was going to address those challenges.

A die-hard Nkrumaist, Mr Greenstreet, who went into active politics in the 1990s when he joined the People's Convention Party (PCP) and was elected by the PCP as its parliamentary candidate for Ayawaso West Wuogon for the 1996 polls, has pledged to reverse the dwindling electoral fortunes of the CPP.

How he will work to unite and reconcile the various shades of opinion within the CPP is the key  task ahead. Definitely, he cannot do it alone and will need the entire CPP fraternity to achieve this goal.

Undoubtedly, he comes across as a bold politician who is not afraid to speak his mind. In this respect, the Daily Graphic expects him to lead the campaign against the politics of insults and name calling and help the country focus on issues-based politics.

 The ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) have dominated affairs of the country and efforts by the CPP to emerge as an alternative Third Force seem not to be yielding any fruits. This is the task facing Mr Greenstreet and the supporters expect him to use the “magic wand” that helped him to dismiss three opponents with cheeky ease to rebrand the CPP and make it attractive to the electorate.

The action is now.