Nana Akosua Kumankumah is the new CPP flag bearer

The Convention People’s Party (CPP) has elected a former national chairperson of the party, Nana Akosua Frimponmaa Sarpong Kumankumah, as flag bearer for the 2024 general election.

Nana Frimponmaa Kumankumah polled 759 votes to clinch the position, following a decentralised congress held across the regional capitals last Wednesday.

A legal practitioner, Yaw Anokye Frimpong, also a known historian and prominent member of the party, secured 579 votes in the two-horse race.

Victory speech

In her victory speech, Nana Akosua Kumankumah called for unity among party members to ensure success in the 2024 general election.

“In every election, one person will emerge as the winner, and it is essential for us to stand together to ensure unity and cohesion,” she said.

“I thank all who voted for me and even those who did not. My victory was decisive and represents the voice of the masses,” she stated.

Recall

The National Executive Committee (NEC) of the CPP endorsed the two candidates, Nana Akosua Frimponmaa Sarpong Kumakumah and Mr Yaw Anokye Frimpong, to contest for the flag bearer position of the party.

The decision was reached during a NEC meeting held in Kumasi, where a resolution was also passed urging all party members to refrain from resorting to legal action to resolve internal grievances.

The party later opened nominations for prospective presidential aspirants from August 2 to August 7, 2024. The CPP flag bearer-elect, Nana Kumankumah, will be unveiled in the coming week.

Background

Since December 2023, the CPP has been entangled in political upheaval, exacerbated by a prolonged leadership dispute.

This discord emerged after key party officials, including the General Secretary, National Organiser and Youth Organiser, resigned, leading to the formation of an interim National Executive Council.

The party, determined to resolve its internal conflicts, set up an eight-member Independent Committee (IC) to steer affairs and re-organise its operations until new national officers were elected.

Under the chairmanship of Wing Commander Patrick Sorgbodjor (retd), the other members were Prof. Nii Noi Dowuona, Ali Adamu, Opare Addo, Joyce Larbie, Hajia Hamdatu Ibrahim, Bright Akwetey and Kwame Botsio.

It followed a series of meetings by a group of founding members of the party, in collaboration with the council of elders of the CPP, members of the National Leadership, Central Committee, Legal Committee and a former flag bearer of the party, Ivor Kobina Greenstreet, to discuss the crises in the party and find ways of addressing them.

The meetings were held on April 16 to 18, 2024, at the East Legon residence of Naa Prof. Edmund N. Delle Chiir V Ill, who also served as the chairman of the group, and collated comments and concerns of all members with suggestions on how to resolve the crises.

Assessment

An earlier correspondence signed by Naa Prof. Delle said upon a sober and dispassionate appraisal of the current situation in the party, it was decided that an IC should be set up to undertake, among other responsibilities, the drawing up of a comprehensive re-organisational programme, including the mobilisation of resources and setting up of a functional National Secretariat and overseeing its implementation and the withdrawal of all cases in court for settlement.

“To ensure consensus in the acceptance of this decision, the Founders held separate meetings with the chairperson on May 9, 2024, and the rest of the Central Committee members on  May 14, 2024; the Chairperson later joined the latter meeting.

“After a fruitful discussion, the decision of the founders was unanimously adopted with the mandate to constitute membership of the committee to undertake the aforementioned.

The committee, which will work under the auspices of the founders, was tasked to set its meeting schedules and co-opt other comrades or assign other duties to facilitate its work,” it stated.

In its endorsement of the directions of the party, the Council of Elders in a statement signed by its chairman, Felix Amoah, asked the IC to provide a periodic progress report to the council.

It also asked the committee to set up subcommittees to facilitate its work and suggested subcommittees such as the Congress Committee, Vetting Committee, Operations and Elections Committee and Fundraising Committee.

Flag bearer

It directed that the reorganisation of the party should run concurrently with the flagbearership race to reset the process of reorganisation for it to align with the party's constitutional provisions.

“The council directs the independent committee to immediately organise an extraordinary congress to elect a flag bearer for 2024,” it stated.

The Council of Elders directed the independent committee to conclude the reorganisation of the party and ensure all structural elections were held by December 2025.

The IC that came in at a short time when the whole country was gearing up for the election activated the part of the party’s constitution, which allowed them to invoke internal strategies for the betterment of the party.

As part of its reorganisation effort to contest the 2024 general election, the IC formed a Reorganisation Committee (RC) to reorganise its grassroots structure.

The RC also visited all the 16 regions, invited regional and constituency chairmen to come with the party's album to verify existing delegates who are still available.

The exercise found that the majority of the delegates were still with the CPP, meeting the party's constitutional requirement of a two-thirds majority.

The IC then set up a congress committee, chaired by Nana Mireku Tumi, the Western Regional Chairman of the party, that opened nominations for flag bearers and parliamentary aspirants.

The CPP also intends to put up parliamentary aspirants for the December 7 elections in constituencies where the party has a solid base to secure the seat.