Ho, Aug. 20, GNA – The United Nkrumaist Front (UNF), is embarking on a series of unity talks across the country to place all Nkrumahist families under a single umbrella.
It is believed this feat would give a political leverage to contest in future elections to capture political power from National Democratic Congress (NDC) and New Patriotic Party (NPP).
The UNF is a socio-political movement formed in August, 2013 in Sunyani on the ideologies and tradition of Nkrumah-Egala-Limann, and seeks to unite all Nkrumahist under one umbrella with the ideologies of Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah as an identity to help move Ghana for reforms and change for all citizens and generations unborn.
Mr Michael Nketiah, Secretary of the Front, addressing some members of the Front at a conference in Ho, in the Volta region, said the tradition’s inability to be a strong alternative in the country’s political governance and gain political power was due to its “fragmentation,” thus the move to unite all members of Nkrumahist fraternity.
He said it was time for all faithful of the Nkrumah-Egala-Limaan tradition to rise up and embrace the call for unity to protect the tradition against extinction, forestall Nkrumah’s legacies from being wiped away and also prevent the country from becoming a two-party state.
The secretary said the Front was not leaving any stone unturned in its journey to unite all members, saying the cohesion was paramount in reviving the tradition and gaining political power to continue with Nkrumah’s ideas.
“The United Nkrumahist Front is poised to fight and restore the true legacies of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah for this dear nation of ours through re-engineering of his time-tested pioneering policies for holistic development of the citizenry in tandem with physical transformation of the state at large, he said.
Mr Nketiah said the Front believed in the ideas of Dr Nkrumah, and would therefore, take every necessary measure to actualise those ideas for the citizens to achieve their potentials through quality education with science, creative arts, technology and patriotism as the foundation.
They would also ensure efficient utilisation of the country’s natural resources to benefit all to obtain economic freedom, provide access to quality healthcare and undertake industrialisation through mechanised agriculture to create more jobs to deal with the current unemployment situation which has become a national security threat.
He said the country would have dealt with the COVID-19 situation without relying on the International Monetary Fund and World Bank for assistance if Nkrumah’s vision of making the country become self-sufficient with less import and less dependence on donor aid, value addition to its produce and natural resources, patronage of locally made goods were to be followed.
Mr Nii Adjetey Sowah, National Administrator, Convention People’s Party, (CPP) underscored the importance of the conference to sensitise members on the need to unite to win the confidence of the electorates, who held the mandate to give them the political power they were yearning for.
He described the theme; “Uniting without verity is no better than conspiracy” as appropriate and called on members of the various political groups to endeavour to conform to the elements of truth and democratic principles.
Mr Sowah said uniting all splinter Nkrumahist parties could be seen in a more positive light as essential to the practical workings of representative democracy, and also enabled the united party to have the ability to aggregate demands to facilitate compromise among diverse groups.
He called on the National Executive Council of the various parties to ratify every necessary decision to enable them forge ahead, noting that in many new and emerging democracies, society was moving from a period of domination by one political party or group.
Mr Sowah said many of the old assumptions and practices of the former political systems had to be discarded if a democratic system was to grow, adding that building democratic institutions and developing democratic practices required dynamic processes.
The Administrator said, with parties in the Nkrumahist tradition, the road to democracy would be shaped by a number of political, social and historical factors, and therefore, called on all members to play their role to ensure the objective of the Front was successfully achieved.
“The legacy of authoritarianism in political parties, and in the overall organisation of society, makes it imperative that a new democratic ethic must be the guiding light that informs and inspires party leaders, dedicated to bringing about a democratic change”, he said.
Other speakers at the meeting also stressed the need for all Nkrumahist groups to be united to serve as a strong alternative force in the country’s political sphere and to win political power.
GNA