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Youth of the Convention People�s Party (CPP) and the Peoples� National Convention (PNC) have said the two Nkrumaist parties risk losing their relevance to Ghanaian politics beyond the 2012 elections if they fail to merge. According to them, Ghanaian voters would not take the two seriously since they continued to prolong their unity talks even though they had both shown interest in merging their parties. In their view, votes garnered by the two parties would dwindle if they presented separate candidates for the elections. They were speaking to the Daily Graphic on the sidelines of West African Youth and Democracy Conference organised by the Institute of Democratic and Electoral Assistance (IDEA). The meeting has the theme; �Youth Political Participation, Representation and Dialogue - Challenges and Prospects�. Mr Abu Ramadan, the Youth Organiser of the PNC, told the Daily Graphic that leaders of the two parties had to be open-minded and avoid any uncompromising stance. He said the modalities had to be spelt out clearly whether they were working for a merger or an alliance. Mr Ramadan, who doubles as a member of the PNC�s unity talks committee which is headed by Dr Scot Palmer, said it was on a united platform that the two parties could get the political nod to implement its pro-poor initiatives that would relieve Ghanaians of the many economic hardships as was experienced in the First Republic under Dr Kwame Nkrumah�s presidency. �In the interest of the Nkrumaism identity that we both share as political parties, we need to approach this unity agenda with the clearest of conscience and commitment, otherwise our parties risk losing importance in political statutes after 2012. On the side of the PNC, I know we want a united front and I am reliably convinced that the CPP wants it as well so now what we need to do is to put in place the needed mechanisms to make it work,� he said. His counterpart in the CPP, Kadir Abdul Rauf, said unity talks between the two Nkrumaist factions had not been successful in the past because of the parochial interests of some key people from both parties. �The biggest challenge that has impeded this process is the fact that some people are concerned about what they stand to lose or gain when the two parties are united. A party chairman, for example, would not want to be deputy to someone else from the other side because we are one,� he said. He reiterated that once individuals in the parties put aside these personal interests and work in the bigger interest of the party, the process would be successful. The Convention People�s Party, according to him, had put together a special committee to open talks with the PNC with a former flagbearer aspirant of the party, Professor Agyeman Badu Akosa as the chair. Mr Abdul-Rauf said the subject of unity had to be treated as an urgent one, judging by the desire of Ghanaians for a strong political force, apart from the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the major opposition, New Patriotic Party (NPP).