Akosa Slams Nduom And Throws Support Behind Samia

A former aspirant for the presidential candidacy of the Convention Peoples Party (CPP), Professor Agyemang Badu Akosa, has endorsed the candidature of the party�s only parliamentarian, Samia Nkrumah, who is in the running for the chairmanship of the party. Professor Akosa supports Samia Nkrumah because he wants �a radical progressive change in the Convention Peoples Party. We are changing the leadership of the party since 2007 because really, they have done abysmally poor. �At the end of the day we all believe that the CPP delegates are discerning enough and I am hoping that come the National Congress, the delegates would do unto Samia Nkrumah, what NDC did to Professor Atta Mills, 96.9%, winning every region.� Speaking on the Tuesday July 19, 2011 edition of the Citi Eyewitness News, Professor Akosa accused the 2008 presidential candidate of the party, Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom, of using his financial stature to buy his way to the flagbearer position of the party. He said, �There is only one person who has a bank in Convention Peoples Party and it is Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom (who is seeking the CPP flagbearership and) at the end of the day believing that bankrolling and filing for close to 70 percent of the delegates would assure him of that vote but I would want to say that he would be grossly disappointed�. Dr Nduom is the Chairman of First National Bank. He also alleged that some constituencies did not even conduct an election to choose delegates, but rather used popular acclamation to nominate their executives because Dr. Nduom �bankrolled� all of them. He said some of the delegates have �come through with signed �First National Bank� cheques and we all know�. The Professor Director General of the Ghana Health Service was of the view that the party deliberately pegged the filing fees at extremely astronomical levels knowing that "there were a lot of poor people in the party". He condemned in no uncertain terms, the financial power-play in the party, saying that it does not auger well for a party which is struggling to gain political influence on the Ghanaian political landscape. The CPP goes to congress on the 29th and 30th of this month after several postponements of the congress date. On his political ambitions however, Professor Akosa was quite evasive on whether or not he would be standing for a position in the party. He contested Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom, Mr. George Aggudey, Dr. Fred Asante Akuffo, Dr. Kwaku Sarfo, and Mr. Bright Akwetey for the flagbearer slot of the party ahead of the 2008 elections. Also speaking to Citi News, Mr Akwetey called for calm and unity in the rank and file of the party ahead of the party�s congress.