The Convention Peoples Party (CPP) has said it is preparing to file a court action, seeking an order to repossess many of its assets confiscated by the State after the party\u2019s overthrow from power in 1966.<\/p>\n
The law suit will target a number of properties in Accra, including the building which currently houses the Ministry of Information and Media Relations, the party\u2019s Chairperson announced today.<\/p>\n
The move, according to Ms. Samia Nkrumah, forms part of the CPP\u2019s restructuring exercise intended to reposition the party to win political power in 2016.<\/p>\n
Ms. Nkrumah\u2019s father, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, formed the CPP on 12 June, 1949 to push for the independence of the Gold Coast [now Ghana].<\/p>\n
The party ruled the Gold Coast, then as a self-governing British colony, from 1951 to 1957, and independent Ghana from 1957 to 1966.<\/p>\n
In 1964, Dr. Nkrumah, Ghana\u2019s founding President, changed the nation\u2019s constitution, declaring a one-party state and making the CPP the only lawful political party in the country.<\/p>\n
After the February 1966 coup by the National Liberation Council (NLC), the military junta banned the CPP and reportedly confiscated to the State several of the party\u2019s assets, including the building that now houses the Ministry of Information and Media Relations.<\/p>\n
Some loyalists of Dr. Nkrumah reformed the party in 1996 after winning a lawsuit they had filed, seeking a judicial declaration that the ban on the CPP was unlawful.<\/p>\n
Nearly two decades after the CPP regained its status as a lawful political group in Ghana, Ms. Nkrumah told this reporter that the party must fight to take back all the assets it lost after her father\u2019s overthrow.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to stress that point that justice must be done and the CPP is going to pursue that project,\u201d Ms. Nkrumah told this reporter in an interview. \u201cWe need our assets de-confiscated as many individuals have managed to do in the courts over the years.\u201d<\/p>\n
The CPP is on record to have made various appeals to governments over the years to release its seized assets, but Friday\u2019s hint about a looming court action is the party\u2019s first.<\/p>\n
For instance, in February 2010, the CPP made a direct appeal to the Mills government to hand over its assets that were confiscated after the overthrow of Ghana\u2019s First Republic.<\/p>\n
Lardi Nylander, the party\u2019s Chairman at the time, described continued retention of the assets by the State as discriminatory because, according to him, most companies and individuals whose properties were previously confiscated had been returned to them.<\/p>\n
He made the comments at the commemoration of the 44th anniversary of the coup that toppled Dr. Nkrumah\u2019s rule.<\/p>\n
According to him, a number of reports from various commissions of inquiry such as the Justice Annie Jiaggie Commission indicated that those assets, including the current Ministry of Information building in Accra, were not acquired with state funds but through deductions from salaries of CPP members.<\/p>\n
Till date, the State has still not released the assets to the CPP.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
By: Abdul Karim Naatogmah\/citifmonline.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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