REDEFINING CPP: AS A CALLING PROPHECY AND PROMISE!

by Party Communications Director
There is a new prophecy hanging over the destiny of Ghana, linked to the promise of the Convention People’s Party. I write this, assuming that Ghanaians know the famous lines that were uttered by Nkrumah the day Ghana was born, in 1957. After fifty three years of independence, the prophecy has come to pass, with the release of Nelson Mandela from jail, as a throwback from the release of Nkrumah from jail to assume the post of Head of Government Business in 1951.
Today, Ghana and Africa are once again at a watershed point in history, where the prophecy deserves a revisit or retelling. We who were born after independence and came of age in the decade when the son of an African is President of the United States, it becomes almost a reversal of the prophetic fulfilment of Nkrumah’s dream of African Unity. I say this because, little has been acknowledged, despite the pictures to prove that, Martin Luther King, Jr., and his wife Coretta, Ralph Bunche the first African-American Secretary to the United Nations, John Johnson, Founder of Ebony Magazine, Adam Clayton Powell, first African-American Congressman from Harlem – Malcolm X and Mohammed Ali were to visit later - and a whole host of African-American political and literary luminaries were present on Independence Day, to see the rallying cry of “Independence Now,” come to fruition; and later became linked to the total liberation of Africans and African-Americas.
I set the tone for this article with the preceding paragraph because, there is a particular picture of Nkrumah holding the hand of Martin Luther King Jr., and showing him something in the distance. Till this day, I am yet to find what the two were talking about and if any points of historic interest could be gleaned from their conversation. But the silence of time, has a way of stealing away such moments. However, as the saying goes, a picture says a thousand words. So I can only use my imagination to deduce that King might have been advised by Nkrumah to use the notion of the “fierce urgency of now,” like the phrase, Self-Government Now to pursue his dream of Civil Rights in America.
Secondly, there are pictures of Nkrumah standing at the Lincoln Memorial and co-incidentally that was the same place King would later stand to give his “I Have A Dream Speech.” As a creative writer and a poet, I must allow myself the fictional license to believe that Nkrumah might have told King, “If you want America to live up to its creed of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness and that all men were created equal, hold a rally at the Lincoln Memorial and demand civil rights for African-Americans Now.”
It is only interesting to note that some forty years later, Obama would re-echo the idea of “fierce urgency of now,” in his speeches during his campaign to become President, also Obama would refer to Nkrumah in his autobiography and visit Ghana on his first African trip as President. These connections I am making are symbolic, aimed at painting a picture on a historic canvas of prophetic storytelling to stress the point that, the realization of the African-America dream to have a President of African descent in the White House, has its roots
embedded in the historic narrative of Ghana’s history. Let us not forget that W. E. B. Du Bois lived the final years of his life in Ghana and Nkrumah was influenced by Harlem politics, Marcus Garvey and George Padmore while a student in America and England.
Let me therefore relate it to the Calling of Prophecy and Promise. There is not a political party in Ghana with such a rich historic heritage with links to the Diaspora as the Convention People’s Party, particularly because of Nkrumah. Ours is a scared calling, like the Priesthood or being called to the Bar or to pursue Medicine. The call to commit one’s life to politics as a CPP member – as Nkrumah did - must be seen as a calling, and in my opinion only the CPP offers such an opportunity to the next generation of Pan-African political aspirants, committed to Creating Prosperity for the People.
We are living in prophetic times and the call of our party must be a call to a new prophecy. Nkrumah pointed out in his autobiography: politics is the art of the possible. Let us pledge ourselves to a new prophecy to fulfil the promises of economic independence, work and happiness, self-government, and African unity. That is the mission of our party. It is our destiny to forge a new Covenant between the People and their Politicians. It is a Call to Prophetic Politics to fulfil the dream of the political Kingdom, to assure Ghanaians that our promise to lead Ghana/Africa to the Promised Land of prosperity is scared and must not be betrayed.
If African-Americans can fulfil the promise of King, why haven’t we fulfilled the prophecy of Nkrumah? The moment for us to wake up the sleeping conscience of the race is now. CPP must mean more than just a name of a party. It must mean a Calling of Prophecy and Promise; a Covenant between the People and their President, a sacred social Contract between Parliamentarians and the People, to guarantee good governance, democracy and development. This is the moment to Conceive, Prepare and Plan for Change, Possibility and Power.
We were once the greatest party in Ghana’s history, hence Africa; we can be great again. Let us be fearless in evoking the spirit of political prophecy or to use the church phrase to speak in political toughs. This is the moment of our new destiny. Not later in some distant future, but Now. History is on our side, in our quest to once again win and Control Political Power in Ghana.
Kabu Okai-Davies, Member of CPP, Australia Branch.