The Convention People’s party is bidding its former parliamentary guru and member of high repute, Hon. Freddie Blay, a fare well after he resigned from the party to join the opposition New Patriotic Party. A statement issued by the party, and signed by Ekow Duncan, CPP’s Shadow Cabinet Member for Political Affairs, concludes “Fare thee well Mr. Blay. May your enterprise thrive as you follow Nana Akufo-Addo to canvass votes in the run-up to the 2012 elections.” But that conclusion only caps a long list of disagreements the party appears to have with Mr. Blay in his new choice of political destination as well as comments attributed to him and wonders if he had been a true Nkrumaist all the time that he had been with the party. The statement, while accusing Mr. Blay of wasting “the time of the CPP with his tactics that diverted the CPP from the pursuit of her political objectives,” also asks “Is it now true from the foregoing that our businessman and honourable Freddie Blay had never been a true Nkrumaist? Or is it the case that duplicity, ignominy and betrayal have combined and converged to bring down a man who rode on the back of the Convention People’s Party to the political pinnacle of First Deputy Speaker of Parliament to the political depth of “foot-soldier” of the phony liberal democrats of Ghana politics?” Beyond Freddie Blay, the New Patriotic Party also takes a severe bashing on account of alleged acts it perpetrated against the CPP, as well as for its political disposition and claims. By Myjoyonline.com/Ghana Below is the full statement issued by the CPP, dated April 25, 2011 THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MR. FREDDIE BLAY AND THE CONVENTION PEOPLE’S PARTY (CPP) Mr. Freddie Blay, recently gave an extensive interview to “Africa Watch” a monthly magazine on African and international affairs to explain why he left the CPP to join the New Patriotic Party (NPP) or the “Old Unpatriotic Party? (Old U.P.) In a country where most people join or support a political party for reasons other than the development policy, social philosophy, moral disposition and historical antecedents of the party; which presumably, is not so in the case of the erudite and brilliant lawyer Freddie Blay, the interview is a revelation not for what he said but for what he did not say but are pertinent to a definition of his political choice. It is in this context that we must explain and understand the basis of the political choice of the politician and business man, lawyer Blay, his ideological disposition and the differences between the Convention People’s Party, lawyer Blay and the party of his choice, The New Patriotic Party. The political choice of lawyer Blay reveals the following.

1. That he has made common cause with political forces that hold the view expressed by their leader Dr Kofi Abrefa Busia at the Achimota Conference of 1954 on the negotiations for the independence of our country to the effect that colonialism is not a system of economic exploitation, denial of economic opportunities and our political and human rights, but a civilising mission for which the colonialists must have ample time to complete. The Convention People’s Party of course is unalterably opposed to colonialism demands "self government now" and prefers “self-government with danger to servitude in tranquility”.
2. That Freddie Blay has joined the political group who saw themselves as the rightful and natural heirs of colonial power on account of their birth and high education and acted from the false conception that colonial freedom could be won by negotiations with the colonial authorities. The mass of the people who they pejoratively described as the “verandah boys” were in their view too lumpen and devoid of any capability for participation in the “high level negotiations” (sic) for colonial freedom. The CPP believes that political victory is won out of political struggle that must involve the masses to give political and economic opportunities to the people for participation in the socio-economic development of our country. We reject the elitist views and elitism of the NPP and its founding fathers.
3. Lawyer Blay has made common cause with the political force within our dear country that lobbied the international financial and capital markets and Western governments to deny our nation the resources for the construction of the Akosombo Hydro Electric Project that was to supply the energy to underpin the industrialisation programme of the government of the Convention People’s Party. The CPP believes that Opposition in governance should be responsible and committed to the development objectives of the nation.
4. Comrade (sic) Blay has erected his political tent among the political group that opposed a unitary Ghana and agitated that the resources of the Ashanti Region should not be deployed for the development of Ghana. The CPP to the contrary, is eternally committed to a unitary and united Ghana where politics is devoid of ethnicity.
5. Mr. Freddie Blay has pitched camp with the political group that attempted in pursuit of their political objectives, the assassination of Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah and the overthrow of his CPP government less than two years after its induction into office. The CPP is irrevocably committed to civil politics and does not support violence and sedition in politics.
6. Lawyer Blay has hoisted his political flag within the liberal democratic political group (sic) that accused the CPP of dictatorship with the introduction of a one party state but went on to ban the CPP and her leaders from political contests and also made it an offence for anyone to be in possession of books and effigy of Dr. Nkrumah when they assumed covert reign of government under the National Liberation Council (NLC). The CPP believes that human rights can only justifiably be curtailed when the peace and security of the state is under siege.
7. Businessman and lawyer Freddie Blay is running with the political group that disposed the manufacturing and agricultural assets of the nation acquired by the CPP government to neo-colonial interests and their cronies as a condition for the receipt of “economic aid”(sic) and “essential commodities” (sic) in compliance with the dictates of multilateral financial institutions when they were responsible for the development management of the economy under the National Liberation Council.
8. Businessman Freddie Blay is now rooted in the liberal democratic political group (sic) that lent their support to the military dictatorship of the National Liberation Council.
9. Our erudite Freddie Blay subscribes to the liberal democratic development policy that “it is not the business of government to do business” and that a free market economy will deliver the development objectives of our country. The CPP believes that government must intervene in the market economy for the development of the productive private sector, an internally sustained economy, and the structural transformation of our import dependent economy to create a new economy and a new Ghana.
10. The CPP rejects and repudiates the “strategic focus and discipline” lawyer Blay suggests for the party. The CPP will forever be a political party committed to winning political power in our presidential system of government and will not be a pressure group that negotiates for personal gains and concessions as he seems to suggest.
11. We in the CPP deny that the NPP has any social democratic credentials or disposition claimed by Mr. Blay. The National Health Insurance Scheme is a government economic enterprise in the health sector and not a social support system. The right to service is dependent on the payment of premiums. It is not an unemployment benefit scheme of the welfare state.
12. The Capitation Grant and School Feeding Programme Mr. Blay cited in the interview as an attestation to the social democratic disposition of the NPP are in fact paternalistic palliatives and programmes to mitigate the adverse and harsh effects of free market and liberal economic development policies on the poor and are not initiatives that deliver wealth creation opportunities for the poor and underprivileged in our society that a CPP government will implement.
13. Indeed it would have made no difference or mattered anyways if Mr. Blay had joined the NDC or NPP because the two parties have many things in common. They all follow the dictates of multi-lateral financial institutions and “donors” in the economic development management of our country in exchange for “foreign aid,” dispose of national assets in compliance with the dictates of their neo-colonial masters and lend their support to military dictatorships.
14. Finally it is obvious that it is rather Mr. Blay who has wasted the time of the CPP with his tactics that diverted the CPP from the pursuit of her political objectives and not the other way round.
15. Is it now true from the foregoing that our businessman and honourable Freddie Blay had never been a true Nkrumaist? Or is it the case that duplicity, ignominy and betrayal have combined and converged to bring down a man who rode on the back of the Convention People’s Party to the political pinnacle of First Deputy Speaker of Parliament to the political depth of “foot-soldier” of the phony liberal democrats of Ghana politics?
16. Fare thee well Mr. Blay. May your enterprise thrive as you follow Nana Akufo Addo to canvass votes in the run-up to the 2012 elections.

Signed: Ekow Duncan CPP Shadow Cabinet Member for Political Affairs