The First Deputy Speaker of Parliament and Member of Parliament for Ellembele, Hon. Freddie Blay, says there is genuine reconciliation between himself and the Convention People’s Party. A marathon meeting of the CPP and their previously estranged MP on Tuesday evening resolved to put their heady relations behind them and prosecute the 2008 Elections as a united force. “Definitely there was a meeting last night. I happened to be there and it was agreed that we should reconcile; that whatever has happened we should forget it and look forward and therefore we’ve reconciled, there is no problem.” Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show, Freddie Blay said he believed the reconciliation would work. “From my perspective it’s genuine, I believe the Chairman talked with me very well, I believe it is genuine and why not, I believe it is genuine reconciliation. The court matter is behind us and for that matter I am free to go and campaign for votes. I’m late you know”, he told Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah. Strained relations between the party’s leadership – especially the Central Committee - and Blay in recent times led to his suing the party when he detected moves to outlaw a parliamentary primary that reelected him to stand on the ticket of the party for the Ellembele constituency. The Fast Track High Court that heard the suit ruled against the party and asked it to respect Blay as the duly elected candidate for the party. Strangely though, after the court’s decision, which some of the party officials vowed to contest, an official CPP list of parliamentary candidates with party backing had Hon Freddie Blay’s name conspicuously missing, but he said with their differences now patched, nothing would stand in his way of retaining his parliamentary seat. “Well I was not told if there was a list, it was between the party headquarters and regional headquarters which I got to know from the media. I rang the organizer who is a close friend of mine and he also told me the same thing, I couldn’t believe it, but as I am saying to you right now, I was called yesterday, we had a meeting and so far as I am concerned there is no more any problem.” And as a sign of his commitment to the new relations, Freddie Blay would not even respond to questions on statements he made in the past when his relations with the party seemed to head for ‘irreconcilable differences’, except to say that “the answers I gave you so far as I’m concerned was clear and I don’t want to go back to that right now.” Story by Isaac Yeboah