WHO IS IVOR GREENSTREET?

Ivor Kobina Greenstreet

Ivor Kobina Greenstreet was elected presidential candidate of the Convention Peoples’ Party (CPP) at the party’s national delegates’ congress on Saturday, January 30, 2016 at the International Trade  Fair Centre.

 He won the CPP presidential race with 1,288 votes, representing 64.2% of  valid votes cast, beating closest contender Samia Yaba Nkrumah- the daughter of the party’s founder and Ghana’s first president, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, - who managed 579 votes. Two others, Joseph Agyapong and Bright Akwetey, polled 83 and 42 votes respectively.

Mr. Greenstreet was born to two dons of Ghana’s premier university, the University of Ghana, Legon. The third of four children, he is a lawyer, both in the English (Inner Temple) and Ghanaian Bars. He is also a writer, a publisher and a businessman.

 A Die-hard Nkrumahist, Mr Greenstreet, went into active politics in the 90s, joining the Peoples’ Convention Party (PCP), and was elected by the PCP as their parliamentary candidate for the  Ayawaso West Wuogon constituency for the 1996 poll.

However, with his party merging with the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) to form the Great Alliance, which contested that year’s election, Mr. Greenstreet was compelled to give up his ambition, so that the NPP candidate at the time – Isaac Amoo-could contest.

He, nonetheless, managed to run for parliament on the CPP’s ticket in 2004, after the collapse of the Great alliance, in the same constituency, amassing 4,964 votes. It was an unprecedented feat, given that the CPP had managed less than 500 votes in that constituency previously.

He went on to become CPP general secretary, serving two four –year terms, spanning  2007 to 2015, and holds the reputation of being the only national officer to be re-elected for a second term.

Mr. Greenstreet comes as a bold and principled politician, who is unafraid to speak his mind. For example, at the governing National Democratic Congress’ national delegates’ congress in Kumasi in December 2014 , Mr. Greenstreet said directly to President John Mahama and Vice President Kwesi Amissah –Arthur that “You don’t care”.

 “Nobody is feeling your better Ghana”, Greenstreet shouted when he delivered his party’s solidarity message to the NDC at the Baba Yara Stadium in the Ashanti regional capital, Kumasi – stronghold of the main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP).

Mr Ivor Greenstreet’s election for the CPP flagbearership makes him the first physically challenged person to run for president in Ghana.

He is married to the daughter of late former vice president Kow Arkaah. He has been confined to a wheelchair since a ghastly accident that occurred one night in Accra, as he returned home from overseeing business at a nightclub he owned.

SFG CONGRATULATES CPP

The Socialist Forum of Ghana has congratulated the Convention Peoples Party (CPP) for holding a successful congress for the election of the party’s Presidential Candidate for 2016.

 The Forum also congratulated the Presidential candidate, Mr. Ivor Greenstreet on his decisive victory.

A statement by the SFG in Accra said it believes that the CPP has a lot to offer in the struggle of the Ghanaian people for a new society where resources will be controlled and exploited for the benefit of its people.

It described as unacceptable the current situation in which the leadership of various political parties has accepted the status of neo-colonial dependence.

The SFG said it believed in the possibility of the new Ghana Osayefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah wanted to construct, on the principles of Social justice and deeper democracy –  A new Ghana which would banish poverty , illiteracy, disease and ignorance.

The SFG pledged its readiness to be part of a broad platform of progressives to struggle alongside the masses   of Ghana for economic emancipation and the formation of a continental Union government.  

Editorial

CONGRATULATIONS

The Insight has no hesitation in congratulating Comrade Ivor Greenstreet on his election as the Presidential candidate of the Convention Peoples Party (CPP).

Getting more  than 64 percent of total votes cast is a decisive victory under any circumstance and it must be a true reflection of the wishes of party members thirsting for real change.

In congratulating Comrade Greenstreet, The Insight is fully aware of the fact that there has been no significant policy change in Ghana since 1983.

All this time all Ghanaian leaders have been obedient servants of neo-colonial interests and they have acted under the marching orders of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

The consequence of this has been complete devastation in all aspects of the national life.

Access to education, housing, potable water and health has been drastically reduced while the national currency has been devalued by more than 2,600 percent.

Ghana, once the pride of Africa when it comes to the development of industry and agriculture is now dependant on imports of foods and all kinds of manufactured goods.

The Insight hopes that the CPP under the leadership of Professor Edmund Delle and comrade Greenstreet will address these issues and take bold steps to delink Ghanaian  national life from the colonial metropolis.

 Ghana needs to develop along the path of national self-reliance within the context of African continental unity.

Forward with the Nkrumaist Agenda