Nduom charges on Greenstreet Over Wikileaks

STORY: FROM: MAGDALENE SEY, ELMINA, C/R

The Convention People’s Party (CPP) shadow minister for Finance and Economic Planning, Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom, has described as “hurting, hateful and integrity demolishing” comments made by the General Secretary of the party, Ivor Kobina Greenstreet, about him to United States (US) embassy officials that were captured on the Wikileaks cables.

Dr. Nduom expressed that the comments will not only tarnish his hard won reputation but also soil the fine international relationships he has built over the years.

Addressing a press conference at Elmina last week to react to Mr. Greenstreet’s comments, Dr. Nduom, who was the party’s 2008 presidential candidate, called on the general secretary to render an unqualified apology to him to help strengthen the CPP.

He said the press conference was to set the records straight adding “if no one is prepared to speak for me, then I have to do it myself.”

“I want him [Mr. Ivor Greenstreet] to come and render an unqualified apology to me if indeed he said those things about me because as for me it is my integrity I try to protect because I try to do the right things all the time,” he said.

“I want to work with Ivor Greenstreet and also with all the newly elected executives at the just ended congress so I want him to do the right thing for peace to prevail,” he added.

Touching on the comments one after the other, Dr. Nduom first spoke on Mr. Greenstreet’s comment about his [Dr. Nduom’s] citizenship.

“It is said in the cables that I have misrepresented myself and sought to misrepresent myself as holding a US citizenship.”

“There is nothing that I find so damaging as having someone go and say I have misrepresented myself as a citizen of another country because I feel very proud of my Ghanaian citizenship. I have kept all the passports that I have held in this country from the very first one that was issued to me in 1970 to the last biometric one that I got this year.”
The CPP 2008 presidential candidate insisted that he has kept all his passports and that shows that he has lived and worked as a Ghanaian everywhere he went.
He added: “I have lived and worked in the United States of America (USA) but never took an American citizenship and I don’t know what I will gain by claiming to be a US citizen when I’m not.”

On Greenstreet’s comments that he appointed his son to run his campaign in the Central Region in the run-up to the 2008 election Dr. Nduom made it clear that “nobody can claim that any of my sons run any campaign for me in any region.”

“This is so untrue and the regional executives are there to testify to this assertion,” he said.
Dr. Nduom went on to say that Mr. Greenstreet also told the US officials that he (Nduom) won the 2008 flag-bearership of the party with a methodical plan by buying the votes of delegates.

“I have been with this party since the Fourth Republic started, I have worked with many of the people, put in my time and where necessary I have helped finance the activities of the party so I don’t need to go and pay anyone to vote for me for any position in the CPP,” he noted.

“I didn’t do that in 2000, 2004 or 2008 and I will not do that this year, next year or any year because the people in the party know me and know the contributions I have made to the CPP. Those who may have paid monies in 2007 at our congress in Kumasi know themselves so if you ask any CPP delegates, they will tell you I did not go about sharing money in exchange for votes,” he stressed.
“Mr. Greenstreet also said that I have alienated the parliamentary candidates, didn’t raise any money for the candidates and starved the party for funds. I challenge him to come forward with anyone who helped the party and parliamentary candidates in the way and manner that I did in 2008,” he challenged.
“I helped many people even before they became parliamentary candidates and I paid for the posters of any parliamentary candidate who came to my door and virtually printed posters and banners for all of them as well as went to their constituencies and helped them with money.
…In 2008, I paid the filing fees for all the parliamentary candidates of the party and even in constituencies where we failed to field a candidate, the money was not returned to me and I didn’t ask for them. I also gave each constituency GH¢500 to sort out polling agents and GH¢200 to the three organizers of the party every month to assist them in the course of the campaign,” he disclosed.
“Mr. Greenstreet also said that I run a one-man show to gain media attention for myself rather than the party but that is a big lie because if you watched our campaign I organised and funded that now famous rally on September 21, 2008 and everybody was on the platform including all the parliamentary candidates. I also organised and funded regional campaigns in all the ten regions” he maintained.
“Some people decided not to join the campaign even when I and some elders personally went to them to beg them to join the campaign. These same people are those going round saying this one-man show thing,” he added.
“Another thing I do not understand has to do with Freddy Blay. Mr. Greenstreet knows that Freddy Blay and I have had a very long standing relationship and as far as the party is concerned Freddy Blay, myself and Mike Eghan have done a lot for the party including the fight to get the name and symbol of the CPP back.”
‘Now Mr. Greenstreet claims in this Wikileaks cables that I sought to destroy Freddy’s campaign by going to field a candidate against him.”
“I don’t even understand why he will strongly accuse me this way when people were not happy with me for being the person who stood up at the central committee to ask our central committee members to ask Freddy Blay to contest elections in 2008 as CPP parliamentary candidate,” he asked.
According to Dr. Nduom, he cannot understand why Mr. Greenstreet will say such things about him since he is so close to him and could have confronted him if he had any doubts.
“These things do not promote comradeship in the CPP because the party needs encouragement and unity especially at this time for the benefit of the party and not for the benefit of any individual,” he said.
Dr. Nduom noted that he has sent Mr. Greenstreet a notice via email and asked him to address the issue for them to continue to have a fruitful relationship.
“Mr. Greenstreet is someone that I get along with and I just don’t understand why he will go and sit somewhere and make such comments about me,” Dr. Nduom said.