I Didn�t Win By Sitting In Accra And Doing Radio Campaign � Greenstreet�

He sits in a wheelchair but exudes the confidence of a military commander and the energy of a teenager.

That is the newly elected Presidential Candidate Ghana’s oldest political party, the Convention People’s Party (CPP), Mr. Ivor Greenstreet.

Mr. Greenstreet is fending off criticisms that his victory which shocked many Ghanaians was bought with cash splashed at congress.

He polled 1,288 votes out of the 1,992 valid votes cast to beat overwhelming pre-election favourite and daughter of the founder of the CPP, Samia Nkrumah who obtained a dismal 579 votes at Saturday’s polls.

Two other candidates - Joseph Agyapong and Bright Akwetey polled 83 and 42 votes respectively.

After the declaration of the votes, a former flagbearer aspirant of the CPP, Prof. Agyemang Badu Akosa and Samia Nkrumah accused Mr. Greenstreet of vote-buying.

They alleged that delegates had been paid between 200 and 500 Ghana cedis to vote for the victor.

But speaking on Joy FM, Mr. Greenstreet said the allegations were baseless.

As a two-time General Secretary of the CPP, he said, he knew what was required to win an election.

That he said, excluded sitting in Accra and doing radio campaigns.

It required going to every nook and cranny of the country and talking to delegates and providing them with a clear vision and hope, he said.

According to him, that was exactly what he did. He expressed regret that senior members of the CPP will, after losing elections, make the kinds of allegations that were made against him.

"This election was bought but bought by my service; bought by my loyalty; bought by my commitment; bought by the fact that they (delegates) knew that I am the best-placed person to speak for the party. They have heard me speak on national platforms; they believe I speak eloquently; they believe I speak the true values of the CPP; they believe I'm the one who can unify the party and bring all groupings together," he maintained.

The CPP flagbearer said, delegates "do not take decisions on who to vote for by media campaigns in Accra; what you say on Jy FM, on Peace FM, or in the Graphic of social media is irrelevant to the rank and file. The nine delegates per constituency [from] 275 constituencies nationwide take their decision based on how well they know the person who is contesting and how long the person has been in the party."

He said the same delegates being accused of taking money voted to elect Samia Nkrumah as Chairperson of the CPP more than four years ago.

"These are the same [delegates] who elected Dr. Abu Sakara (CPP's flagbearer in the 2012 elections) as the candidate, these are the same executives who elected our previous national executive so if I were a delegate, I would be highly offended for someone to say that I could be influenced by monetary considerations to give a victory of this resounding nature [to someone]," he stressed. 

Mr. Greenstreet said, "They themselves should ask themselves, where did we go wrong? What have done that we shouldn't have done? What did we do that has left the rank and file to reject us to this extent? These are the questions I would asking myself if I been defeated."