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The Convention People�s Party (CPP) will hold its national delegates congress in Sunyani in the Brong Ahafo Region from Friday, September 18 to tomorrow to elect a new national executive. During the two-day congress, the National Executive Council (NEC) will meet to discuss pertinent issues affecting the party. The CPP, which goes by the slogan, �Forward ever, backward never�, hopes to use the congress to chart a new path to reassert itself in the national political arena. Delegates Some 3,200 delegates from the 275 constituencies in the country are expected to attend the congress. The delegates also include the Brong Ahafo Regional Steering Committee, the national executive, the Council of Elders, founding fathers, the Member of Parliament for Kumbungu, representatives of tertiary institutions and overseas branches of the party. Contestants Twenty-one people are vying for the various national executive positions. The positions being contested are national chairman, vice-chairman, general secretary, treasurer, national organiser and national youth organiser. Besieged party The Sunyani congress has been dubbed by a number of CPP activists as a defining moment for the party. That, they opined, was because the party had its unique history of being a besieged party and the only one in the country which had suffered every possible fragmentation that a political party could go through. It also suffered the first coup d�etat from a combination of domestic and international reactionary forces in 1966, was proscribed in 1968 by the Busia regime and overthrown again in 1981. The Political Parties Registration Act of 1992 also precluded the revival of the party under its name, the CPP, that was tied to its history. It again suffered the same fate in 1992 when it was fragmented with the formation of five political parties using its tradition. �The essence of this congress, therefore, will be a defining moment for the CPP in its mission for national economic freedom, prosperity and social justice,� a number of party members told the Daily Graphic. Publicity Although the Sunyani Congress has attracted high expectation, the euphoria in Sunyani seems to be low. As of Wednesday there were no posters and banners on display in the Sunyani municipality to inform the people of the upcoming event. Also, posters of those aspiring to the various national executive positions were virtually limited to the party office, with few of them on the streets, while limited party flags hung on poles along some of the streets. The Brong Ahafo Regional Secretary of the party, Mr Eben Agbenya Mawudor, who briefed the Daily Graphic on the preparations towards the congress, said everything was under control. He said accommodation for the delegates and party officials had been booked, while the necessary logistics had been secured for a successful congress. He explained that there would be a NEC meeting today, while the national congress was slated for the auditorium of the Sunyani Polytechnic where voting would take place tomorrow. On security, Mr Mawudor said the Brong Ahafo Regional Police Command had put in place the necessary security arrangements to maintain peace during the congress.