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Dr Sekou Nkrumah (INSET: Samia Nkrumah)
Sekou Nkrumah, last son of Ghana’s first President, Kwame Nkrumah, has described his sister Samia’s debut in local politics as a self-seeking venture and one underpinned by a dose of immaturity.
His comments come at the heels of her defeat during the weekend’s presidential primary of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), the political grouping their father founded.
Dr Sekou Nkrumah said, “She came to this party in 2008 and quickly jumped into the political landscape without really understanding the dynamics of politics in Ghana…but as she settled in I expected her to understand what was going on.”
On what was responsible for her defeat, he said it could be her non-performance as chairperson of the party.
“She became the [chairperson] of the party but then what did she achieve for the party under her leadership…I mean…nothing really has changed. I think it was also a bad taste being an MP and you become a party [chairperson] and now you want to become a presidential candidate,” Sekou observed.
Apart from being naïve about local politics, the dynamics of which she has no knowledge of, Sekou described her efforts as “more of self-seeking” and geared towards “trying to fit into her own personal ambition.”
He said from Florida, USA, where he is currently holidaying, “My problem with Samia really is…I’m not too sure what her politics is all about but it seems to be more self-seeking and an agenda for the cause she believes in…I think everything was about her…”
He has advised his sister to be humble and join hands with the leadership of the CPP towards shoring up its political fortunes for the 2016 polls.
He lamented about what for him is his sister’s lost humility, a quality which according to him she exuded when they were growing up.
“Growing up as kids, one thing I admired about Samia was her humility and I don’t know where that has gone to,” he said.
On her accusation of vote-buying by Ivor Greenstreet, the man who won the presidential primary of the CPP last Saturday, he said: “I think she is not handling this situation well…I mean why talk about money and so on; people buying votes and so on. I think this should be internal…they can sort that out between themselves. My advice is that she should humble herself and work with the present leadership now.”
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Sekou Nkrumah also had a piece of advice for the party’s flagbearer, Ivor Greenstreet, saying, winning the presidency is way beyond the CPP but he was sure if the flagbearer works towards building the party from the grassroots level and focuses on winning parliamentary seats, it will be more ideal.
In his opinion, it is not possible for the CPP to win the presidency this year.
Vote-Buying
Samia insists that Ivor bought his way through.
She said Ivor openly shared GH¢200, GH¢300, GH¢500, GH¢1,000 and GH¢2,000, among many other things, to the delegates.
The immediate-past chairperson of the CPP has since declared her intention to re-contest the Jomoro parliamentary seat which she lost in 2012.
Machiavellian Machinations
However, Samia’s elder brother, Gamal, who is based in Egypt and editor of Al Ahram weekly newspaper, also believes that his sister was robbed of victory.
“I had a long conversation with my dearest sister Samia this morning (Sunday) and I know exactly the Machiavellian machinations that took place…”
He said: “Yes, I have and I think it is a perfect opportunity for my dearest sister to perfect her political techniques…I also see this as a confirmation of Ghana’s degrading neo-colonial status whereby corruption and bribery, particularly by the ruling NDC whose fear of Nkrumah rising prompted them to spend millions of dollars trying to stop Samia from getting to power.
“It is tragic, for the money spent on bribes could have been better spent on development projects in Ghana…I am as hopeful as ever.”
By A.R. Gomda & William Yaw Owusu
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