Samia Nkrumah: Nduom's running mate?

With almost nine months to go for this year's Presidential and Parliamentary elections, the daughter of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana's First President, Samia Nkrumah, this week arrived in the country at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) from Italy to prosecute multiple of her political missions for the rejuvenated Convention People's Party (CPP).

GO can reveal that though Samia has arrived to make immense contribution to the development and projection of her father's CPP, and possibly help the party win the Presidential election in December.

She has two main political missions for which she will seek endorsement from the party's high hierarchy. The first is to be the running mate of the CPP Presidential candidate Dr. Pall Kwesi Nduom or to contest the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem (KEEA) Parliamentary seat in the Central Region.

Confirming this in an exclusive interview with GO shortly after she separately called on the CPP executives and its Presidential candidate this week in Accra, Samia indicated that she was fully prepared to be the running mate of Dr. Nduom if the party hierarchy sanctioned the idea.

But she quickly added that because she is in the country to assist in projecting and developing the party, she will respect and, accept any function the party wants her to perform.

Describing Dr. Nduom as a great future President, who can lead the nation to the Promised Land when given the mandate in this year's election, the daughter of Ghana's First President disclosed that she had met with Dr. Nduom on several occasions and therefore had no doubts about his competence and capability as far as development of the country was concerned.

According to her, although she is ready to serve the party in any capacity, the executives need to indicate to her which significant role she can play to assist the CPP, adding that she has decided to settle completely in the country because "I know this is where I belong."

The incidents that prevailed during and after the 1966 coup, which led to the overthrow of her father, according to her, were some of the situations which forced her to leave the country and stay outside for that long.

She intimated that all this while she wanted to return home to assist in the social and economic development of the country but "I left this country twice in fear and in confusion. It was not my decision to leave this country but my return is my decision."

According to her, "The CPP was born by the people and for the people" and believes that her participation will continue to strength the rejuvenated CPP across the breadth and length of the party.

On the issue of contesting the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem (KEEA) Parliamentary seat, which is currently being occupied by Dr. Ndoum, Samia told GO that she is in the country, to among others discuss the feasibility of contesting the seat or playing any other significant role, which will eventually project the CPP further.

She revealed that she will involve the party hierarchy actively in all her decisions aimed at strengthening the CPP and will make those decisions public as soon as they have been finalised.

She added that she will work with the party to restore the values and principles for national development as well as connect with the people who own this country.

The CPP has already opened nominations for its members who want to contest the Parliamentary elections.

The sitting KEEA MP, Dr. Nduom, would be contesting the Presidential elections this year and is reported to be doing all he can to ensure his party retains the seat.

At the party's headquarters, where she interacted with the executives, Samia said her father had been killed but not his ideas, which have been a great legacy for the party and the entire nation.

Nkrumah's daughter stressed that the CPP had suffered for far too long after the 1966 coup and therefore it was time to rebuild the party strongly to contest and win the 2008 elections.

She commended the party's executive and the Presidential candidate for working hard to change the old perception that the CPP was not capable of winning an election to a party which every Ghanaian today wants to be party of and can win elections.

Samia urged the party's executives and faithful to embark on political programmes and activities to connect with the people in order for them to benefit from her father Kwame Nkrumah's ideas.

Giving the assurance that she cannot join any political party except CPP, she maintained that "We need to ensure that the people are connected to the CPP's great tradition."

The First National Vice-Chairman of the party, Dr. Abu Sakara, said the CPP is the only party that can unify the polarised nation created by the politics of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

An economist and a leading member of the CPP, Dr. Nii Moi Thompson, stressed that the featuring of the CPP in any political discussion lately attests to the fact that it has survived the test of time.

He maintained that the CPP has sound economic policies and will not form an alliance with any political party in the country towards the 2008 elections, but is poised to win power to continue the great work of Dr. Nkrumah.

Dr. Thompson added that the CPP is not a political prostitute and that the party is the one with conviction of which programmes to pursue.