Samia: Nkrumah would’ve rejected “impoverishing” IMF bailout

Samia Nkrumah, daughter of Ghana’s first President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, has told STARR NEWS the late pan-Africanist, would have been very disappointed – were he alive – to know the country he founded, is now running to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a bailout with, what in her view, are inimical conditions attached to the package.

“Osagyefo, had he been alive today, he definitely will not accept the IMF bailout," the Convention People’s Party Chair said Sunday, September 21, which marked the 105th birthday of her father.

“Ghana already, in the 60s, rejected the condition that the IMF attached to a loan it was seeking”, the former Jomoro Legislator said.

To her, “Kwame Nkrumah will never accept a loan that would impoverish his people: a loan that would in effect mean cutting down on investment or cutting down on spending on health, education; a loan that would cut down on subsidies. So Kwame Nkrumah would have put the people first”, Ms Nkrumah insisted.

Ghana is currently in talks with the Bretton Woods Institution for a programme that would help infuse credibility into the cocoa, gold, and oil economy of the West African country.

President John Mahama made the move following months of economic hardships, which saw the local currency – Cedi – fall against the Dollar and other major currencies of international trade, a situation that forced some labour groups and civil society organisations, to pour out on the streets to demonstrate against the Government.

Also, Ms Nkrumah said she is confident her father would have kicked against the plant breeders’ bill, which she argues, is a veiled means of introducing genetically modified foods into Ghana.

“I have also no doubt that in today’s Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah would have rejected the plant breeders’ bill that would allow or assist with the proliferation of GMOs into Ghana. Kwame Nkrumah would have put the health of his people as the first priority. He would also have refused a situation where our farmers would be compelled to buy seeds from foreign transnational globalised corporations before every planting season. He would have made sure that we preserved our local traditional breeding system."