Samia dismisses ‘Nkrumah-Mandela rift’

Samia Yaba Nkrumah, the daughter of Ghana’s first president Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah, has dismissed reports that there was a rift between her father and the late South African anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela.

She said it was “illogical” for people to allege that the late pan-Africanist Kwame Nkrumah was not in good terms with a fellow freedom fighter like Tata Madiba Mandela.

The reports, emanating after the death of Mandela, say there was a straying relationship between the two, with certain quarters citing that Nkrumah refused to meet Mandela in 1962 when he led the African National Congress (ANC) on a special visit to Ghana.

The Chairperson of the Convention People’s Party – a political party founded by Dr Nkrumah – explained that Mandela visited Ghana around the period her father had survived an assassination attempt in Kulungugu in the Upper East Region. He was then in hospital when Mandela visited, she said on TV3.

That notwithstanding, Ms Nkrumah stated that Mandela and his team were accorded state honour.

Dr Kwame Nkrumah, who died in April, 1972, and Mandela – who died last week – are regarded as two of the greatest leaders to have come from Africa.