Samia is my sister but ... - Sekou Nkrumah

Samia is my sister but I¹m not in politics because of family- Dr Sekou Nkrumah

Son of Ghana¹s first president, Dr Sekou Nkrumah says he has good intentions for both the Convention People¹s Party and its chairperson, Samia Nkrumah.

Dr Sekou Nkrumah who is gradually becoming a staunch critic of his sister, Hon Samia Nkrumh says he only criticizes the CPP and its chair because he wants a better life for Ghanaians, saying, ³wherever I position myself is for her own good².

³Samia and I have a brother and sister relationship but when it comes to politics, I cannot treat Samia differently because she is my sister. I am not in politics because of family, I am in politics because I want a better life for Ghanaians and wherever I position myself is for her own good. And so if Samia comes under criticisms from me, it is because I am no longer seeing her as Samia my sister, but as the chairperson of the CPP and how I expect the Chairperson to behave and act. And if the chairperson acts in a way I don¹t think it¹s proper, I¹ll point it out irrespective if that person is my sister or not² Dr Sekou said in response to a question on why he has been very critical of his sister ever since her new appointment as chairperson.

Dr Sekou Nkrumah was speaking on the Big Bite on Xfm 95.1.

Dr Sekou who is presently not attached to any political party, rather entreated Samia Nkrumah and other CPP big shots to take his criticisms in good faith because he will ³always be a stakeholder of the CPP².

He however opined that the CPP will have to show ³that it is really constructing the party in a progressive manner; that will make some of us to come in².

He revealed that he had turned down offers to represent the party in parliament from some constituency executives but wondered why the party¹s national executives has failed to approach him on the matter if they were really burnt on getting more seats in parliaments.

³Let me give you an example; before the congress, the constituency chairman for Ellembele approached me and asks that I represent the party in Ellembele. At the time I was in the NDC and told them that was not possible. Even when I resigned from the NDC, a few of them kept approaching me, but the leadership of the party never approached me on the matter. In my mind, I am thinking that if they really are talking about winning more parliamentary seats, how come they are not looking at seats that they can win².

³I don¹t want to do that, but if they had approached me, I would have seen that the party is genuinely serious in reaching out to a lot more people and they are serious to win more seats; but the way I see it, they are not making any serious efforts. If you put a poster of candidate on the wall, that is not a serious political campaign. You really need to get to the grassroots level, and explain the party¹s issues etc².

³I think what is happening is that, it is the same old story of whereby a few people want to hijack the party and unfortunately when you have been elected and you are not bringing more people on board, nut rather pushing people away, you rather shrink the party further².

³Let them take my criticism in good faith because I¹ll always be a stakeholder of the CPP, inside or outside and I¹ll never want to do anything that will derail the progress of the CPP. I¹ll always want to see a strong and viable CPP; but I¹m also realistic and will always speak my mind on what I think is right or wrong².