'Ivor bribed his way to victory' – Samia

Samia Nkrumah has accused the newly-elected flagbearer of the Convention People’s Party, Mr Ivor Greenstreet, of bribing delegates with GHS200 and GHS500 to vote for him at Saturday’s presidential primaries.

“I’m obviously not happy with the results, but I accept them. The fact of the matter is that every delegate was paid GHc300 and GHc500 actually, amongst many other things. So, it was down to money and of course we cannot be happy about that but we accept the results, and we move on,” the daughter of Ghana’s first President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, told Class News’ Parker Wilson in an interview moments after her defeat.

Asked if she will resort to the court to fight the results, Ms Nkrumah said: “No I don’t seek injunctions. There’ll always be another day. Unfortunately this is a reflection of what happens in our politics and these are some the things we have to battle against.”

Mr Greenstreet, a former general secretary of the party, beat Ms Nkrumah with 1,288 votes representing 64.2% as against the former Jomoro MP’s total of 579, representing about 28.9%.

Two other candidates: Joseph Agyapong picked up 82 votes, representing 4.1%; and Bright Akwetey managed 44, which makes up 2.1%; with 14 votes, representing 0.7% being rejected ballots.

A total of 2006 delegates cast their votes to elect the flagbearer, who is expected to rub shoulders with President John Mahama of the governing National Democratic Congress and three-time flagbearer of the biggest opposition party (NPP) in Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo, in the November general elections.