Reputed women and children advocate and daughter of the first President of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah, Samia Nkrumah has revealed that her late father who is a foremost Pan-Africanist never intended that Ghana would be isolated and struggling in the realisation of its full potential.
Samia, who in 2011, emerged as the chair of the Convention People’s Party, is a celebrated journalist, politician and Pan-Africanist made this known while featuring on the Toyin Falola Interview Series. The interview series which is a creation of American-based African historian and distinguished professor, Toyin Falola, has spotlighted prominent politicians, academics, individuals, policymakers, and opinion molders across the continent of Africa.
Asked about what Africa should do to stem the tide of recolonisation of its resources, Samia stated: “There has always been a great demand for our resources: our mineral resources, our lands, our people. This has always been the case. This is because we are a rich, fertile continent. But I think we tend to forget what our father said on the eve of our independence. I don’t think we have paid great attention to it except the independence of Ghana is meaningless. This is so unless it is linked up with the total liberation and unification of Africa. By Africa, he meant the expanded nations of Africa. He said it because he knew what he was talking about. He spent many years in the United States of America, working and studying. He worked with African students, workers, intellectuals. He spent two years in Britain also studying and working. He organized the pan-African congress in Manchester that heralded our independence and unity as a people. He had been in partial sharing with the British. By the time he made that declaration, he knew what he was talking about.
“Our country was born as a pan-Africanist country, not to remain in isolation, struggling. We were meant to work with others to bring prosperity. Unless we work with other African countries; unless we integrate our economies on a continental basis, it will be difficult for us to manage our economies. It will be very difficult for us to change the system that is currently oppressing us. We are not getting much from our natural wealth because we are not in complete control of our sovereignty or economy. The remedy has been given; the blueprint to implement that remedy has been given. But we have never really taken it seriously, thinking that on our own we can change things. But it is very difficult. Our annual GDP is not encouraging when you compare it to the industrialized countries such as Japan. If as African countries, we combine our economies; our GDP would be bigger and higher. This is a reflection of the economic GDP of goods and services. We do not need to sweat and look far for the ways to tackle these problems whether it is exploitation of natural resources, our inability to fight big financial interests or multinationals, we need not look forward than working together as a bloc.”
The panel of interviewers led by Professor Toyin Falola was made of prominent female critics and stakeholders. The panelists were Mary Ama Bawa, who is the Communication Lead at the Cyber Security Authority (CSA) and a broadcast journalist with two decades of field experience in both commercial and community radio; Dr. Evelyn Kissi, an African tri-citizen, Black Disability, Transnational scholar of Ghana, Nigeria and Canada and has worked in North America, Africa, and Europe with not-for-profit organizations, women’s groups, education institutions, and disability advocacy groups; and Dr. Mary Owusu, a historian of ancient and modern Africa whose research interests lie in the areas of African intellectual, political, and development histories, with a focus on Ghana.
While encouraging Africans to develop a democratic system which delivers on the dividends of democracy, Samia said: “We must understand that we are not strangers to democracy. We have always practiced democracy in different ways; this is even from our indigenous cultures and traditions. But it is slightly different in model from multi-party politics. But even more recently like the case of Ghana, the way we gained independence was through constitutional means. That is why we had to go through three elections before we could convince the colonial powers that indeed the majority of Ghanaians wanted independence. We are no strangers even to multi-party democracies as such. It is the manner in which we are practicing it perhaps. It is inadequate; it is not helping us deliver on the promises of our independence. Many Ghanaians have been brainstorming on this especially recently especially when we want to talk about constitutional reforms. One of the most often repeated things is that we interrogate and review the winner-takes-all situation. This creates not just tension but also the feeling among a big chunk of voters that their voice is completely silent when they lose. But that is not what our traditional sense is about: our sense of communalism. We need to refine and improve our democracy with the way we are practicing it. This is so that it is more inclusive so that we can deliver on the promises of independence and raising the standards of living because ultimately that is the reason for practicing democracy. It is to make everyone have a say. We must stop the concentration of power; it is not working. We must go back to our indigenous knowledge systems even in politics. It is not enough to go back but to use what is good and relevant and powerful in it for our development. It is even useful in addressing issues that are intractable. We were very keen about thinking of the collective. This is not just about individual wealth or power. Part of the responsibility of politics and politicians is to bring people together.”
Speaking on the influence of her father’s impressive resume on her political career, she told the audience that: “It really had to do with everything to why I returned home after a long absence, why I entered active politics, why I feel I owe it to the legacy to make the contribution to Ghana’s development and Africa’s prosperity and its unity. This is by following our father’s guideline when we say Africa, we mean African people everywhere; this is not just about those living on the African continent but outside the continent. It is our generation’s mission and the one after us that we have to do our best to find a way to work together and plan everything together from our economies and so on. That is our purpose and it is really the basis for why I am here.”
The interview was beamed across Youtube, Facebook, Telegram, and Zoom, and had over 4 million members of the audience.