MS Samia Yaba Christina Nkrumah, the only daughter of Ghana’s first President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, cut a slice of history when she became the first-ever female leader and chairman of a political party in Ghana, after winning the chairmanship position of the Convention People’s Party (CPP) at its delegates congress in Accra on Saturday.
At the stroke of midnight on Saturday, the Electoral Commission (EC) declared Ms Nkrumah, who is also the only Member of Parliament for the party winner of the chairmanship race of the party. She won 1,191 of the votes cast to secure a resounding victory.
She beat both the incumbent Chairman, Mr Ladi Nylander, and his predecessor, Prof Edmund Delle, who had 353 and 332 votes respectively. The other female candidate for the chairmanship position, Madam Araba Bentsi-Enchill‚ had 10.
Mrs Susan Adu-Amankwah, Mrs Rosaline Ayarna and Mr Oteng Anane, were elected as the first, second and third vice chairmen respectively. Incumbent General Secretary, Mr Ivor Kobina Greenstreet, had 716 votes to retain his position. He beat his other opponents, Nii Armah Akomfrah, who had 672 votes, and Mr Ekow Duncan, who pulled 470 votes.
In the contest for the position of the National Organiser, Mr Abu Forgor, was declared the winner after he had polled 1,093 votes. The other two contestants for the position, Mr Appiah Amankwah, had 408 and the incumbent, Ms Evelyn Alamisi Anabilla, secured 347 votes. Mr Kosi Dede, who polled 853 votes, was beaten by Mr Seth Gomnah, who had 1,005 to become the new National Treasurer.
The contest for the postition of National Women Organiser was safely won by Mrs Mary Ankomah Boakye-Boateng. She had 917 against the incumbent Hajia Hamdatu Ibrahim-Haruna, who polled 637 and Madam Aisha Suley Futah who secured 313 votes. Mr Murtala Mohamed was pronounced the National Youth Organiser of the CPP when he had 802 votes. He beat Mr Francis Opai Tetteh and Mr Issifu Kadiri Abdul Rauf, who had 486 and 570 votes respectively.
Born at Aburi in the Eastern Region on June, 23 1960, Samia, who is also a freelance journalist, won the Jomoro seat for the CPP at her first attempt.
She was forced to leave Ghana with her mother and brothers Sekou and Gamal‚ after the 1966 coup which saw the overthrow of their father.They were resettled in Egypt by the Egyptian government.
She returned with her family in 1975 at the invitation of General Acheampong’s National Redemption Council government and attended the Achimota School.
She, however, left the country again when her mother decided to return to Egypt in the early 1980s. She proceeded to London, later completing her studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies of the University of London in the United Kingdom, where she obtained a degree of Bachelor in Arabic Studies in 1991. She also completed a Master’s degree at the same institution in 1993.
Throughout delivering her acceptance speech, Samia held the hands of both Mr Nylander and Prof Delle in an apparent imitation of his father’s famous Independence Day-eve speech at the Accra Polo Grounds about 53 years ago.
She said the party’s single seat won in 2008 parliamentary elections at Jomoro was meaningless unless it was linked up to the total victory of the entire CPP.
Ms Nkrumah paid glowing tribute to the elders of the party, particularly the executive who had held the fort of the party to its current state and gave the assurance that they would be included in all decisions and activities of the her administration.
She described the congress as a purely internal family affair and noted that in such circumstances, irrespective of what had gone on and because there were no winners or losers, all should close their ranks, forget about the past and forge ahead as a united political party ready to win political power.
She indicated that the new administration would execute its mandate with an all-inclusive approach and that the newly born CPP would not need the endorsement of any political party, particularly the National Democratic Congress and the New Patriotic Party (NPP), to be successful.
Samia, who devoted her historical triumph to all Ghanaian women, said “today we have given birth to a new independent-minded Convention People’s Party”.
She reminded members of the party that the struggle for victory, which will start with the reorganisation and re-energising of every structure of the party, would not be in vain and urged the members of the party to gird their loins in readiness for the task ahead but expressed optimism that success would be theirs with a crop of new generation of leaders at the helm of affairs.
She said the youth of the party and in Ghana in general would be the focus of the programmes of the CPP under her leadership.
Samia, whose campaign message centred on a strong independence of the CPP, which will be administered strictly by the principles of accountability and transparency at all levels of the party, said if the party wanted to win the hearts and votes of Ghanaians, it must start implementing such precept to convince the electorate.
She gave the assurance that the organisation of the party would revolve mainly around people and structures at the polling station and constituency levels initially before focussing on regional and the national levels.
She commended the delegates for honouring and recognising Dr Nkrumah, her father, and pledged that the party’s next congresses would be organised in such a manner that would bring a lot of comfort to the delegates.
In what could be described as one of the most peaceful and incident-free congresses of the party, all the contestants, irrespective of their differences, never exhibited an inkling of animosity from the outset till the Electoral Commission declared the results.
That was contrary to media hype about the intense nature of the contest and threats of court injunctions to stop the congress which had been postponed about seven times. Even the original Takoradi Polytechnic venue had to be changed to the Accra Trade Fair Centre.
Amid hugs and pecks on each other’s cheeks, Mr Nylander conceded defeat and pledged his support, adding that the voice of the people was the voice of God and that once the delegates, who are the highest decision making body of the party, had spoken, he would respect their verdict.
To ensure that voting went smoothly and avoidance of time wasting , the 50-member EC team led by Mr Safo Kanatanka, Deputy Chairman, and Mr Kofi Arhin, Director of Election, paired the regions for voting purposes, which went on smoothly without any hitch.
However, in their quest to ensure strict adherence to electoral rules and regulations and maintain free, fair and transparent elections, the EC had to properly collect, collate, tabulate and ensure that the agents of all the aspirants signed the results forms, a process which delayed the announcement of the results.
The short delay did not go down well with some of the delegates, who intermittently blew their vuvuzela to register their protest.
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