Dr Sekou Nkrumah, son of Ghana’s first President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, has criticised the NPP vice presidential nominee, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh for making belittling remarks about his father, calling the comments ridiculous.
Speaking on Joy News PM Express on Tuesday, he suggested that the former Energy and Education Minister was pandering to his political base.
“I understand what he meant by trying to please his masters coming from the United Party (UP) tradition…that’s what they have done for years, running down Nkrumah,” he said.
Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, during his introduction as the running mate for the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) flagbearer Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, praised President Akufo-Addo, claiming no president had developed the nation like him, including Ghana’s first President, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.
“Since independence from 1957 till today, we’ve not had any president that has helped Ghana like Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. I say from 1957 till today, you can bring your Kwame Nkrumah…no president who has protected Ghana and moved the country forward like Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo,” Opoku Prempeh stated.
However, Dr Sekou Nkrumah disagreed.
He expressed concern over Ghanaians belittling a global icon who even surpassed Nelson Mandela to win the African of the Millennium Award.
“If somebody’s running down Nkrumah that way, I just couldn’t figure out what was going on, honestly, in his mind, on his mind,” he said.
He acknowledged the historical rivalry between the CPP and UP but noted that Nkrumah’s global stature made such criticisms embarrassing internationally.
“From the Ghanaian point of view, I had lived through and understood a division in our country between CPP and UP, the rivalry and so but for an outsider who sees Nkrumah in a larger-than-life light, I felt so embarrassed,” he explained.
Dr. Nkrumah understood Opoku Prempeh’s motives, suggesting he was merely pleasing his political patrons.
“He was just trying to please his masters who have put him in this high position to represent them, so he was just playing to the gallery. Remember that after the 1966 coup, Nkrumah’s name was dragged into the gutters?”
“Ghanaians were bombarded that Nkrumah was a criminal, he was this and that but at the end of the day, his name still stands higher than everybody else. And why is it so? It is because of his vision and his contribution.”
Dr Nkrumah highlighted the enduring legacy of his father’s projects, such as the Akosombo Dam, despite their neglect after the coup.
“Even the things Nkrumah did and the physical things that he left behind, again, a lot of it was neglected after the coup but we still benefit from things like the Akosombo Dam,” he noted.
He mentioned feeling inspired by his father’s visionary ideas whenever he drove through Tema, recognising the lasting impact of Nkrumah’s infrastructure projects and ideas that helped decolonize Africa.
“The infrastructure that he left behind up to today, what have we done really beyond the significant things that he did? Not much. Yes, others came to do a bit, but Nkrumah left so much of a physical legacy, let alone his ideas that helped decolonize Africa,” he concluded.
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