Samia Says No To NDC
National Chairperson of the Convention People's Party (CPP), Samia Nkrumah has stated categorically that she will reject any proposal by the John Mahama-led National Democratic Congress (NDC) to give her a ministerial appointment.
To her, she cannot work with a party that apparently worked in the background to scuttle her second term bid for a parliamentary slot on her party's ticket in the Jomoro constituency in the Western Region.
“I don't see how a party that worked hard to defeat me and succeeded to do so and now that I am out of Parliament will turn around and offer me any kind of appointment. We are talking about a party that worked very hard to defeat me, to eliminate me from Parliament and from the political scene; is that logical?” she told Citi FM yesterday.
DAILY GUIDE gathered that the NDC is scheming feverishly to get the CPP leader on board the NDC government, but Ms Nkrumah said this will not happen.
“NDC worked hard to defeat me and remove me out of parliament, why then should I accept any ministerial appointment?”
The embattled former Member of Parliament (MP) for Jomoro was defeated by the NDC's Francis Kabenlah Anaman, who beat her by a margin of almost 3,000 votes.
Ms Nkrumah was infuriated by the results, saying her defeat was caused by the influx of non-residents of Jomoro, who were smuggled into the constituency in a bid to kick her out of Parliament.
“The influx of a great number of people who don't have an affinity and a stake in the development of the district and just wanted to be transported back… but I'm talking about huge numbers. That, I think is not a good thing,” she charged shortly after the results were announced.
She was quick to add that though “it is not illegal, is it morally right? Does that reflect the will of the people of Jomoro? People who are living there, working there and seeing what we have been doing for them?”
Merger talks scuttled
Samia Nkrumah's discontent with the NDC is coming at a time serious pressure is mounting on the CPP to consider merging with the NDC.
She also denied reports that the CPP and the NDC were in the process of merging. According to her, there is no way the CPP can work with the NDC.
Samia Nkrumah's rejection of a merger with the NDC apparently puts to rest calls made by renowned economist and a leading member of the CPP, Nii Moi Thomson, that the Nkrumaist party must enter into merger talks with the ruling NDC.
Former diplomat and elder statesman, K.B. Asante has also made similar calls for an NDC-CPP merger.
According to proponents of the merger, the marriage will boost the dwindling fortunes of the political party formed by Ghana's visionary first President, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.
The embattled CPP leader is convinced that her party can stand on its own feet and win the 2016 presidential election despite the “setback” it suffered in the 2012 presidential elections, where its flagbearer, Dr. Abu Sakara Forster, barely made 0.5 percent of total votes cast.
“It is very normal that after every election, there is talk about alignment, mergers and that is the name of the game; but we believe also that we exist to unify this nation by defusing the tension that exists today nationally.
“The election result has been a major setback, but it has not in the least broken our spirit. Our mission is to realize Kwame Nkrumah's vision and until that happens, we are relevant as a political party and we remain as determined as ever. We know that we shall overcome, we know that we have a lot of support. We just have to find the ways and means to translate that into votes,” she stated.