Samia Nkrumah - Chairwoman of CPP

Chairwoman of CPP

The election of Hon. Samia Yaaba Nkrumah, daughter of Dr Kwame Nkrumah - Ghana’s first President - as the party’s Chairperson has rekindled hopes for the CPP’s future transformation into a credible and formidable political force in Ghana. Samia Nkrumah holds a clear conviction in her charismatic father’s ideology. This shared belief, coupled with her unique appeal to the youth and women within and across Ghana’s Nkrumahist faithful, makes her the ideal person to bring the positive change in Ghana.

When Nkrumah formed the CPP, he envisaged a socialist-based political machinery whose strength would be derived from the urban working class and rural peasantry. He believed this would enable him to undertake his state-led developmental programme and actualize his pan-African vision after independence. By 1957, Nkrumah’s charismatic appeal, effective organisational skills and connection with the masses had turned the CPP into a vibrant political force that delivered Sub-Saharan Africa’s first independence.

Following a coup in 1966, the military junta disbanded the CPP and its ancillary organisations. Under new legislation, the Elections and Public Officers Disqualification, many CPP functionaries were disqualified from holding any public offices. The systematic exclusion of the CPP in Ghana’s body politic persisted through subsequent civilian and military regimes until its revival in 1996 following years of legal wrangling which began when Ghana returned to constitutional rule in 1992.

In 2008 she contested the Jomoro Constituency on the CPP’s ticket. Her victory was unique because for the first time the CPP won an election in Ghana’s legislature without any “special alliances” with other political parties.

In parliament, Samia has maintained an independent identity and voice for the CPP that has been uncharacteristic of previous CPP legislators. Indeed, she is one of just a few Ghanaian politicians who could be described as modest in thought but formidable in action.

Her strong showing in the race for the CPP chair, where she polled 1,151 votes against the combined 695 votes of 3 other candidates, attests to her strong endorsement within the party. Already, she has declared her intention to unite the various Nkrumahist elements and groups in Ghana under the umbrella of the CPP as a way of boosting the electoral fortunes of the party. In addition, she has instituted a Friday Freedom Forum initiative in which she hopes to build a lively policy platform that will make the CPP resemble a potential “government in waiting”.