Samia Nkrumah

Samia Yaba Christina Nkrumah (born 23 June 1960)[1] is a Ghanaian politician and chairperson of the Convention People's Party (CPP). In the 2008 parliamentary election, she won the Jomoro constituency[2] seat at her first attempt. She is the daughter of Kwame Nkrumah, first President of Ghana.[3]

Honourable

Samia Nkrumah

MP
Nkrumah in October 2009
Chairperson of the Convention People's Party
In office
September 2011 – september 2015
Preceded byLadi Nylander
Succeeded byEdmund N. Delle
Member of Parliament
for Jomoro constituency
In office
7 January 2009 – 6 January 2013
Preceded byLee Ocran
Succeeded byFrancis Kabenlah Anaman
Personal details
Born
Samia Yaba Christina Nkrumah

(1960-06-23) 23 June 1960
Aburi, Ghana
NationalityGhanaian
Political partyConvention People's Party (CPP)
Spouse(s)Michele Melega
ChildrenKwame Thomas Melega
ParentsKwame Nkrumah (father)
Fathia Nkrumah (mother)
RelativesGamal Nkrumah (brother)
Sekou Nkrumah (brother)
Alma materSchool of Oriental and African Studies
OccupationPolitician and journalist
WebsiteParty website

Early life and education

Samia was born at Aburi in the Eastern Region of Ghana in 1960.[4] She was forced to leave Ghana with her mother and brothers on the day of the 1966 military coup that overthrew Kwame Nkrumah. The family were resettled in Egypt by the Egyptian government.[5] She returned with her family in 1975 at the invitation of General Acheampong's National Redemption Council government and attended Achimota School. However, she left the country again when her mother decided to return to Egypt in the early 1980s. Samia 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 the degree of Bachelor Arabic Studies in 1991. She also completed a Master's degree at the same institution in 1993.[1]

Career

Samia Nkrumah started work as a bank clerk with the London branch of the Bank of India in 1984. She then worked with Al-Ahram as a journalist in various capacities starting from 1989.[1]

Politics

In an article about her, entitled "The new Mandela is a woman", the Huffington Post described and analysed her impact on Ghanaian and African politics. She is one of the founders of Africa Must Unite,[6] which aims to promote Kwame Nkrumah's vision and political culture.[7] As part of this philosophy, she decided to go into active politics in Ghana.[8]

Member of Parliament

In December 2008, She contested the Jomoro constituency seat in the Western Region of Ghana and beat the incumbent MP, Lee Ocran of the National Democratic Congress with a majority of 6,571, winning about 50% of the total valid votes cast.[9][10] Being the only CPP member of parliament, she had to either align to NDC who were the majority in parliament or the NPP who were the minority in parliament,[11] she subsequently aligned herself to the NPP to do business in the House of 5th parliament of the 4th Republic of Ghana.[12][13]

Chairperson of CPP

She became the first woman to ever head a major political party in Ghana. Her victory, along with three other female members of the party, is hailed as marking the renaissance of the ailing CPP, and an affirmation of the party's long held tradition of promoting women's rights. She was elected as the first woman chairperson of the Convention People's Party on 10 September 2011. She won the poll with 1,191 votes, and her nearest contender, the incumbent, polled 353 votes. By this feat, she became the first woman to ever head a major political party in Ghana.[14] She served in this role till 2015.

Personal life
Nkrumah, his family and Nasser, 1965 (The little girl - Samia Nkrumah)

Samia is the second child of Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana's first President and Fathia Nkrumah. Kwame Nkrumah was the first Prime Minister and President of Ghana, having led the Gold Coast to independence from Britain in 1957.[3]

An influential advocate of pan-Africanism, Nkrumah was a founding member of the Organization of African Unity and winner of the Lenin Peace Prize from the Soviet Union in 1962.[15]

Samia has two brothers: Gamal Nkrumah, Sekou Nkrumah. She also has an older half-brother, Professor Francis Nkrumah,[16] a retired lecturer and consultant paediatrician who worked as a director at the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research in Legon, Ghana. [17]

After her father was overthrown in Ghana's first successful military coup d'état on 24 February 1966[18] Her mother along with her three children including Samia had to flee to Cairo, Egypt on a plane sent by Egypetian President Gamal Abdel Nasser to stay there while her father went into exile.[19]

She is married to Michele Melega, an Italian-Danish man, and they have a son, Kwame Thomas Melega.[20][21]

Samia is fluent in Arabic, Italian and English and has worked many years as a journalist and media consultant and worked in the Egyptian media space.[1][22] She is also a kin advocate on child marriage, women empowerment and women affairs.[23]

References
  1. "Curriculum vitae" (PDF). Official website. Samia Nkrumah. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 July 2011. Retrieved 14 December 2008.
  2. "Ghana MPs - Constituency Details - Jomoro". www.ghanamps.com. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
  3. "Samia Nkrumah". The Rhodes Forum 2020. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  4. "Samia Nkrumah 'the Amazing'". Profiles. The Ghanaian Journal. Retrieved 14 December 2008.
  5. Reggie Tagoe Pan-African News Wire (19 February 2007). "Samia Nkrumah Says That Her Father, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Wanted to Return to Ghana". Abayomi Azikiwe. Retrieved 14 December 2008.
  6. http://www.africamustunite.net/
  7. "Africa Must Unite, for a new Ghana". Official website. Africa Must Unite. Retrieved 14 December 2008.
  8. "Samia Nkrumah: Candidate in the 2008 parliamentary elections in Ghana". official website. Samia Nkrumah. Archived from the original on 11 December 2008. Retrieved 14 December 2008.
  9. "Parliamentary Results Jomoro (Western Region)". Parliamentary election results. Ghana Home Page. Retrieved 14 December 2008.
  10. "Ghana poll results show tight race". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  11. "Battle For Samia". Modern Ghana. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  12. "Samia seeks 'independence' in Parliament - MyJoyOnline.com". www.myjoyonline.com. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  13. "Samia Nkrumah asserts her independence in Parliament". BusinessGhana. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  14. "Samia wins heart of CPP guru". Modern Ghana. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  15. Rathbone, Richard (23 September 2004). "Nkrumah, Kwame (1909?–1972), president of Ghana". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/31504. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  16. "Africa must re-examine, implement Nkrumah's ideas - Francis Nkrumah". Modern Ghana. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  17. "Past Directors". www.noguchimedres.org. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  18. Myjoyonline.com Ghana News :: Fathia Nkrumah is dead ::: Breaking News | News in Ghana | politics
  19. "Nkrumah, Fathia (c. 1931—) | Encyclopedia.com". www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  20. "Onsy proposed to me' – Samia". Class FM.
  21. "Samia Nkrumah". The Rhodes Forum 2020. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
  22. "Samia Nkrumah | West Africa Gateway | Portail de l'Afrique de l'Ouest". www.west-africa-brief.org. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  23. "'Desperate Actions' like Child Marriage Due to Poverty Triggered by Climate Change: Ghana leader Samia Nkrumah". News18. 21 September 2019. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
Parliament of Ghana
Preceded by
Lee Ocran		 Member of Parliament for Jomoro
2009–2013		 Succeeded by
Francis Kabenlah Anaman
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