The strange case of three wills Kwame Nkrumah made
One of the most fascinating, if also least discussed, subjects about Ghana’s first President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, is the subject of the will he made but changed several times before he died.
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Dr Nkrumah changed the original will he made twice. The first will was dated July 4, 1964 and the second will was dated June 26, 1965. The two wills were very much the same, but in the second will, Nkrumah’s initial bequest of 10,000 Ghana pounds to his secretary, Miss Erica Powell, had been deleted. My efforts to establish why this happened are yet to bear fruit.
The only other significant difference between the two wills is Nkrumah’s insertion in the second will that the executors of the second will, consider offering an endowment of 5,000 Ghanaian pounds to each of “any children of mine begotten not in wedlock, but in accordance with native customary law.”
More details in will
Nkrumah had had some children before his marriage to Madam Fathiah. In the first two wills, Nkrumah bequeathed 20,000 Ghana pounds to Elizabeth Nyaniba, his mother, and 5,000 pounds to his driver, Anyatie Patterson. Three of the Osagyefo’s relations, Ambrose Yankey, Mary Ekuamenlah and Efiebah Nkrumah were to receive 10,000 Ghana pounds, 5,000 pounds and 2,500 pounds respectively.
There was a bit of a strange one: Nkrumah bequeathed 10,000 Ghana pounds to “the son of Alhaji Iwa of Kankan, Guinea”. I wonder who the lucky bloke was, and why Dr Nkrumah did not name him in the will. Who was Alhaji Iwa? It is one of the questions about the wills which I have been unable to find an answer to.
In the first two wills, Nkrumah bequeathed 10,000 pounds to his eldest son, Dr Francis Nkrumah, and 10,000 pounds endowments each to his three other children Gokeh, Samia and Sekou, then aged five, three and one respectively.
The third will which Nkrumah declared to be “my last will” was a bit of a puzzle, at least to me. To begin with the last will was dated February 18, 1966. That was exactly six days before he was overthrown.
Then too, Nkrumah revoked the provisions made in respect of his relatives, mother, wife and children and declared instead that he was bequeathing all his earthly property to the Convention People’s Party. The CPP was to maintain, provide and ensure the upkeep and livelihood of his mother and children.
That Dr Onsy Nathan Anwar Nkrumah has surfaced in Ghana claiming to be a son of Dr Kwame Nkrumah has done little to help solve the mystery of the wills Dr Nkrumah made, as he was not mentioned anywhere in the wills of Ghana’s first president.
Dr Kwame Nkrumah’s known children who are mentioned in the wills are: Prof. Francis Nkrumah, Dr Gamel Nkrumah, Samia Nkrumah and Dr Sekou Nkrumah.
Gamel, Samia and Sekou have kept demanding that Onsy Nkrumah provide evidence to prove that he is indeed a biological son of Ghana’s first president. Samia’s claim that Onsy is a fraud and cannot be her brother because he once proposed marriage to her adds a bizarre dimension to the tale.