Samia eyes Jomoro seat and insists Greenstreet’s vote buying was 'open secret'
Defeated Convention People’s Party (CPP) Presidential aspirant, Miss Samia Yaba Nkrumah has defended her accusations of vote buying at the party’s presidential primaries and revealed she was considering going back to contest the Jomoro Parliamentary seat in the Western region.
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She has insisted there was “absolutely no need” to withdraw the allegations and apologise since it was “an open secret that GhȻ200, GhȻ300, GhȻ 500, GhȻ1000, GhȻ3000 were given to delegates during our congress on Saturday.”
CPP National Chairman, Professor Edmund Delle had suggested in a radio interview that the allegations were not true and called for an apology from Ms Nkrumah.
Ivor Greenstreet on his part has denied using money to buy votes.
He rather said: “…this election was bought, but bought by my service, bought by my loyalty, bought by my commitment, bought by the fact that they knew that I am the best-placed person to speak for the party. They have heard me speak on national platforms. They believe I speak eloquently. They believe that I speak the true values of the party,” he said.
Listen to Samia Nkrumah in the interview with Joy FM {mp3}samia_back_to_jomoro{/mp3}
But responding in separate radio interviews on Citi FM and Joy FM on Monday afternoon, Ms Nkrumah insisted she was not the only one making those allegations and that other leading members [Prof Agyeman Badu Akosa] and delegates of the CPP have all said same.
Ivor Greenstreet won the CPP’s flagbearer slot massively with 1,288 votes to beat her former chairperson, Samia Nkrumah who came a distant second with 579 votes. The others, Joseph Agyapong and Bright Akwetey managed with 83 and 42 votes respectively.
Ms Nkrumah explained her intention for making those allegations public was to ensure that what she deemed as improper in the party was corrected going into the future.
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She insisted she would not apologise and said: “What is dangerous is to hide the truth. If we want progress for this country certain things need to be said. We are a smaller party, we know that if our party is going to be bought in every election then we will never be able to deliver on our mission and we know what our mission is. I came home for a mission, I came home to make sure that the ideals that make Ghana an independent country, that made Ghana a strong dignified country in the 60s are revived for the good of all.”
“What is important to consider is that, we are not destroying the party, we are just saying we need to address the issue for our next congresses. What is important is that we close ranks, we are getting ready for our campaign, we are happy our congress to elect flagbearer for 2016 is over and we are going to conduct a very sound and vigorous campaign.”
Jomoro
Ms Nkrumah revealed she was considering going back to contest the Jomoro Parliamentary seat in the Western region.
“I am happy to serve my party in any capacity and I’m considering this option.”
She said her aim was to contest the flagbearership so she can attract more people to the CPP and that going to contest the seat, which she formerly occupied, will afford her the opportunity to serve the CPP again.
Ms Nkrumah won the Jomoro Parliamentary seat on the ticket of the CPP in 2008 and served one term as Member of Parliament and lost to the National Democratic Congress (NDC) candidate in 2012.
Writer's email: enoch.frimpong@graphic.com.gh