General News of Monday, 26 June 2017Source: classfmonline.com‘Nkrumah was not a dictator’ - SamiaDr. Kwame Nkrumah, was Ghana's first Prime Minister and PresidentFormer Convention People’s Party (CPP) Chairperson Samia Nkrumah has rejected claims that her father, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, who led Ghana to independence, was a dictator. According to her, “it is easier for people to make sweeping statements but whatever he [Dr Nkrumah] did was done through parliament or a referendum”. The former Member of Parliament (MP) for Jomoro acknowledged that Dr Nkrumah had his shortcomings but emphasised that “he lived and died for the emancipation of African freedom, that is why till today he is being [idolised]”. It would be recalled that ex-President John Agyekum Kufuor, who was interacting with the leadership of the International Democratic Union (IDU) which paid a courtesy call on him at his office in Accra on Tuesday June 20, said Dr Nkrumah misused Ghana’s resources and plunged the country into poverty. Explaining further, he pointed out that by 1963, “our then President Nkrumah, left of centre politician, moved the country into a one-party state with a lot of intolerance; he built a whole prison just 22 miles of Accra for detention of political opponents”.

Source: GhanaWeb June 26, 2017 21:33 UTC