On a day when hundreds of National Democratic Congress supporters hit the streets in a walk to commemorate the Founder’s Day and the birthday of Ghana’s first president, Dr Samia Nkrumah has thrown a heavy jab at the party, describing its leaders as opportunist.

Daughter of Ghana’s first president says the NDC cannot be shouting and preaching Nkrumaist ideologies when they are in opposition only to implement brute capitalist policies when they are in power.

That is hypocritical, she suggested on the AM show Thursday, September 21, 2017, a day set aside to commemorate the birth of her father, Dr Kwame Nkrumah who was Ghana’s first president.

Since its inception in 2009, the Founder’s Day holiday instituted by the late president John Mills has been celebrated without any controversy.

However, a decision by the new president Nana Akufo-Addo to introduce a new Founders Day on August 4, to acknowledge the contributions of all others in the independent struggle has sent tongues wagging.

As part of the proposal, the president will maintain September 21, as holiday, not as the Founder’s Day but as Nkrumah Memorial Day just to recognize the immense role Nkrumah played in the independent struggle.

Critics have described the suggestion by the president as self-serving and an attempt to distort the country’s history.

The NDC had planned a unity walk in Accra to bring its emerging factions together after suffering an embarrassing defeat in the 2016 election.

NDC's Memorial Day walk

However in the wake of the Founder’s day controversy, the party changed the focus of the walk and named it as the Nkrumah Memorial walk.

Speaker after speaker served notice they will resist any attempt by the NPP government to change the historical narrative aimed at projecting its forebears.

Hypocrisy?

It will be reasonable to expect that Dr Samia Nkrumah will be happy with the position taken by the NDC since their call is in support of her late father. But no, the former CPP Chair is rather angry at the NDC.

She is convinced the position taken by the NDC is nothing more than taking advantage of a situation to make themselves useful and relevant.

“What is the use of shouting founder founder and go and implement policies that are contrary to the man’s ideas?

“Divestiture of state assets under the NDC, that Act was passed under NDC. Sale and privatization of state assets, sometimes selling it to themselves unproductively.

“That cannot be an Nkrumaist policy. Putting yourself under the dictates of the IMF. Submitting your people to hardships. Opening up your markets before you industrialize; allowing big multi-nationals to try and control your market. What is Nkrumaists about all these?” she asked.

She said only one conclusion can be drawn from this- “they are doing this for cheap political gain. Scoring political points, not because they believe in the man’s philosophies.”