I am proud to revive my father’s vision-Samia Nkrumah

Page 11, Jan 12, 2010
Article: Emmanuel Adu-Gyamerah
ONE year after she was voted into office as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Jomoro, the daughter of Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first President, Samia Nkrumah, says she has not regretted the decision to offer herself to lead the people in her constituency.
“I am proud to revive the vision of my father, who devoted his entire life not only to Ghana but the liberation of the entire black race”, she said in an interview with the Daily Graphic, in a review of her one-year stay in office and the benefits that her initiatives had brought to her people.
The popularity that Samia Nkrumah is currently enjoying in her constituency may be a tonic for the revival of the fortunes of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), which her father formed to seek independence for the country.
According to her, the confidence of the people in her was as a result of the fulfilment of some of the promises she made during her campaign towards the 2008 general elections.
Being predominantly a rural constituency, the needs of the people were abundant but the MP said she had made good her promise to provide some of them in her first year in office.
The Jomoro Constituency, which also doubles as the Jomoro District, is located on the extreme south-western part of Ghana. It is a very challenged district with over ninety-five (95) deprived communities which are predominantly rural in nature. The constituency is coterminous with the district and has an estimated population of about 130,000, according to the year 2000 population census.
The district is poor, in the midst of many potentials ranging from gold, limestone, perennial water bodies, sandy beaches, forest reserves, wetlands, oil and gas reserves. The constituency has about 226 first-cycle schools and three (3) senior high schools. From the kindergarten to junior high schools, the overall pupil population is about 35,000, while the senior high school student population stands at approximately 2,000.
During her campaign tour before the 2008 election, the MP said she pledged to assist the constituency in development areas such as education, health, water and sanitation, and empowerment of people, among other key areas.
According to her, she had since winning power not relented in her efforts to fulfil her campaign promises, either by using her own resources or her share of the various funds available to MPs for such purposes.
One of the towns that have benefited from the MPs numerous projects in the constituency is New Town Wharf.
The community, with 700 inhabitants, is very challenged and has a severe problem of access to potable water, which often results in varying water-borne diseases.
As a border town, the community has a cross-section of security personnel, being mainly personnel of the Customs, Exercise and Preventive Service, the Immigration Service, and the Navy.
At a cost of Gh¢8,500.00, the MP has provided the community with potable water while similar projects are being carried out in communities such as Takinta and Ahumasuazo as part of her grand plan to provide potable water to as many communities as possible.
On education, Ms Samia Nkrumah stated that she had instituted a scholarship scheme to assist the brilliant, needy students in the area.
So far, a total of GH¢ 16,500.00 has been distributed to 50 tertiary students to assist them to pursue their courses in the various tertiary institutions in the country. She has also donated 50 bags of cement to the Ezinlibo Community leaders to renovate the local basic school.
The MP explained that her gesture was in fulfilment of her promise to use part of her Common Fund to finance the education of students to improve on the human resource base in the area.
On women empowerment in the Jomoro Constituency, Ms Nkrumah told the Daily Graphic that she had put together a strategy to ensure income-generating activities for women and would soon roll out a micro-credit scheme and provide seed money of GH¢30,000 for that purpose.
She said women in the area were being mobilised into groups to be provided with income-generating support and added that currently some women groups at Mpaesem, Enzemetianu and Tikobo No. 2 had been provided with some canopies, 50 plastic chairs and tables each, at a total cost GH¢8,100.00 from her personal resources.
Ms Nkrumah explained that the canopies and chairs are rented out and the proceeds go to the groups, and added that more communities were slated to benefit from other income-generating activities.