Dr Sekou Nkrumah, the son of Ghana’s first President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, has dismissed the claims of Dr Onsy Nathan Kwame Nkrumah that he (Onsy) is his (Sekou’s) father’s son.
“The claim of Onsy has to be interrogated properly and subjected to a DNA test,” he told the Daily Graphic in an interview.
He was reacting to a report in the Daily Graphic of Monday, March 16, 2015, headlined, “IMF loan, reforms won’t take Ghana anywhere - Onsy Nkrumah.” In that story, Onsy Nkrumah was described as the son of President Nkrumah.
But the outspoken Sekou, in a sharp rebuttal, asserted: “I have met Onsy personally a couple of times in the past few years and I told him that I can accept him as a friend but not a brother. I have no right to claim children for Nkrumah and no one has the right to do so. But I am not aware that Onsy is the son of Nkrumah because I have not been told by any family member. My own personal research does not lead me to conclude that he is the son of Nkrumah.”
The sudden appearance of Dr. Onsy Kwame Nkrumah in the country as the son of Ghana’s first President, Dr. Nkrumah, generated a storm of controversy, with Dr Sekou Nkrumah wondering “if anybody could simply go to South Africa and claim to be the son of Nelson Mandela without any form of proof.”
Interestingly, the family of the late President of the First Republic has accepted Dr Onsy’s claim as the biological son of the former Head of State, and have even decided to give him a native Nzema name at a ceremony at Nkroful very soon.
The Head the of Nvavile Family, Adwobia Kpanyinli, explains that, “it is only Madam Isis Nashid from Egypt who could best tell the real father of her son.”
He is also reported to have showered praises on the “newly discovered son of Dr Nkrumah” for renovating the family house. Adwobia Kpanyinli further stated that the smock, stick and handkerchief handed to Dr Onsy Nkrumah at a ceremony in Accra signified his acceptance into the family and appreciation for what he had done within the short period he introduced himself as the son of Ghana’s first president.
But to Dr Sekou Nkrumah, “if Onsy Nkrumah feels strongly about it, then I suggest he undergoes a DNA test. We will give him the benefit of the doubt if he subjects himself to a DNA test and I will be the first to accept him as a brother if the DNA shows him as Nkrumah’s son.”
“A DNA test will be the most credible way of confirming Dr. Onsy Nkrumah’s paternity. The DNA can easily be done as there are four living children of Nkrumah and I am willing to assist him in this direction,” he told the Daily Graphic.
He further said, “the DNA test is the only way to put this matter to rest once and for all.”
In Sekou’s view, impersonation and false claims were criminal, especially regarding the personality of Nkrumah.
According to Sekou, President Nkrumah documented his political thoughts, as well as his life in general.
Concerning marriage and children, he said it was well documented that he was married to Fathia and had three children, Gamel, Samia and Sekou.
But it is also a known fact that he had an earlier issue, a son, Francis, who was born in 1935, the year Nkrumah left for America, he pointed out.
“So these are the four children Nkrumah recognised,” Sekou stressed.
He said people had the right to present themselves as Nkrumah’s spiritual or ideological children if they shared his political ideals and principles, but no one had the right to claim he is their biological father.
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