Kwame Nkrumah was once the hope of not only Ghana, where he was the country’s first president after its independence, but also for all of Africa. The legendary Pan-African leader pushed for a thriving, united, and truly independent Africa. Nkrumah’s hopes and dreams for Africa live on in his only daughter, Samia Nkrumah, a pan-African activist.

A former politician and past chairperson of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), Nkrumah currently heads the Kwame Nkrumah Pan-African Center.

Recently she spoke at Domusforum 2018 , A Survey on the Future of Cities, where she discussed issues ranging from African-Chinese relations to a truly free Africa. Nkrumah is not at all pleased with many African leaders who constantly seek funds and funding from the Chinese, the World Bank, and the IMF.

“Countries are going back to the IMF and truth be told, we never ever stopped. It is so difficult to service the debt and our small economies and credit rating is so down and it is more expensive for us to borrow,” she said.

In all, “African countries have borrowed more than $15.4 billion from the IMF in 2018 alone, a figure that rose from about $5.39 billion in 2014,” African Exponent reported.

Nkrumah also spoke about the current scramble for Africa between Europe, U.K., and China,

“There has always been a scramble because the potential here is so huge, meaning we have not explored what we have and we cannot give our resources away for anything. And judging by the statistics, China is the new sugar daddy for African states but some say it comes at a price, perhaps not as prescriptive as the IMF and Bretton Woods institutions but nevertheless has strings attached,” said Nkrumah, who was born to President Kwame Nkrumah and his Egyptian wife Fathia Halim Rizk in 1960, the same year Ghana declared its status as a Republic.

Following the illegal overthrow of the government of Kwame Nkrumah in 1966, she left with her family and moved to Egypt. She returned to Ghana in the ‘70s, leaving again in the ‘80s. Samia worked as a journalist and media consultant before permanently returning to Ghana in 2008. Samia, who is fluent in Arabic, Italian, and English joined the Convention People’s Party (CPP) and won a seat in the parliament.

“In 2011 she made history by becoming the chairperson of the CPP, the only female leader of a political party in Ghana and also the youngest to occupy such a prominent role. Samia is the founder and president of the Kwame Nkrumah Pan African Center, an organization, set up to promote Kwame Nkrumah’s vision, philosophy and political culture within the context of a united Africa,” Domus reported.

Nkrumah says something drastic has to happen to save Africa — declaring that a revolution may happen sooner than later. “Behind every social revolution there is an intellectual one. We have to imagine, we have to dream, we have to draw, we have to plan before we can realize that harmonious growth and development that we want to see in the world,” she said. “A new Africa has to be born. We need to visit the original idea. We were never meant to struggle; African states must work together.”