Dr Sekou Nkrumah, Kwame Nkrumah’s third son and a member of the National Democratic Congress has giving a damning verdict on the leadership of President John Evans Atta Mills.

In an exclusive interview in the influential Africawatch, Dr Nkrumah said Prof Mills lacks the charisma, dynamism and strong will to lead Ghana. In the brutally frank interview, Dr Sekou said the National Democratic Congress government has so far failed Ghanaians.

“A lot of people see Mills as an academic and a gentleman. But, in the political arena, you need to be strong-minded, and it looks like this leadership quality is missing in Mills. So I guess we need a more strong-willed, dynamic personality, a charismatic person to inspire national confidence, and also to let the population see the national agenda and feel part of it.”

Dr Nkrumah, who is the National Coordinator of the National Youth Council, said more of the President of Ghana, “there is the impression that he is not able to make decisions. But again if you do not go through the democratic process, you are not strong enough to handle such a situation because those small battles that take you to the top shape you, they make you strong, and give you the courage to face the challenges that come your way in office.”

But, he blames the founder of the NDC, former President Jerry John Rawlings for imposing Mills on his party.

“I think, to a large extent, [Rawlings] is to blame for the situation because really, he put Mills in the leadership position of the NDC, and it was not done through a proper internal democratic process.”

Dr Nkrumah continues, “In leadership, you need to struggle to emerge, anything in life you need to struggle for it. So in a sense Mills did not struggle for the leadership, and you can see that right from 2004 when Kwesi Botchwey stood against him, the latter flopped miserably; and in 2006 Spio Garbrah also flopped miserably against Mills.”

He adds, “So nobody could stand against Mills because he was Rawlings’ man. Rawlings created that situation. If he had allowed somebody to succeed him democratically in the NDC, it would have been different. I mean Mills as vice president was fine but to lead, the person must, on his own, struggle to emerge as a leader, sometimes based on what he or she has done; but Rawlings did not allow this process a chance at all.”

In the interview, Dr Nkrumah supported calls that a new candidate within the NDC must challenge Mills in 2012. To be continued…