Kwame Nkrumah: Problems of Government

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Kwabena Akurang-Parry 9 years ago

Kwame Nkrumah had a fine mind and was a visionary who was far ahead of his opponents. Even his avid foes agree that to the end, Nkrumah was a man of honor and distinction. The critics of Nkrumah and anti-Nkrumahists must be t ...
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Kwame Nkrumah had a fine mind and was a visionary who was far ahead of his opponents. Even his avid foes agree that to the end, Nkrumah was a man of honor and distinction. The critics of Nkrumah and anti-Nkrumahists must be told that writing or speaking about him is not so much about one’s ability to assemble myriad facts of the past and its coterminous present. Rather, it is more so about one’s holistic capacity to unpack the layers of such facts, including historical contexts, causality and chronology, social change and prosopography, and the comparative turbulent postwar global settings on the eve of decolonization and in its immediate aftermath. In applying these, historians use nuance, not wailing visceral viewpoints. In fact, to write about Nkrumah, one has to navigate his career as an evolutionary arc that turned into concentric circles of revolution in the crucible of decolonization. Nkrumah is very right: Danquah and co never forgave Nkrumah for defanging their rabid regionalisms and neo-imperialist leanings during the epoch of decolonization. In the praxis of decolonization history of Ghana/Africa, Nkrumah will continue to remain the evergreen frontispiece whose eminent place in world history is assured, while Danquah and co, at best, will remain minor footnotes that are on occasion summoned to illuminate Nkrumah's matchless role in the liberation of Africans and the oppressed worldwide.
Dr. SAS, Attorney at Law 9 years ago

You aptly state:

Writing about Nkrumah is more about "one’s holistic capacity to unpack the layers of such facts, including historical contexts, causality and chronology, social change and prosopography......"

Why don ...
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You aptly state:

Writing about Nkrumah is more about "one’s holistic capacity to unpack the layers of such facts, including historical contexts, causality and chronology, social change and prosopography......"

Why don't you go ahead to discuss? Maybe you can help us shed some light on the tyrant's dark soul.
Kwabena Akurang-Parry 9 years ago

Dr. SAS, thanks for your suggestion. I will do well to "go ahead and discuss," but certainly it will not be about "the tyrant's dark soul!" It will be about Nkrumah as a human being with flaws and achievements in comparative ...
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Dr. SAS, thanks for your suggestion. I will do well to "go ahead and discuss," but certainly it will not be about "the tyrant's dark soul!" It will be about Nkrumah as a human being with flaws and achievements in comparative contexts and the forces that shaped such!
Sister Souljah 9 years ago

Dr. SAS compare the learned professor's fine response to your own immature and disgruntle rantings. That is the hallmark of a great and refined scholar worth his salt, not the effusions and ratings of quasi intellectuals of y ...
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Dr. SAS compare the learned professor's fine response to your own immature and disgruntle rantings. That is the hallmark of a great and refined scholar worth his salt, not the effusions and ratings of quasi intellectuals of your ilk. We are still waiting for your response to the other contributor's description of you as a "snollygoster"
Nana Ansah 9 years ago

AFRICA MUST UNITE is a must read for all Africans. There is no one single leader in Africa dead or alive who has put his thoughts on record for all to read like Nkrumah did.

Nkrumah's philosophy and axioms must be thought ...
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AFRICA MUST UNITE is a must read for all Africans. There is no one single leader in Africa dead or alive who has put his thoughts on record for all to read like Nkrumah did.

Nkrumah's philosophy and axioms must be thought throughout Africa. His books teaches not only political science but also economics, managment and more.
Kwadwo 9 years ago

I guess we can justify or excuse the brutalities of Hitler, Stalin, Pinochet, Franco and Mussolini in a similar "comparative context", Akuran -Parry. Just air brush the brutalities of Nkrumah away and call him great. We get i ...
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I guess we can justify or excuse the brutalities of Hitler, Stalin, Pinochet, Franco and Mussolini in a similar "comparative context", Akuran -Parry. Just air brush the brutalities of Nkrumah away and call him great. We get it.
Kwabena Akurang-Parry 9 years ago

Bro Kwadwo, I have not stated anywhere that what I wrote about Nkrumah is a theoretical framework applicable to every ruler? I was just commenting on Nkrumah and that is exactly what it is based on the available extant empiri ...
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Bro Kwadwo, I have not stated anywhere that what I wrote about Nkrumah is a theoretical framework applicable to every ruler? I was just commenting on Nkrumah and that is exactly what it is based on the available extant empiricism. Per your comparative perspective, even if you were to take my comments as a theory, you would still misapply my point of view. Simply put, Nkrumah did not kill anyone, not for political or genocidal reasons. You know well that his liberal, democratic, and humane opponents, championed by Danquah, were the bomb-throwers, etc.
KKO 9 years ago

Writing in The Chronicle last week, one Septimius Severusa had this to say among others:

“THE ORIGIN OF POLITICAL VIOLENCE IN GHANA AND THE PDA
There are always apologists for tyranny, usually persons with no experience ...
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Writing in The Chronicle last week, one Septimius Severusa had this to say among others:

“THE ORIGIN OF POLITICAL VIOLENCE IN GHANA AND THE PDA
There are always apologists for tyranny, usually persons with no experience of detention without trial or any of the harsh realities of dictatorship. This gives them the “moral” authority to pontificate on historical necessity. Those who are today glibly parroting that the PDA was [sic] “necessary ‘anti-terrorist’ legislation” should bear in mind two things. One, the Act preceded the first bomb incident by some three years. May be the apologists would want to call it a “prophetic” legislation by the “Messiah”. The disturbances in Ashanti had been brought largely to an end with the 1956 general elections, which had returned a decisive CPP majority to Parliament. With more sensitive statesmanship, genuine national unity could have easily been forged in the very first years of independence, instead of the artificial unity imposed subsequently by the PDA.

This may be the proper occasion to recollect a fact which has been lost in the face of loud CPP myth-making. The one event that sparked the violence and disturbances in Ashanti in the 1954-56 period was the stabbing and murder in a charged political atmosphere of Emmanuel Yaw Baffoe, Propaganda Secretary of the National Liberation Movement (NLM), on October 9, 1954, by Twumasi-Ankrah, CPP Ashanti Regional Propaganda Secretary. But, Baffoe, a prison graduate of the Positive Action strikes, after 1951, became the CPP Ashanti Regional Propaganda Secretary and, in addition, was appointed a member of the Cocoa Marketing Board and Director of the Cocoa Purchasing Company. His active membership of the CPP, however, ended in 1954 when, with Nkrumah directly appointing candidates for the election, the party refused to endorse Baffoe’s candidacy, forcing him to run as an independent candidate for the Wenchi East seat. This led to his expulsion from the CPP.

The following extracts from the authoritative book, ‘The Quills of the Porcupine: Asante Nationalism in an Emergent Ghana’, by Jean Marie Allman, gives a graphic account of the circumstances surrounding this tragedy: “… [T]he NLM leadership was prepared to view Baffoe’s murder as a direct assault on the Movement, as an indisputable case of political assassination. As a former member of the CMB and as director of the CPC, Baffoe had direct access to potentially incriminating information concerning the CPP’s relationship to the purchasing company. Many believed he was murdered for what he knew. Indeed, only three days before his murder, Baffoe gave a ninety-minute speech in Nkawie which detailed his charges of rampant corruption within the two cocoa bodies. As a colonial government “Security Appreciation” reported, “Baffoe knew, and has listed, the Ashantis who have given and received money from the CPC – commonly regarded as gong money – and many suppose that he was killed by direct orders of the Prime Minister.” Moreover, the fact that Twumasi-Ankrah had recently been in Accra led many to suspect that Baffoe’s murder was planned and directed from CPP headquarters. Among those who shared this concern were members of the colonial government’s Local Intelligence Committee. In a secret and confidential letter to the Colonial Office, Deputy Governor Hadow reported that local intelligence had obtained evidence that Twumasi-Ankrah and Yaw Asamoah visited Accra the first week of October and met privately with Nkrumah… at CPP headquarters the day before the murder. In short, suspicions were aroused in every corner, and the NLM had its first political martyr.”Thus, far from the NLM being the first to import violence into Ghanaian politics, the first act of political violence was directed, fatally, against an NLM official by a CPP official. Violence, as we know, begets violence.

On the “Kulungugu Bombibg” Severusa had this to say,
“Judicial independence at the time of his exit existed on paper, not in reality. In 1963, in reaction to the verdict of the Special Court, a panel of the then Supreme Court, he sacked over the radio on the dreaded 1 o’clock news Chief Justice Sir Arku Korsah, the first Ghanaian Chief Justice, for presiding over the Court that acquitted his erstwhile Ministers and Party officials – Tawiah Adamafio, Ako Adjei (a member of the Big Six, the man who made the fateful introduction of Nkrumah to the Working Committee of the UGCC), and Coffie Crabbe – on charges of treason arising from the Kulungungu bomb attempt on Nkrumah’s life.
These are historical facts. Fortunately, many of us who were alive and growing in wisdom before God and man at the time (not the Akosas and Pratts who could not wipe their own noses at the time) heard the famous “1’clock news) and saw some of the events. Who exactly are the “bomb throwers, but Kwame Nkrumah’s own disenchanted ministers and party memebrs?”
The records are there in the libraries for any objective researcher/reader to find out! Why can’t we be honest and begin to do the right thing for a change as Ghanaians?
Kwabena Akurang-Parry 9 years ago

So someone wrote an article that appeared in the Chronicle and it is the iron-clad truth! We are all trading opinions! I would say a good write-up based on selected, if not cherry-picked, writings. Fortunately, anyone can hun ...
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So someone wrote an article that appeared in the Chronicle and it is the iron-clad truth! We are all trading opinions! I would say a good write-up based on selected, if not cherry-picked, writings. Fortunately, anyone can hunt for counter narratives! Have a good day!
Abeeku Mensah 9 years ago

It's not only a shame but disingenuous that you would bring up selective write-ups relative to this article but have not acted on principles likewise when an NPP former President Kufour and current flag-bearer of the NPP Nana ...
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It's not only a shame but disingenuous that you would bring up selective write-ups relative to this article but have not acted on principles likewise when an NPP former President Kufour and current flag-bearer of the NPP Nana Akufo-Addo stood up and showered undeserved praises on Danquah, a terrorist by any measure, and shamelessly name land marks in his memory. Did any of the speakers at the 50th anniversary of the death of Danquah say anything negative he did during their destablisation activities? It is about time you and others stopped your abject hypocrisy and engulfed hatred for a rather dead and gone Nkrumah. The lesson yet to be learned by Busia-Danquah ideologues is that it is always easy to mouth off sitting on the sidelines but rather daunting, as Busia found out the hard way during his short-lived Presidency. Governing should be left to the wise with ideas, ideals and foresight and not to hollow suits with delusional claims of birth rights and tribal association.
KKO 9 years ago

You have such a strange and funny thinking process. I debunked a dishonest posting with historically verifiable facts. What has that got to do with 50th anniversary speeches?

You have such a strange and funny thinking process. I debunked a dishonest posting with historically verifiable facts. What has that got to do with 50th anniversary speeches?
Sankofa 9 years ago

Historical facts are still selective if you do not put what you are saying in context.

In any case, why do you rely on only one author's views? How do you know that these are accurate facts you are citing?

Historical facts are still selective if you do not put what you are saying in context.

In any case, why do you rely on only one author's views? How do you know that these are accurate facts you are citing?
KKO 9 years ago

Come on, my friend,
These are historical facts and even if you are one of "sharp teeth baies" of Ghana politics, you scan easily verify these facts from the libraries in Ghana!

Come on, my friend,
These are historical facts and even if you are one of "sharp teeth baies" of Ghana politics, you scan easily verify these facts from the libraries in Ghana!
Nana Ansah 9 years ago

Fortunately, I was a contempory to this epoch and also live it. The Mate Meho NPP should drop their veil and tell the whole truth and nothing but the TRUTH.

The writer didn't mention how the NLM formed on premises of the ...
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Fortunately, I was a contempory to this epoch and also live it. The Mate Meho NPP should drop their veil and tell the whole truth and nothing but the TRUTH.

The writer didn't mention how the NLM formed on premises of the Asantehene by Baffuor Osei Akoto came to be. He blinded out the violence initiated by the Asafo troopers in the first place. It is always action and reaction. This veil narrative of K.A. Twumasi Ankrah stabbing of E.Y. Baffoe is not the whole Story. K.A. Twumasi Ankrah was eventually tried and hanged but that did not satisty the blood thirsty NLM Asafo troopers.

The writer also didn't mention that Tawiah Adamafio was an ex-UP who jumped ship to join the CPP and worked his way up the ranks of the CPP but was still a UP mole. His smoke of veil was exposed in the Kulugungu bombing.

The writer did not mention the precursor to PDA. He forgot to mention that when the Big Six were apprehended in 1948 by the British colonialist, although they were absent during the demonstaration that took place in Accra they were preemptively put behind bars for about three months without consultations with their lawyers.

These nation wreckers terrorist Mate Meho knaves have also always worn a veil ala Taliban womens' Burqa to hide their atrocities. Ye nim won fri tete. These tribal bigots always pull the victim card wherever they are cut in the act. They are well known liars and rumour mongers. They can tell that to the marines!
KKO 9 years ago

Wow, Nana Ansah,

This is a revelation. Tawia Adamafo was ex-UGCC/UP and therefore a terrorist. Kwame Nkrumah was ex-UGCC, in fact General Secretary, does that make him a terrorist too?

Do you dispute the Deputy Governor ...
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Wow, Nana Ansah,

This is a revelation. Tawia Adamafo was ex-UGCC/UP and therefore a terrorist. Kwame Nkrumah was ex-UGCC, in fact General Secretary, does that make him a terrorist too?

Do you dispute the Deputy Governor's assertion that EY Baffoe''s assassination was a planned and pre-meditated murder?

The Big SIx were detained without trial for three months, so it was right to rush PDA through parliament to jail others indefinitely?

We thank God that the Germans learnt lessons from the NNAZI atrocities!
Nana Ansah 9 years ago

In March 1955, R.J. Vile, the Assistant Secretary at the Colonial Office gave one of the first independent assessments of the N.L.M. after his visit to the Gold Coast.

“So little is known about the internal politics of t ...
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In March 1955, R.J. Vile, the Assistant Secretary at the Colonial Office gave one of the first independent assessments of the N.L.M. after his visit to the Gold Coast.

“So little is known about the internal politics of the N.L.M. that it is difficult to know the importance of this core determined people, or the kind of control exercised by the Ashantehene over them. It is, however, clear that they have a fair amount of dynamite at their disposal and presumably can easily obtain fresh supplies by theft from the mines. They contain a number of thugs who are prepared to use knives and arms of precision. Reports were current in Kumasi a fortnight ago that the N.L.M. had been smuggling in rifles and machine-guns, and there were other reports that small bands of people were being trained with the object of sending them to Accra to attack, and possibly murder, Gold Coast Ministers.”

“It is possible that Dr. Nkrumah’s peaceful approach may lead to the resolution of the differences between the N.L.M. and the C.P.P. on constitutional matters”. Nevertheless he concluded, ominously, that “it is quite possible that the core of determined young men will take to the forest and engage in guerrilla warfare from there if other methods fail”.

Violence was stepped up and Kumasi became so dangerous that members of the C.P.P. were in fear of their lives. Local party leaders such as B.E. Dwira of New Tafo were barricaded in their homes and needed protection when they went out. The C.P.P regional office was closed and the local party newspaper, the Sentinel was shutdown. Baffour Osei Akoto warned of a possible civil war and a U.K. newspaper described the situation as “an unseen stealthy backstreet war being waged on Chigaco lines with gunmen in fast cars, rifle, shotguns home made bombs and broken bottles and knives”.

The Governor, Sir Charles Arden-Clarke was pelted with stones when he went to Kumasi to mediate and seek an end to the violence. Kofi Banda was shot by a gunman from the palace of the Chief of Ejuisu - a crime for which no one was convicted. Krobo Edusei’s sister was murdered while preparing food her children at home and Nkrumah’s home in Accra new Town was bombed.

The aim of much of this orchestrated violence was to make the country ungovernable so that the Colonial Office would have little choice but to intervene and delay progress towards the granting of independence.
Sankofa 9 years ago

These are red herrings.

There is no excuse whatsoever for the terrorism unleashed on the good people of Ghana by the NLM Matemeho mob. The fact that the case against the CPP officials was dismissed puts the ball back into ...
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These are red herrings.

There is no excuse whatsoever for the terrorism unleashed on the good people of Ghana by the NLM Matemeho mob. The fact that the case against the CPP officials was dismissed puts the ball back into the NLM's court. They had a history of trying to assassinate Nkrumah. They had a motive for the bomb attack at Kulungungu.

It is uncanny how history is repeating itself today - the NPP divisive and often violent rhetoric against gov't, the grab power at all costs mentality, and the militancy against progress.

We need to learn the lessons of our past and be responsible.
Sankofa 9 years ago

A little known fact is that Nkrumah had wanted to appoint Danquah as chairman of the board of a state organisation.

He was unable to do so due to resistance from within the CPP.

Nkrumah had a knack of building bridges ...
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A little known fact is that Nkrumah had wanted to appoint Danquah as chairman of the board of a state organisation.

He was unable to do so due to resistance from within the CPP.

Nkrumah had a knack of building bridges with everyone, including his political opponents. He put the interest of our nation above petty personal differences. A moot lesson for our politicians and us all today.
Kofi 9 years ago

To compare Nkrumah to the people you listed means, you are a "blind lifeguard".

To compare Nkrumah to the people you listed means, you are a "blind lifeguard".
Sankofa 9 years ago

Please tell us what Nkrumah's 'brutalities' were.

Please tell us what Nkrumah's 'brutalities' were.
Paul 9 years ago

Please stop this. Prof. Kwabena has given a brilliant and factual assessment of Nkrumah as a body of work and you try to dilute what he is saying with your hollow, wishy-washy questions and silly arguments about tyranny? Come ...
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Please stop this. Prof. Kwabena has given a brilliant and factual assessment of Nkrumah as a body of work and you try to dilute what he is saying with your hollow, wishy-washy questions and silly arguments about tyranny? Come of it. It is not about emotions and screaming on the top of your voice.

It is about substance and I hope others can quote or present what some of Nkrumah's contemporaries also had to say or write about our freedoms, emancipation and development.

Please stick to the issues and stop telling others about "the tyrant's dark soul".
Patriot 9 years ago

I was expecting same from this writer. This, indeed is a self-serving attempt to redeem Nkrumah's dented image as a dictator.

I was expecting same from this writer. This, indeed is a self-serving attempt to redeem Nkrumah's dented image as a dictator.
Sankofa 9 years ago

In what way was Nkrumah a 'dictator'?

In what way was Nkrumah a 'dictator'?
Captain Canada 9 years ago

know the meaning of the word - 'dictator'. The irony is when it come to the private life and judgments they more dictatorial. For the lack of knowledge idiots such these traitors use the word without knowing what it means.

know the meaning of the word - 'dictator'. The irony is when it come to the private life and judgments they more dictatorial. For the lack of knowledge idiots such these traitors use the word without knowing what it means.
francis kwarteng 9 years ago

Dear Prof. Akurang-Parry,

Good summary.

Nkrumah was, and still is, incomparable as your pointed commentary makes eloquently clear, Prof. Akurang-Parry. The man had a great, fine psychology and the man also loved his pe ...
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Dear Prof. Akurang-Parry,

Good summary.

Nkrumah was, and still is, incomparable as your pointed commentary makes eloquently clear, Prof. Akurang-Parry. The man had a great, fine psychology and the man also loved his people like no other, to a fault.

This is not a grudging attempt to apotheosize him for that matter, far from it. We have acknowldged his shortcomings as other human beings. That notwithstanding, it is merely to place his progressive vision for Africa in the proper historical context.

As a matter of fact, Prof. Kofi Kissi Dompere's scientific and mathematical valuation of Nkrumah's thinking substantially shares a notable space of mutual inclusivity with your well-placed and highly intelligent conclusions about the place of Nkrumah in the wider pantheon of great leaders.

Clearly, he stood out of the stifling, claustrophobic circle of his peers who merely wallowed deep in political mediocrity and philosophical dimness, as far as the redeeming qualities of a progressive political philosophy to elevate his people to a higher rung of human civilization and of introspective consciousness on collective belongingness and of placing Africans on par with the rest of humanity after centuries of dehumanization at the hands of foreign instruments, goes.

Finally, like you said, context is paramount to any critical methodology that seeks to give proper, deeper meanings to events, happenings, and occurences, in situ and unfolding. I believe this is what Dr. Paul Amuna is essentially doing. We should all encourage it.

Let me thank you both for continuing the discourse in an atmosphere of methodological versaility and openness. Nothing could be further from the truth, like you both have covertly and overtly said as we move along the trajectory of history.

Have a great weekend!

Thanks.
Kwabena Akurang-Parry 9 years ago

Thanks for your brilliant works on Ghanaweb!

Thanks for your brilliant works on Ghanaweb!
francis kwarteng 9 years ago

Prof. Akurang-Parry,

Thanks for your kind words.

Prof. Akurang-Parry,

Thanks for your kind words.
Paul 9 years ago

for your very generous comments. I also appreciate Prof, Akurang-Parry's "accentuation". It is brilliantly illuminating and refreshing. Have a great weekend too.

for your very generous comments. I also appreciate Prof, Akurang-Parry's "accentuation". It is brilliantly illuminating and refreshing. Have a great weekend too.
francis kwarteng 9 years ago

Dear Brother Paul,

You are welcome.

Thanks.

Dear Brother Paul,

You are welcome.

Thanks.
ADJOA WANGARA 9 years ago

Francis Kwarteng is ready for anybody who needs any relevant information about both J.B. Danquah and Kwame Nkrumah, he has got all answers.

Just call or Skype Francis Kwarteng on 001-3012775871

His Address: 4203 Ogletho ...
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Francis Kwarteng is ready for anybody who needs any relevant information about both J.B. Danquah and Kwame Nkrumah, he has got all answers.

Just call or Skype Francis Kwarteng on 001-3012775871

His Address: 4203 Oglethorpe St. Hyattsville, MD 20781 Maryland, USA
Kwadwo 9 years ago

As you are requesting Nkrumah's critics to put his due process and dictatorial policies into perspective by reproducing his work, why don't you reproduce the work of his victims to also give you a balanced and nuanced perspec ...
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As you are requesting Nkrumah's critics to put his due process and dictatorial policies into perspective by reproducing his work, why don't you reproduce the work of his victims to also give you a balanced and nuanced perspective.
Don't you think? Please don't wiggle out by asking me to do it because you started revealing the causa of Nkrumah's PDA, declation of life presidency and one party state rule.
francis kwarteng 9 years ago

Kwadwo,

Yes, why don't you do it? I never read your telling Gabby Ochere-Darko to reproduce letters from Nkrumah and the victims of Danquah's and Busia's NLM terrorism.

I think it will be good for those of you on the si ...
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Kwadwo,

Yes, why don't you do it? I never read your telling Gabby Ochere-Darko to reproduce letters from Nkrumah and the victims of Danquah's and Busia's NLM terrorism.

I think it will be good for those of you on the side of the UP tradition to reproduce that counter-narrative. for Ghanaweb's readership.

Paul can't do all by himself. Put another way, ask Gabby to that if you are busy or time is not on your side.

Have a great weekend!
ADJOA WANGARA 9 years ago

This idiot francis kwarteng will debate senselessly and idiotically all over the place, the stupid fool will enter into any debate with null contribution.

This idiot francis kwarteng will debate senselessly and idiotically all over the place, the stupid fool will enter into any debate with null contribution.
Sankofa 9 years ago

Did Nkrumah's political opponents write anything of note?

If so you may freely quote from them to support your claims.

Did Nkrumah's political opponents write anything of note?

If so you may freely quote from them to support your claims.
Dr. SAS, Attorney at Law 9 years ago

Bro. Francis,

You state: "We have acknowledged his shortcomings as other human beings."

I am curious and interested in exactly where and when you ever "acknowledged" Nkrumah's shortcomings? I thought all that you have e ...
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Bro. Francis,

You state: "We have acknowledged his shortcomings as other human beings."

I am curious and interested in exactly where and when you ever "acknowledged" Nkrumah's shortcomings? I thought all that you have ever acknowledged is Danquah's shortcomings, not even any "apotheosis" of Nkrumah as such.

I would also like to learn about Nkrumah's humanity which I am unable to see, no matter how hard I have tried. Can you help me? Do you know any of his good deeds specifically to his friends and neighbors?

In any case, don't explain to me that Danquah is responsible for Nkrumah's wickedness.
Sankofa 9 years ago

Nkrumah's humanity and 'wickedness'led to the construction of Akosombo dam which has served us so well for 50 years. Also the construction of Akosombo dam, Accra-Tema motorway, rapid expansion of our education and health syst ...
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Nkrumah's humanity and 'wickedness'led to the construction of Akosombo dam which has served us so well for 50 years. Also the construction of Akosombo dam, Accra-Tema motorway, rapid expansion of our education and health systems, building of our industrial base, Tema harbour, Barikese dam and water works, Universities of Science and Technology, and of Cape Coast, the Idological institute which is now University of Education,Winneba and many, many more.

I would rather have Nkumah's 'wickedness' than the sheer incomp- etence and lack of vision that has come after him.
Camillus Maalneriba-Tia Sakzeesi 9 years ago

Dr. Amuna, I think it is high time you ignore some comments following your features. I have monitored the time consuming research you in before publishing your intellectually-based articles. Unfortunately you have people who ...
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Dr. Amuna, I think it is high time you ignore some comments following your features. I have monitored the time consuming research you in before publishing your intellectually-based articles. Unfortunately you have people who come in with titles as "Attorneys" who are not basing their rebuttals as you cautioned earlier on the substance - sought to discredit what you did not write but sourced from the Osagyefo himself. You would be better off not engaging them in their comments than giving them the pride of 'commentary honours'. Some have strayed off from the context of the piece and sought to glorify J.B. Danquah. What they ought to be told is that Danquah has his political popularity limited to Ghana while that of Nkrumah is global. They energise themselves well to market his popularity posthumously in the global world of politics. So my brother paul - do not ever waste your energy responding to narrow-minded comments to your write-ups,I plead. .
Sankofa 9 years ago

Plus ca change.....

Plus ca change.....
adumtumi nyansfuo 9 years ago

Nkrumah did not know anything about economics, that is why we have no electricity today. Nkrumah did not know what he was doing when he was president.

Nkrumah did not know anything about economics, that is why we have no electricity today. Nkrumah did not know what he was doing when he was president.
Yaw Poku, USA 9 years ago

If from your own writing the NDC wins some votes in both Eastern and Ashanti region but the opposition fail to gain much ground in canvassing parliamentary votes in the Volta region is because the voltarians are just as tr ...
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If from your own writing the NDC wins some votes in both Eastern and Ashanti region but the opposition fail to gain much ground in canvassing parliamentary votes in the Volta region is because the voltarians are just as tribalistic as people and will always vote oneway but nothing else. Hence we called them inward looking because they are myopic. How about that
James 9 years ago

Dr SAS and his followers with their bizarre mindset,have already lost the debate.If after reading the thought-provoking extract from Nkrumah's AFRICA MUST UNITE,DR SAS still does not have any positive impression about NKRUMAH ...
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Dr SAS and his followers with their bizarre mindset,have already lost the debate.If after reading the thought-provoking extract from Nkrumah's AFRICA MUST UNITE,DR SAS still does not have any positive impression about NKRUMAH then Dr SAS has reduced his intellectual standing to a mere kindergarten student.
Captain Canada 9 years ago

Nkrumah. He's carrying his family's grudge. That's why he writes the nasty tropes about Nkrumah. He's continuing his family feud.

Nkrumah. He's carrying his family's grudge. That's why he writes the nasty tropes about Nkrumah. He's continuing his family feud.
NO GMO'S 9 years ago

Is this the same Paul Amuna who was trying to push GMO's down our throats with idiotic arguments now re-inventing himself as some Nkrumah scholar now?

Why don't you be what you really are, Amuna - a GMO lobbyist? Shame on ...
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Is this the same Paul Amuna who was trying to push GMO's down our throats with idiotic arguments now re-inventing himself as some Nkrumah scholar now?

Why don't you be what you really are, Amuna - a GMO lobbyist? Shame on you. God save Africa from dangerous fakes! Nkrumah would never have pushed GMOs. Nkrumah always wanted the best for his people, not the poisons of Monsanto and Co!
Paul 9 years ago

There are always two sides to a coin and in a debate, each side seeks to present its argument. If you disagree with me, that's fine but to suggest that someone is "trying to push GMOs down our throats" couldn't be further fro ...
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There are always two sides to a coin and in a debate, each side seeks to present its argument. If you disagree with me, that's fine but to suggest that someone is "trying to push GMOs down our throats" couldn't be further from the truth.

By the way, why don't we stick to what Kwame Nkrumah is saying, and NOT what Paul Amuna is saying for once?

Nkrumah also believed in science and technology including their application in agriculture to ensure our food security. You will be amazed what his views were on these matters, and yes, in the "interest of his people". That is what i also care about by the way. And where do you stand on these issues?
Paul 9 years ago

There are always two sides to a coin and in a debate, each side seeks to present its argument. If you disagree with me, that's fine but to suggest that someone is "trying to push GMOs down our throats" couldn't be further fro ...
read full comment

There are always two sides to a coin and in a debate, each side seeks to present its argument. If you disagree with me, that's fine but to suggest that someone is "trying to push GMOs down our throats" couldn't be further from the truth.

By the way, why don't we stick to what Kwame Nkrumah is saying, and NOT what Paul Amuna is saying for once?

Nkrumah also believed in science and technology including their application in agriculture to ensure our food security. You will be amazed what his views were on these matters, and yes, in the "interest of his people". That is what i also care about by the way. And where do you stand on these issues?
Paul 9 years ago

There are always two sides to a coin and in a debate, each side seeks to present its argument. If you disagree with me, that's fine but to suggest that someone is "trying to push GMOs down our throats" couldn't be further fro ...
read full comment

There are always two sides to a coin and in a debate, each side seeks to present its argument. If you disagree with me, that's fine but to suggest that someone is "trying to push GMOs down our throats" couldn't be further from the truth.

By the way, why don't we stick to what Kwame Nkrumah is saying, and NOT what Paul Amuna is saying for once?

Nkrumah also believed in science and technology including their application in agriculture to ensure our food security. You will be amazed what his views were on these matters, and yes, in the "interest of his people". That is what i also care about by the way. And where do you stand on these issues?
Paul 9 years ago

There are always two sides to a coin and in a debate, each side seeks to present its argument. If you disagree with me, that's fine but to suggest that someone is "trying to push GMOs down our throats" couldn't be further fro ...
read full comment

There are always two sides to a coin and in a debate, each side seeks to present its argument. If you disagree with me, that's fine but to suggest that someone is "trying to push GMOs down our throats" couldn't be further from the truth.

By the way, why don't we stick to what Kwame Nkrumah is saying, and NOT what Paul Amuna is saying for once?

Nkrumah also believed in science and technology including their application in agriculture to ensure our food security. You will be amazed what his views were on these matters, and yes, in the "interest of his people". That is what i also care about by the way. And where do you stand on these issues?
Paul 9 years ago

There are always two sides to a coin and in a debate, each side seeks to present its argument. If you disagree with me, that's fine but to suggest that someone is "trying to push GMOs down our throats" couldn't be further fro ...
read full comment

There are always two sides to a coin and in a debate, each side seeks to present its argument. If you disagree with me, that's fine but to suggest that someone is "trying to push GMOs down our throats" couldn't be further from the truth.

By the way, why don't we stick to what Kwame Nkrumah is saying, and NOT what Paul Amuna is saying for once?

Nkrumah also believed in science and technology including their application in agriculture to ensure our food security. You will be amazed what his views were on these matters, and yes, in the "interest of his people". That is what i also care about by the way. And where do you stand on these issues?
Paul 9 years ago

There are always two sides to a coin and in a debate, each side seeks to present its argument. If you disagree with me, that's fine but to suggest that someone is "trying to push GMOs down our throats" couldn't be further fro ...
read full comment

There are always two sides to a coin and in a debate, each side seeks to present its argument. If you disagree with me, that's fine but to suggest that someone is "trying to push GMOs down our throats" couldn't be further from the truth.

By the way, why don't we stick to what Kwame Nkrumah is saying, and NOT what Paul Amuna is saying for once?

Nkrumah also believed in science and technology including their application in agriculture to ensure our food security. You will be amazed what his views were on these matters, and yes, in the "interest of his people". That is what i also care about by the way. And where do you stand on these issues?
Paul 9 years ago

There are always two sides to a coin and in a debate, each side seeks to present its argument. If you disagree with me, that's fine but to suggest that someone is "trying to push GMOs down our throats" couldn't be further fro ...
read full comment

There are always two sides to a coin and in a debate, each side seeks to present its argument. If you disagree with me, that's fine but to suggest that someone is "trying to push GMOs down our throats" couldn't be further from the truth.

By the way, why don't we stick to what Kwame Nkrumah is saying, and NOT what Paul Amuna is saying for once?

Nkrumah also believed in science and technology including their application in agriculture to ensure our food security. You will be amazed what his views were on these matters, and yes, in the "interest of his people". That is what i also care about by the way. And where do you stand on these issues?
Paul 9 years ago

There are always two sides to a coin and in a debate, each side seeks to present its argument. If you disagree with me, that's fine but to suggest that someone is "trying to push GMOs down our throats" couldn't be further fro ...
read full comment

There are always two sides to a coin and in a debate, each side seeks to present its argument. If you disagree with me, that's fine but to suggest that someone is "trying to push GMOs down our throats" couldn't be further from the truth.

By the way, why don't we stick to what Kwame Nkrumah is saying, and NOT what Paul Amuna is saying for once?

Nkrumah also believed in science and technology including their application in agriculture to ensure our food security. You will be amazed what his views were on these matters, and yes, in the "interest of his people". That is what i also care about by the way. And where do you stand on these issues?
Paul 9 years ago

There are always two sides to a coin and in a debate, each side seeks to present its argument. If you disagree with me, that's fine but to suggest that someone is "trying to push GMOs down our throats" couldn't be further fro ...
read full comment

There are always two sides to a coin and in a debate, each side seeks to present its argument. If you disagree with me, that's fine but to suggest that someone is "trying to push GMOs down our throats" couldn't be further from the truth.

By the way, why don't we stick to what Kwame Nkrumah is saying, and NOT what Paul Amuna is saying for once?

Nkrumah also believed in science and technology including their application in agriculture to ensure our food security. You will be amazed what his views were on these matters, and yes, in the "interest of his people". That is what i also care about by the way. And where do you stand on these issues?
JC 9 years ago

This is Nkrumah's side of the story. I want to read also Ako Adjei's side. Obetsebi's side, Dankwa's side, Pa Grant's side. Nkrumah calls the opposition 'violent and destructive'. What about the announcement he made to us tha ...
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This is Nkrumah's side of the story. I want to read also Ako Adjei's side. Obetsebi's side, Dankwa's side, Pa Grant's side. Nkrumah calls the opposition 'violent and destructive'. What about the announcement he made to us that those who threw the bomb had been arrested and Ghanaians found out that they included his own people? Fact is an irresponsible government creates an irresponsible opposition and even citizenry. And I was there to witness all the elections in Kumasi. People were beaten for voting for the so-called opposition because at that time the boxes were separate and voters could easily be marked where they stand to vote. And winning landslides was not a reason to use parliamentary majority to create a one party state. Moreover the country was not his father's property. He should have used his self styled messianic status to institute fairness for all party.
Paul 9 years ago

Why not 'dig up' what they had to say and present it as is, so that people can read, understand and make their own minds. If indeed people were 'intimidated' the way you describe, why not present it for others to evaluate? In ...
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Why not 'dig up' what they had to say and present it as is, so that people can read, understand and make their own minds. If indeed people were 'intimidated' the way you describe, why not present it for others to evaluate? In any case, do you dispute some of the realities presented here by Nkrumah, even his analysis of the concept of democracy and its realities in different context and the historical links?
JAMES Y 9 years ago

Nothing has changed in the rivalry between(Busia/Danquah/Dombo)tradition the modern-day NPP and, presumably,(Nkrumaist)NDC of today. In the case of the former, the destructive attitude which their forerunners displayed during ...
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Nothing has changed in the rivalry between(Busia/Danquah/Dombo)tradition the modern-day NPP and, presumably,(Nkrumaist)NDC of today. In the case of the former, the destructive attitude which their forerunners displayed during Nkrumah's administration is being replicated by them today. I have said on this platform (Ghanaweb),severally, that Nkrumah's government had the freedom to develop the country when the leaders of the opposition left parliament and continue their subversion by proxy. They could not march Nkrumah's leadership qualities and political acumen. They resorted to violence in an effort to remove him from governing the country. At the beginning they found it very difficult. They succeeded when they were supported by the American CIA, who had then declared Nkrumah as their number one enemy in Africa, because of publication of his book, "Neo-colonialism; the Last Stage of Imperialism", a book which was very critical of American businesses, particularly, the conglomerates.

As for the above article's conclusion, I agree with the writer's appeal, but the question is; will the opposition NPP and its followers change their attitude? Am pessimistic about it!
INXS 9 years ago

Pls, don't make the mistake of equating NDC with Nkrumaism. They are not the same thing at all and you discredit Nkrumaism by that comparison.

Nkrumah was very ideologically inclined. That cannot be said of any leader of t ...
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Pls, don't make the mistake of equating NDC with Nkrumaism. They are not the same thing at all and you discredit Nkrumaism by that comparison.

Nkrumah was very ideologically inclined. That cannot be said of any leader of the NDC, not any of their so-called ideologues and even their founder. Even the present CPP has almost nothing to do with the original CPP! You think the real CPP will play third or even fourth fiddle in Ghanaian politics? No way!!!
Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D. 9 years ago

Amuna should explain why Danquah commandingly defeated Nkrumah in the Volta Region by 9-to-1 in the heavily rigged 1960 presidential election.

It couldn't be simply and facilely because the United Party had, collaborative ...
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Amuna should explain why Danquah commandingly defeated Nkrumah in the Volta Region by 9-to-1 in the heavily rigged 1960 presidential election.

It couldn't be simply and facilely because the United Party had, collaboratively, by the way, advocated for the ceding of the greater part of the Volta Region to Togo.

Remember also, the first act of terrorism occurred in the Volta Region on March 7, 1957.
Prof Lungu 9 years ago

We see a lot of talk up there about "rules", "principles" and "theories"!

1. As a general rule, one does not "defeat" another in an election if the other won the election.

2. That "the first act of terrorism occurred in ...
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We see a lot of talk up there about "rules", "principles" and "theories"!

1. As a general rule, one does not "defeat" another in an election if the other won the election.

2. That "the first act of terrorism occurred in the Volta Region on March 7, 1957," goes to prove the "subversion" record, (i.e. practicing terrorism in your abode where you are most comfortable, and where you are more anonymous in your "9-1" voting public.
Ebo yawson 9 years ago

Npp can do everything againt the image of the greatest african ever to live.
They should no nkrumah never die.people study about nkrumah,where in the world hv u had people studying about your so called Danquah.

Npp can do everything againt the image of the greatest african ever to live.
They should no nkrumah never die.people study about nkrumah,where in the world hv u had people studying about your so called Danquah.
Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D. 9 years ago

Read Mahoney and Arhin: Nkrumah was no revolutionary. He thought racism and racial segregation in America were wildly exaggerated. Nkrumah was an impudent opportunist in search of power for self-aggrandizement.

Read Mahoney and Arhin: Nkrumah was no revolutionary. He thought racism and racial segregation in America were wildly exaggerated. Nkrumah was an impudent opportunist in search of power for self-aggrandizement.
Kwabena Akurang-Parry 9 years ago

The historiographies on the liberation of Africans from the chains of colonization as well as the depredations of slavery, etc. dispute your take on Nkrumah. That Nkrumah was a revolutionary and that his worldviewS have conti ...
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The historiographies on the liberation of Africans from the chains of colonization as well as the depredations of slavery, etc. dispute your take on Nkrumah. That Nkrumah was a revolutionary and that his worldviewS have continued to re/shape African consciousness are indisputable. In fact, avid detractors of Nkrumah are in agreement about this: Nkrumah freed Ghana/Africa from the continental cage of European imperialism, even prepared Africans to confront neocolonialism, the last stage of imperialism, and indeed, its acidic unidirectional Globalization that flows unrestrained from the non-African world to Africa. He used his pan-African congresses and writings to empower African nationalists about how to abort colonialism, defang neocolonialism, and promote the development of African postcolonies. These are signifiers of a revolutionary!

In many ways you have attacked Nkrumah because you claim he built a personality cult. Well nation-building is about symbolisms and rituals of re/naming, and they don’t have to be static models, but dynamic forces of change and renewal.
francis kwarteng 9 years ago

“Gaining perspectives into how Dr. Kwame Nkrumah has affected the lives of people in South Africa, I found out that back in the days of Apartheid, the oppressed people went to school and were taught about the principles of ...
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“Gaining perspectives into how Dr. Kwame Nkrumah has affected the lives of people in South Africa, I found out that back in the days of Apartheid, the oppressed people went to school and were taught about the principles of Kwame Nkrumah or Nkrumahism (Enoch Ampofo said while receiving South African government’s SATMA Awards on behalf of Ghana and the Nkrumah Family)”

“There is a particular poignancy to the history of Ghana because it was the pioneer. Kwame Nkrumah was more than a political leader; he was a prophet of independence, of anti- imperialism, of Pan- Africanism (Cooper)”

“Nkrumah’s place in African history has been assured (General J.A. Ankrah)”

“The strategist of genius in the struggle against classic colonialism (Amilcar Cabral)”

“Ghana’s fight for freedom inspired and influenced us all, and the greatest contribution to our political consciousness at the time came from the achievements of Ghana after its independence. It was from Ghana that we got the idea that we must do more than just petition the UN [United Nations) to bring about our own independence (Sam Nujoma)”

“Nkrumah inspired many people of Africa towards independence and was a great supporter of the liberation of southern Africa from apartheid and racism (Kenneth Kaunda)”

“Nkrumah was central to the major debates and issues of the decolonization period of the 1950s and the 1960s. Among these was the emergence of the modernization paradigm, which assumed that newly independent states would seek to imitate European systems of governance, economic growth, and values in order to build cohesive nation-states (Dr. Ama Biney)”

“Nkrumah’s radical Pan-Africanism had an influence on the attitudes and behavior of a substantial body of people (Hodgkin)”

Nkrumah received the World Peace Prize (World Veterans Association, 1954)

Nkrumah is posthumously given a Gold Medal (Special Session, United Nations, 1978, for his role in contributing to decolonizing Apartheid South Africa)

Nkrumah is posthumously given the SATMA Awards (South African Government for his role in dismantling Apartheid)

“Black star (Basil Davidson)”

“The Greatest African (Eric Walberg, Canadian international journalist and writer)”

“Ghana’s independence signaled the end of colonialism in Africa (Jomo Kenyatta)”

“No doubt he [Nelson Mandela] saw Nkrumah as his hero (Dr. Kwame Amuah, Nelson Mandela’s son-in-law, married to Makaziwe Mandela-Amuah)”

“King's famed admiration for Ghandi's leadership in nonviolent rebellion was not isolated. He [Martin Luther King, Jr] drew inspiration from Kwame Nkrumah, who led Ghana to peaceful independence (Nathan Albright)”

“Kwame Nkrumah, A True Champion of African Unity (Hilary Ojukwu)”

“It is rare in human history that one discovers a philosopher-political leader whose voice resonates with that of his people as clearly as that of Nkrumah. He is at once a consummate political activist and a master of the internal tensions of history and politics; these qualities made him an advance signal for a continuing victory sign…His creative energy and massive range of interests were great enough to encompass the continent and the Diaspora, but also his depth in terms of philosophy, science, social development, and revolutionary anger and action was profound. I like the fact that every word, even if I disagreed with some of his words, appeared to have been thought about, pondered, and perfected by his keen Afrocentric and social sensibilities…This is why I am an ardent celebrator of Nkrumah’s life and voice because in celebrating him we celebrate the best in us. This giant was real, genuine, with all of his human flaws, the essence of African intelligence and anti-fascist activism and he showed us what we must be and what we must do to remain centered and not simply shoved to the side as trash on the road of history. Our politics must be vigorously ethical and fundamentally proactive, if we are to be anyone and if our work is to be anything that can address the monstrous wrongs of society. If we cannot name our authentic path because we have lost our own way, then we are truly lost. One cannot know lost-ness and loss-ness until one has forgotten the ancestors. In the name of Nkrumah, let us re-orient ourselves, to our commitments to each other, to our drive toward a federative African union, a united Africa, and to a connection to Africans everywhere. FORWARD EVER! BACKWARD EVER! (Dr. Molefi Kete Asante)

LIST IS ENDLESS……………………………..
Nana Ansah 9 years ago

Francis, stop arguing with intellectual dwarfs like Ahootan and SAS. It is a waste of time and energy to argue with Ahootan or SAS. These knuckelheads keep arging in a circle.

Kwame RED is sitting at the Pantheon of the w ...
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Francis, stop arguing with intellectual dwarfs like Ahootan and SAS. It is a waste of time and energy to argue with Ahootan or SAS. These knuckelheads keep arging in a circle.

Kwame RED is sitting at the Pantheon of the world famous. Danquah the treasonist, terrorist traitor has vanished into oblivion.

Roses are RED. Happy Valentines day mate!
Nana Ansah 9 years ago

Francis, stop arguing with intellectual dwarfs like Ahootan and SAS. It is a waste of time and energy to argue with Ahootan or SAS. These knuckelheads keep arging in a circle.

Kwame RED is sitting at the Pantheon of the w ...
read full comment

Francis, stop arguing with intellectual dwarfs like Ahootan and SAS. It is a waste of time and energy to argue with Ahootan or SAS. These knuckelheads keep arging in a circle.

Kwame RED is sitting at the Pantheon of the world famous. Danquah the treasonist, terrorist traitor has vanished into oblivion.

Roses are RED. Happy Valentines day mate!
francis kwarteng 9 years ago

Dear Nana Ansah,

I couldn't I agree with you more. I hear you, my brother.

Take care.

Dear Nana Ansah,

I couldn't I agree with you more. I hear you, my brother.

Take care.
JAMES Y 9 years ago

Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe,Jnr.,Ph.D.,Akyem, always writes untrue stories. He is trying very hard to portray his Akyem kinsman, Dr Joseph Boakye Danquah, as an important politician with no avail.
He should give us just six names o ...
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Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe,Jnr.,Ph.D.,Akyem, always writes untrue stories. He is trying very hard to portray his Akyem kinsman, Dr Joseph Boakye Danquah, as an important politician with no avail.
He should give us just six names of important political leaders who have acknowledged his political contribution to a society. Until he did that,Okoampa-Ahoofe,Jr.,Ph.D.(Akyem)should shut up and stop writing bollocks!
Captain Canada 9 years ago

Read Ghanaweb. He's a hack and a revisionist who spews lies about his betters. Like a hawker of screed and pathetic tosh, you are a fraud. Your phd is just a meaningless tag. No better than a goat with rings.

Read Ghanaweb. He's a hack and a revisionist who spews lies about his betters. Like a hawker of screed and pathetic tosh, you are a fraud. Your phd is just a meaningless tag. No better than a goat with rings.
francis kwarteng 9 years ago

Dear Paul,

I know where this argument about Danquah's winning 10% of votes in the Volta Region is heading.

Danquah won 10% of the votes there because of his close association and collaborations with ethnocentric secess ...
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Dear Paul,

I know where this argument about Danquah's winning 10% of votes in the Volta Region is heading.

Danquah won 10% of the votes there because of his close association and collaborations with ethnocentric secessionists like S.G. Antor, one of the leaders of the Ewe Unification Movement, a man who together with his colleagues planned to destabilize Ghana (the Gold Coast) at the independence day celebrations but for the timely intervention of the Queen's Attorney-General.

Besides, that election was never rigged. Usually uninformed readers and "scholars" like to cite Dennis Austin's "Politics in Ghana: 1946-1966" as their source for the elections being rigged.

Austin did not say that. What he said about the elections was merely his suspicions, not like the direct reference Richard Mahoney makes of the relationship between Danquah and the CIA, being "manipulated" to favor Nkrumah.

Richard Mahoney tells us exactly what he must received from his father William Mahoney, which does not come anywhere close to Austin's hypothetical suspicions. That is the difference. So don't alllow anyone to con you.

Paul, I will try to get the exact wording of Austin for you on that score. However, until I locate the book and tell you what Austin excatly said about the elections, let anyone who mentions Austin as his source quote his exact wording (page number, etc) on the elections.

I AM SAYING THIS BECAUSE I NEUTRALIZED ALL THOSE WHO HAVE CONVENIENTLY MISQUOTED DENNIS AUSTIN ON THIS VERY QUESTION ON GHANAWEB.

Thanks.
INXS 9 years ago

Well, Okoampa said Danquah won like 90% of the votes in the Volta Region - 9 to 1, not 10% which was what Danquah won nationally.

But Okoampa didn't tell us which parts of the VR that 90% occurred. It couldn't have been al ...
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Well, Okoampa said Danquah won like 90% of the votes in the Volta Region - 9 to 1, not 10% which was what Danquah won nationally.

But Okoampa didn't tell us which parts of the VR that 90% occurred. It couldn't have been all of the region. It could just have been in the middle parts of the region (the "northern" Ewes) and a certain enclave on the coast among the Anlos all of whom were opposed to Nkrumah rather than really in favour of Danquah.

Remember, the remnants of the erstwhile Togoland Congress were still reeling under their defeat at the plebiscite in 1956 which they thought was heavily rigged in the direction Nkrumah wanted. Even in 1960, these people had no reason to vote for Nkrumah.

Yes, the troubles started from there - around Alavanyo whose blacksmiths were then the best gunmakers in Ghana. I dare say they still are...

So if the PDA was enacted in response to the actions of the Alavanyo "guerrillas" it couldn't have had Danquah as the main target.
francis kwarteng 9 years ago

INXS,

Was the 90% not part of the 10%?

INXS,

Was the 90% not part of the 10%?
francis kwarteng 9 years ago

INXS,

I get you now.

I re-read my comments for clarification.

Yes, I should have stated 90% for the Volta Region (10% across the nation).

But then again, you have not given me any substantial evidence to back yo ...
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INXS,

I get you now.

I re-read my comments for clarification.

Yes, I should have stated 90% for the Volta Region (10% across the nation).

But then again, you have not given me any substantial evidence to back your claim that "these people had no reason to vote for Nkrumah."

I need some good evidence. I look forward to one.

Thanks.
INXS 9 years ago

The point I was trying to make is that these people had reasons not to vote for Nkrumah but these reasons were NOT because they thought Nkrumah was a dictator, much less a brutal one. Remember this last vote was in 1960 or so ...
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The point I was trying to make is that these people had reasons not to vote for Nkrumah but these reasons were NOT because they thought Nkrumah was a dictator, much less a brutal one. Remember this last vote was in 1960 or so - not long after our independence. Those Voltarians who didn't vote for Nkrumah couldn't have seen Nkrumah as a dictator while other Ghanaians were unable to see the same.

For those Voltarians, Nkrumah was an enemy because he was instrumental in their "loss" at the 1956 plebiscite. And he sent in police to quell the disturbances in Alavanyo. Many people in the area run away to Togo and went into exile there (even those ones nobody was really after...) Now, they were also part of the opposition UP and they were simply voting for the candidate of the UP. Indeed, Danquah was very popular in Ho in the early 60s and after him Busia too.

I don't know if 90% of the votes in the entire Volta Region were cast for Danquah. The northernmost parts of the region had voted by a slight majority to become integrated into the Gold Coast (as Ghana). Of course, it was there that the Togoland Congress people alleged the votes were rigged most. So the people there were not anti-Nkrumah and many may have voted for him.

The southern parts of the region (mostly the Anlos - Gbedema's people) had always been Gold Coast and did not take part in the 1956 referendum so they didn't have the same reasons to vote "against" Nkrumah as the "northern" Ewes. Even there also, there may also have been just an enclave there who voted "against" Nkrumah. Perhaps Andy-K will know this part of the history better.

So I don't quite know about this 90% of the people of the entire region voting "against" Nkrumah. I don't think 90% of the total votes cast for Danquah could have come from the VR either. Danquah did have his support base in the Ashanti Region and parts of the Eastern Region (which then included the present Greater Accra Region).

We will need to research more about the exact figures - both the official and the rumoured ones.

And one thing too. Rigging may not have been the decisive factor in Nkrumah's victory but, yes, there certainly was rigging. It will be difficult to argue there was not. There was rigging even when the British were looking over our shoulders. I doubt if our country has ever held any elections in which there was no rigging - up till today.

The CPP was very well organised - in all departments. They could meet force with force, and rigging with rigging! Lol, lol.
francis kwarteng 9 years ago

INXS,

You still have not said anything substantive by way of verifiable evidence, and yet telling others "both sides are arguing out of context." I don't know that statement actually means.

Did Nkrumah and the CPP rig ...
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INXS,

You still have not said anything substantive by way of verifiable evidence, and yet telling others "both sides are arguing out of context." I don't know that statement actually means.

Did Nkrumah and the CPP rig the elections in Akyem Abuakwa Central constituency when Danquah lost to his relative Aaron Ofori Atta, who later became a Minister for Local Government/Minister for Justice under the CPP? I believe we have to be extremely careful to say anything at all when we lack provable evidence for our hyperbolic claims.

What does your subjective and unsubstantiated view say about your own context?). This is one thing I hate.

I was not expecting to read this subjective, unsubstantiated commentary from you 0it means you have nothing substantive to add to the debate):

"And one thing too. Rigging may not have been the decisive factor in Nkrumah's victory but, yes, there certainly was rigging. It will be difficult to argue there was not. There was rigging even when the British were looking over our shoulders. I doubt if our country has ever held any elections in which there was no rigging - up till today."

Saying "I doubt if our country has ever held any elections in which there was no rigging-up till today" is no evidence." It means your are arguing from a standpoint of emotion rather that of rational substance. Please avoid this if you can.

Have a great weekend.

Thanks.
INXS 9 years ago

Francis, be careful what you think you can prove or disprove. I cannot tell you that the CPP rigged the elections in Akyem Abuakwa Central constituency. I have no evidence. But you have no evidence that they didn't rig it eit ...
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Francis, be careful what you think you can prove or disprove. I cannot tell you that the CPP rigged the elections in Akyem Abuakwa Central constituency. I have no evidence. But you have no evidence that they didn't rig it either. I will be careful about committing myself one way or the other.

Kwarteng, the elections during the latter part of Nkrumah's regime were full of rigging - by BOTH sides. We are today still grappling with the ability to conduct free and fair elections - without rigging. The fact that you cannot produce evidence for something does not, in itself, mean that thing did not happen. There is nothing emotional about it - indeed, it's rather the rational standpoint. In those days rigging was widespread. CPP even rigged elections they would have won without any foul tactics - they had to make sure. This kind of things don't get into the history books if as a historian you have to back every statement with concrete evidence.

Many of the political rallies in those days were full of violence - the kind your parents warned you not to attend because of the violence. And I am talking from personal experience!

As for me, I am not Nkrumaist but I will choose Nkrumah any day and time over Danquah. Nkrumah did a lot of good for Ghana (and me, personally) but I don't gloss over his necessary(?) faults!

I will rather ask you to avoid the one-sided extremist position that you take.
Kwadwo 9 years ago

iNXS, although your comments usually tilts towards Nkrumah, Francis is having a needless bout with you on vote percentage
obtained by a particular candidate in the Volta Region and vote rigging during Nkrumah's rule. To Fran ...
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iNXS, although your comments usually tilts towards Nkrumah, Francis is having a needless bout with you on vote percentage
obtained by a particular candidate in the Volta Region and vote rigging during Nkrumah's rule. To Francis, Nkrumah is a saint who did nothing wrong and this reasonable analyses you are making constitutes blasphemy. Nkrumah has no faults per Francis. All we need to do is idolize him and go back to this one party state , form a unitary government and continue his " scientic socialist policies". Accepting these along with implementing his seven year development plan will solve all the nation's problems. We get that, but we know better.
Nana Ansah 9 years ago

Nkrumah was winning elections even as a jailbird in 1951 and won hands down back to back in 1954 and 1956. And even then the UGCC/UP claimed it was rigged.

Mind you INXS, Kwame Nkrumah was no friend of the British. There w ...
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Nkrumah was winning elections even as a jailbird in 1951 and won hands down back to back in 1954 and 1956. And even then the UGCC/UP claimed it was rigged.

Mind you INXS, Kwame Nkrumah was no friend of the British. There was no point in Nkrumah rigging the votes in Akyem. Danquah did not make the cut to parliament in 1954 and 1956 respectively.In fact, by 1954 Danquah has faded into obvilion that it was Busia he was running the show for the fragmented UP Opposition.

Look, Danquah was such a sore loser that even his first wife left him to join Kwame Nkrumah CPP to become the first woman parliamentarian of the Gold Coast. All this intensified his bitterness and personal grudge against Nkrumah.

As a lawyer and antagonist Danquah should have known the rules of the game. Politics is not for the weak kneed. He played hard and lost bitterly. Politics is a hard ball game. That's it.
ADJOA WANGARA 9 years ago

And what did you idiot Francis kwarteng say, you are an English teacher in USA and you also correct the Academic work(read through to correct mistakes)of some professors in USA, whereby apart from copying and pasting your own ...
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And what did you idiot Francis kwarteng say, you are an English teacher in USA and you also correct the Academic work(read through to correct mistakes)of some professors in USA, whereby apart from copying and pasting your own English is bogus.
INXS 9 years ago

One thing I've observed about the ongoing debate, especially on ghanaweb, is that both sides are arguing out of context. I think it is mostly because they are getting their facts from the history books which are not necessari ...
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One thing I've observed about the ongoing debate, especially on ghanaweb, is that both sides are arguing out of context. I think it is mostly because they are getting their facts from the history books which are not necessarily impartial accounts. The major protagonists on either side were either not born or were too young to "know how to wipe their noses" when Nkrumah ruled us.

SAS basically uses today's standards to judge things that happened in the 50s and 60s under different circumstances. When Kwarteng, Paul and the others ask as to contextualize things, they also argue ether out of the wrong context or think context means everything. Akurang-Parry will mention Nkrumah's shortcomings but only in passing as if they didn't matter for the argument. As for SAS, he has now completely forgotten that Nkrumah certainly did some good - a position he previously occupied. (I think SAS was two years old when Nkrumah was overthrown so he certainly couldn't have been able to wipe his nose then...).

Kwadwo indicates that he may have seen something of the Nkrumah times but he also talks about universal values and rights that are defined in today's terms but which he thinks should be applicable to Nkrumah's times even if we are looking at those times from hindsight - as we only can.

Paul says he's not concerned about those who criticize him for using a single source and he's just interested in Nkrumah's words. But without an alternative narrative, we cannot properly appreciate that single narrative.

In his writings, Nkrumah was also playing politics and must justify his actions. The man was no fool and cannot write things that put him in a bad light. He knew what to say and, especially, what to leave out. Look at the way he talked so smoothly about the people of Togoland proving to be freedom-minded and choosing to be in "union with us". As if that was the whole story - as simple as that!

Paul, the opposition at the time did not "misread" the mood of the nation. They were also competing for power (the same power) and were simply using the means they best thought would do for them. Some of those means were not really straight ones, but, I tell you, Nkrumah was also not always on the straight and narrow. But he was certainly a more tenacious fighter. You can call him an opportunist but what is politics if not the way you make use of the opportunities that come your way?

If both sides in this argument will not hold on so fast to their extremist viewpoints, they will truly see Nkrumah for what he really was - a great visionary leader, no doubt about that, but one with some black flecks. But which leader, great or otherwise, has no spots?
Kwadwo 9 years ago

I appreciate this well reasoned commentary. I can live with it. This is a very fair assessment of various positions on this issue. Bravo.

I appreciate this well reasoned commentary. I can live with it. This is a very fair assessment of various positions on this issue. Bravo.
Prof Lungu 9 years ago

INXS,
As we said the other day, we treasure your Ghana-centeredness!

Many of us are on Ghanaweb to learn and, as much as practically, to inform. Why? Because, as you implied, some of us were not born before, or during t ...
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INXS,
As we said the other day, we treasure your Ghana-centeredness!

Many of us are on Ghanaweb to learn and, as much as practically, to inform. Why? Because, as you implied, some of us were not born before, or during the time those events took place. And even if we were born, we had barely cut our teeth.

While these are not academic discourses, we still seek balance, contextual analyses, objectivity, and cool reflections unhinged by ethical challenges, and deliberate mis-representations/erasure of records.

1. It is one thing to say Nkrumah imprisoned J. B. Danquah without trial, that Danquah died in that prison. But, it is an entirely different proposition to say that Nkrumah killed Danquah when he was imprisoned in Nsawam either because prison officials did not have Ghanaian doctors in that prison to take care of Danquah, or that a foreign doctor failed to do their job (or poisoned Danquah on behalf of Nkrumah)
.... (An Amnesty International Report fro 2011 argues that conditions in Ghana's prisons, Nsawam, included, are sub-human. Kwaw Kese talked about it the other day). We believe that if the so-called Danquah letters are authentic, Danquah's prison has gone a lot down-hill/worse, as conditions go.

2. As well, it is one thing to propose that an uncompromising stand for a stronger central government; the imprisonment of J. B. Danquah and a few, some from the CPP, most from the opposition; and the enactment of Single Party Rule were anti-democratic and reflected poorly on Nkrumah, the CPP, and Ghana. But, it is an entirely different thing to say that for all these things, Nkrumah was a "brutal dictator."

3. Therefore, to the extent we are all interested in learning, the question for all is this:

Pray tell us!

Who would you much prefer to teach your child or family member about Ghana with respect to these matters?

4. Our choice is clear on this one.

We would much prefer Dr. Kwabena Akurang-Parry's lesson, than Attorney Dr. Samuel Adjei Sarfo's, or Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D., for that matter.

In fact, it shudders our entire being to think that any Professor or Teacher will stand in a classroom in Ghana and spew all that self-serving, ethically challenged, and bizarrely speculative propositions. That, we submit, is increasingly getting to be a bigger discredit to Ghana, given the entirety of the records/context.

5. For these reasons, we have begun to pay attention to this discourse that is pointless on several fronts.
Prof Lungu 9 years ago

To say...

...Many of us are on Ghanaweb to learn and, as much as practicable....

To say...

...Many of us are on Ghanaweb to learn and, as much as practicable....
Kwadwo 9 years ago

But don't expect some of us to simply absorb whatever comes from Nkrumaists like Akuran- Parry, Asamoah Botwe, Kwesi Sakyi Atta and others as historical truth either. At college, we knew the ideological stand of certain profe ...
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But don't expect some of us to simply absorb whatever comes from Nkrumaists like Akuran- Parry, Asamoah Botwe, Kwesi Sakyi Atta and others as historical truth either. At college, we knew the ideological stand of certain professors so we never took their classes.
Prof Lungu 9 years ago

You may have it backward, Kwadwo!

Or maybe it is that peculiar, uncritical Ghana condition. Reads like you are talking about going to College in Ghana. More to be desired.

It is not as if you were building a boat and ...
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You may have it backward, Kwadwo!

Or maybe it is that peculiar, uncritical Ghana condition. Reads like you are talking about going to College in Ghana. More to be desired.

It is not as if you were building a boat and the Professor had a peculiar knack for Smaller, Efficient Boats, and you preferred a Bigger Boats that carried more people. Even there, we would not skip!

These are human matters!

So, if is the US where you skipped the way you explain, it is a mighty, big shame, in our book, Kwadwo!

ITEM: Ordinarily, a College student ought not to hide from a Professor because of "ideological stand". You sadly escape critical discourse, when you do. The thing is, you learn more from your fellow students, in College, than from your Professor.

There is empiricism to that!

Further, as one of my Professors, R. Hummel, used to tell us: "If You Can't Say It In College, You Will Never Say It Anywhere!

But, seriously, to the point, we are more concerned about Ghana's pre-College students who do not have freedom the choose a professor based on "ideological stand."!
BOY KOFI 9 years ago

The question we should be asking is that why did Nkrumah declare Self government now and Danquah was not in that haste?We must remember that Casely Hayford,Mensah Sarbah and some local Chief watered the political ground befor ...
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The question we should be asking is that why did Nkrumah declare Self government now and Danquah was not in that haste?We must remember that Casely Hayford,Mensah Sarbah and some local Chief watered the political ground before Danquah and Nkrumah.Danquah took over the political mantle from Casely Hayford in 1930 when he died.Casely Hayford was a scholar and interested in the West African struggle.When Danquah took over he restricted himself to the struggle in Gold Coast where he had the support of the local chiefs.On one hand,the local chiefs were interested in the colonial protection because there were still some tribal confrontations.On the contrary,Nkrumah believed if there is a unitary government,the tribal sentimens will reduce and we shall have peace if we attain independence quickly.Apparently,the ordinary people who were subjects to the chiefs will easily support Nkrumah than Danquah and that was the reason why Nkrumah won all the elections against Danquah.Remember,Danquah prefered Federal government which uptil today many of his apostles agree with him.In my opinion,we cannot compare these 2 personalies on the same scale.Even though we have independence but some Ghanaians still don't believe in it.We have polarised the country and that's not very good for us.Thank you.
Prof Lungu 9 years ago

BOY KOFI,
We share your interpretation in the main.

We have a piece coming to Ghanaweb that touches on much of what you talk about.

This discourse is polarizing. But, through it, a lot of things are being aired, discov ...
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BOY KOFI,
We share your interpretation in the main.

We have a piece coming to Ghanaweb that touches on much of what you talk about.

This discourse is polarizing. But, through it, a lot of things are being aired, discovered, as so much of the "hidden" records begin to become bare in this knowledge-driven-internet age!

That, we hope, is a good thing, at least in the long run!

Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Kwadwo 9 years ago

Why will I sit and listen to a Marxist or Nkrumaist Professor in an American Universityfor a whole semester? I had better use for my tuition, Lungu. They were very predictable.

Why will I sit and listen to a Marxist or Nkrumaist Professor in an American Universityfor a whole semester? I had better use for my tuition, Lungu. They were very predictable.
Kwofie Benibengor 9 years ago

Let everybody judge every opposition party by what Dr,Nkrumah taught in his write up as the suppose duty of opposition party before voting them to power.In Ghana both major parties (ndc and npp) do not see anything good abt t ...
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Let everybody judge every opposition party by what Dr,Nkrumah taught in his write up as the suppose duty of opposition party before voting them to power.In Ghana both major parties (ndc and npp) do not see anything good abt the one in power.Big shame to both parties.
JC 9 years ago

Kwame Nkrumah's doctorate should not be compared to Dr. J. B. Dankwa's doctorate. Kwame Nkrumah's doctorate is the same as Spio Garbrah's doctorate or Jerry Rawlings' doctorate/doctorate. 'High sounding, nothing'! And soon we ...
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Kwame Nkrumah's doctorate should not be compared to Dr. J. B. Dankwa's doctorate. Kwame Nkrumah's doctorate is the same as Spio Garbrah's doctorate or Jerry Rawlings' doctorate/doctorate. 'High sounding, nothing'! And soon we are going to hear Dr. John Mahama. Juju leaders!!!

Kwame Nkrumah: Problems of Government

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