Legacy of Danquah-Busia and Nkrumah Traditions – Part 2

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• CARDINAL OF ILLITERATES 10 years ago

  Kwesi Atta, there are more to talk about the irresponsible way Busia handled Ghana in the shortest period.
  
  I have always known that Busia cancelled teacher training colleges allowances depriving the poor of quality educati ...
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  Kwesi Atta, there are more to talk about the irresponsible way Busia handled Ghana in the shortest period.
  
  I have always known that Busia cancelled teacher training colleges allowances depriving the poor of quality education.

  reply
• ILLITERATE APONKYI SARPONG 10 years ago

  Akwesi Atta, you got ythis wrong. Ankrah inaugurated the center for civic education and made Busia the first chairman.
  
  You are feeding the public with lies.

  Akwesi Atta, you got ythis wrong. Ankrah inaugurated the center for civic education and made Busia the first chairman.
  
  You are feeding the public with lies.

  reply
• C.Y. ANDY-K 10 years ago

  Akwesi, I can appreciate the enormous task of summarising such a large span of events into an article size post but the number of factual errors, besides the nuances overlooked, made me grit my teeth at points reading through ...
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  Akwesi, I can appreciate the enormous task of summarising such a large span of events into an article size post but the number of factual errors, besides the nuances overlooked, made me grit my teeth at points reading through. It'd take me a whole article to correct all! I'll therefore mention only some most annoying. You have already been corrected on one.
  
  From par. 1, I read that JB was "affiliated to the royal family at Kyebi"! Man, affiliated how? A scion of one of their many slaves? JB was indeed from the royal family by birth! His half snr. brother became the Okyenhene Nana Sir Ofori Attah! Don't you know that???
  
  JB wasn't the first to suggest that Akans came from old Ghana, incorrect, btw. I Briton did in the mid-1920s and JB bought into it and propagated it. If I were home, I'd have given you the name of the Brit but anyone with a copy of Wilks' Guggisberg et. al Memorial Lectures can fish that out.
  
  I don't think the CMB was established in 1947! Maybe you were referring to the West Africa Produce Market Board formed I think in 1938 after the cocoa hold ups by farmers in the 1930s, strike actions in which JB played a major role. The GCMB was formed in the 1950s after Nkrumah instigated the dissolution of the West Africa Produce Marketing Board. Ghana got the lion's share of the reserves, which was only £19m, something the British even wanted Ghana to forego as contribution to their "Marshall" Plan! So the British
  left for Nkrumah only £19m, not the much heralded £250m! That additional sum was added by the CPP regime itself prior to indep, thanks to that infamous, and in retrospection bad advice, advice of Sir Arthur Lewis not to pay increased prices resulting from the astronomical rise in commodity prices due to the Korean War to the cocoa farmers in order to avoid inflation and keep the windfall as "anchor of safety" at a very low interest rate in England, at a time when farmers were much aggrieved at the cutting down of diseased trees, a situation which the CPP exploited to win votes from the farmers, btw. It introduced that phrase into he political lexicon of the Gold Coast. It also led to the revolt of the farmers and the formation of the NLM, which the politicians who had just lost an election exploited, besides the many who deserted the CPP to join and lead the NLM, etc., R.R. Amponsah and Modesto Apaloo. These basic historical facts should be known to all and sundry!
  
  V.I. Lenin died in 1924. Which other Lenin did Nkrumah meet in the 1940s with same names?
  
  BTW, Nkrumah actually got Masters in Philosophy too and registered for the PhD. in Philosophy in the UK after his PhD dissertation in the Univ. of Philadelphia was rejected. "Unfortunately, his Ph.D dissertation
  in Philosophy was rejected, presumably
  for being "too pro-Communistic"(p.64). Search for Ms Marika Sherwood's Kwame Nkrumah: The Years Abroad... for details. He completed and passed all course works and had the examining board not taken exception to his biting dissertation, he'd have been allowed to defend it. He apparently refused to make changes and left the US to the UK.
  
  BTW, it was JB who fumed at the "poppin jays" and "veranda boys" Nkrumah and the CPP were bringing into the political limelight and the "plebeians" reacted by adopted that as an accolade, just like PG for Prison Graduate cap.
  
  Enough!
  
  Andy-K

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• Nana Yaw 10 years ago

  JB Danquah was a step brother not a blood brother. Nana Ofori Attah II shared a father who was a step father to JB Danquah through marriage. JB Danquah was a toddler when his mother married Nana Ofori Attah II's father. Nana ...
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  JB Danquah was a step brother not a blood brother. Nana Ofori Attah II shared a father who was a step father to JB Danquah through marriage. JB Danquah was a toddler when his mother married Nana Ofori Attah II's father. Nana Ofori Attah II was a Kyebi royal from his mother's side. JB Danquah and Nana Ofori Attah did not have a common mother threfore JB Danquah could not have been a Kyebi royal!!!

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• GOLD COAST 10 years ago

  Nkrumah obtained his MA from the University of Pennsylvania(a member of the Ivy League and one of the foremost universities in the world(Ahoofe,eat your heart out!),and not from the Univ. of Philadelphia.
  
  PEACE

  Nkrumah obtained his MA from the University of Pennsylvania(a member of the Ivy League and one of the foremost universities in the world(Ahoofe,eat your heart out!),and not from the Univ. of Philadelphia.
  
  PEACE

  reply
• C.Y. ANDY-K 10 years ago

  Ok, so the correct choice of phrase is step-brother, not half-brother. Also, Univ. of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
  
  Below is a review which does more and better justice to the subject.
  
  Andy-K
  
  Afr.j. polit. sci. (1997 ...
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  Ok, so the correct choice of phrase is step-brother, not half-brother. Also, Univ. of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
  
  Below is a review which does more and better justice to the subject.
  
  Andy-K
  
  Afr.j. polit. sci. (1997), Vol. 2 No. 1. 180-183
  Kwame Nkrumah: The Years Abroad 1935-1947. by Marika
  Sherwood, Freedom Publications, Legon, Ghana, 1996, 202 p. [Paperback]
  ISBN 99887716 06
  
  Of all the major leaders of the postwar anticolonial struggle in Africa, Kwame
  Nkrumah stands out as both the best known and the most controversial figure in the
  history of African decolonization. Ghana, formerly the Gold Coast and the country
  he led to freedom in 1957, owes its historical significance as the first black country
  to achieve independence in the 20th century as well as its political weight in African
  affairs to Nkrumah's outstanding qualities as a Pan-African freedom fighter.
  How did a person from humble origins and born around 1909 in a Ghanaian
  fishing village rise to become a major historical figure? Marika Sherwood's
  outstanding book on Nkrumah's life between 1935 and 1947 provides a clear and
  brilliant answer to this question. For if Francis Nwia-Kofi Nkrumah's upbringing
  as his mother's only child, his early schooling as a pupil and a pupil teacher in
  Roman Catholic schools in rural Ghana together with his training at the elite
  Achimota College in Accra were indispensable for his overall intellectual development,
  it is the academic training and political education received during the
  twelve difficult years abroad that fashioned Kwame Nkrumah into the great
  nationalist and Pan-African leader we know today.
  The book under review provides an extremely rich documentation on these
  politically formative years in two parts: "the American years." 1935 to 1945 and
  "the London years", 1945 to 1947. The first ten years were intensely academic, and
  were spent at two U.S. institutions of higher education, Lincoln University — an
  African American liberal arts college, and the nearby University of Pennsylvania
  in Philadelphia. Nkrumah was an outstanding student at Lincoln, graduating
  magnacum laude withaB.A. in sociology in 1939. He also worked there in various
  capacities as a teaching assistant and as an instructor, including a one-year
  appointment as professor of Philosophy and Logic, Elementary Greek, and Negro
  Civilization and History in 1944-45.
  In addition to earning a Master of Science degree in education at the University
  of Pennsylvania, Nkrumah assisted in teaching African language at the Institute of
  1027-0353 © 1997 African Association of Political Science
  Book Review 181
  Languages and Culture. Unfortunately, his Ph.D. dissertation in Philosophy was
  rejected, presumably for being "too pro-Communistic" (p. 64).
  With little financial support, Nkrumah engaged in extramural activities likely
  to earn him some money for his living and educational expenses. Thus, he made
  use of his Bachelor's degree in Sacred Theology, earned in 1942 from Lincoln
  University's Theological Seminary — a Presbyterian seminary — to obtain a
  licentiate from the Chester Presbytery for purposes of preaching the gospel. He
  apparently preached virtually every Sunday in different churches in Philadelphia,
  New York, or Washington. Since the Christian ministry was not his real calling,
  he did not choose to move a step further by being ordained as a minister. A second
  extramural activity was manual labor, including work at a shipbuilding and dry
  dock company near Philadelphia.
  Throughout all these years, Nkrumah remained steadfast in his single-minded
  determination to work for Africa's freedom from colonial rule. The testimonies of
  his contemporaries are unanimous on his unyielding commitment to the struggle.
  Whatever he was doing—giving a sermon, writing a term paper in philosophy, etc.
  — Nkrumah would always find a way to "twist around" to Africa (pp. 51, 63).
  The opportunity to develop his interest and enthusiasm about Africa came
  through Nkrumah's involvement in the activities of African and African American
  political and civil rights organizations such as the Universal Negro Improvement
  Association (UNIA), founded by Marcus Garvey, the National Association for the
  Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the Counci 1 on African Affairs (CAA)
  and the African Students Association (ASA). It was through this involvement that
  he came into contact with distinguished Pan-African leaders like Amy Ashwood
  Garvey, Claudia Vera Jones, W.E.B. DuBois, Paul Robeson, C.L.R. James and
  Alphaeus Hunton. Among these were others who later on sided with the U.S.
  government against progressive Pan-Africanists; e.g. Ralph Bunche and Max
  Yergan.
  Part Two of the book examines the London years, 1945 to 1947. Proportionately,
  the author devotes more space to these two years (84 pages) than to the ten
  years spent in America (96 pages). This is appropriate, given the fact that it was
  during these two years that Nkrumah was actually engaged in organizing the
  anticolonial struggle in West Africa through the West African National Secretariat
  (WANS) of the Pan-African movement. Having helped George Padmore organize
  and manage the 1945 Pan-African Congress in Manchester, Nkrumah went on to
  concentrate on WANS activities, in collaboration with the West African Students
  Union (WASU) and the international working class movement, whose representatives
  included members and former members of the Communist Party of Great
  Britain (CPGB).
  This connection with both the Pan-African and international working class
  movements provides the major themes around which Marika Sherwood organizes
  182 Book Review
  her book. These are (1) " the circularity and smallness of the anti-imperialist
  world," (2) "the organisations in which Nkrumah gained the political experience
  he took with him to the Gold Cost in 1947," (3) "the level of communist influence"
  in the anti-imperialist movement, and (4) the surveillance and intelligence
  gathering activities of the British and U.S. governments vis-a-vis African nationalists
  (p. 3).
  Sherwood has a very narrow view of the "anti-imperialist world," as she seems
  to limit it to the African students and professionals abroad together with their
  African-American (including African Caribbean) and non-African supporters.
  That those abroad did constitute a small circle of people who knew each other and
  interacted frequently cannot be disputed. However, the leadership of the anticolonial
  struggle by the Nkrumahs, Azikiwes, Kenyattas, Wallace-Johnsons and many
  others could not have succeeded in the absence of an emerging mass nationalist
  movement of peasants, workers, students and civil servants that was decidedly
  anti-imperialist. And it is only leaders like Nkrumah, who recognized the strength
  and vibrancy of this mass base, who were able to mobilize the people and to channel
  popular energies into a successful struggle for independence.
  The analysis of the various organizations in which Nkrumah gained his political
  experience also suffers from the elitist bias in Sherwood's approach. However
  useful they were in developing strong personal bonds among people who went on
  to become national leaders in Africa and in initiating their members in the
  techniques of lobbying, issuing position papers and publishing newspapers and
  books, organizations such as the ASA, WASU and WANS were severely limited
  by their lack of a mass base. On the other hand, the most useful lessons for
  Nkrumah's subsequent leadership of the Convention People's Party (CPP) must
  have come from his associations with the UNIA and black workers' groups in
  America and in Britain. Unfortunately, the book offers very little information on
  this aspect of Nkrumah's life abroad.
  In discussing communist influence in the anti-imperialist movement, the
  question of whether or not Nkrumah himself was a communist seems to fascinate
  the author as much as that of the women, if any, in Nkrumah's social life.
  Fortunately, Sherwood concurs with the overwhelming majority of her informers
  that Nkrumah was not the kind of person who would submit to directives from
  Moscow or subordinate the African independence struggle to any form of external
  control. Support from communists and the entire international working class
  movement was accepted and appreciated, as it helped to destabilize the colonial
  system.
  In this regard, that the M15 (British intelligence) and the Office of Strategic
  Services (OSS, the forerunner of the CIA) did build elaborate files on African
  freedom fighters, should not astonish us. In preparation for eventually supplanting
  Great Britain as the leading Western power in Africa, the U.S. had taken prudent
  Book Review 183
  steps in beefing up its consulates in strategic locations such as Accra, Kinshasa and
  Lagos, for purposes of learning more about African nationalism and knowing
  who's who among the future leaders of Africa.
  On the whole, Marika Sherwood has done an outstanding job in elucidating the
  background to Nkrumah's years in power. A better knowledge of his years abroad
  should prepare us for understanding the problems he would later on encounter with
  the reactionaries of the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC) who invited him
  back home to serve as general secretary of the UGCC, on the one hand, and with
  the imperialist powers which saw him as a threat to their neocolonial schemes, on
  the other. Nkrumah's mistakes, and the increasingly authoritarian style of rule he
  developed, can also be traced to the secretive and elitist world of his political
  education.
  Overthrown in 1966 in a military coup d'etat after 15 years of political power,
  Nkrumah died in exile in 1972. This book, which should be read in conjunction
  with Nkrumah's own version of these crucial years in The Autobiography of
  Kwame Nkrumah (1957), is based on meticulous research at over 20 major
  archival centres and numerous interviews with most of Nkrumah's contemporaries
  who were still alive during its preparation. It should be read by all those who are
  interested in the exemplary life and work of Kwame Nkrumah, who opened up the
  political kingdom so that the masses of the African people could seize the occasion
  to improve their lot and ensure a better future for their children.
  
  19 Bodle Avenue, Eastlea Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja
  Harare, Zimbabwe

  reply
• Nana Yaw 10 years ago

  JB Danquah's hometown is Akyem Tafo, though he was born in Kwahu Bepong, near Kwahu Mpraeso. Kwahu Bepong is often refered to as "Kwahu Russia". His mother hailed from Akyem Old Tafo that is why he was qualified to become the ...
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  JB Danquah's hometown is Akyem Tafo, though he was born in Kwahu Bepong, near Kwahu Mpraeso. Kwahu Bepong is often refered to as "Kwahu Russia". His mother hailed from Akyem Old Tafo that is why he was qualified to become the Twafohene of Akyem Old Tafo. JB Danquah is more related to the notorious trouble maker and self proclaimed lotto billionaire, Nanao(Bosompim).

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• CONCERNED GHANAIANS 10 years ago

  Related to Nana Bosompem? You don't mean it! Btw, where is Nana Bosompem?

  Related to Nana Bosompem? You don't mean it! Btw, where is Nana Bosompem?

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• KAB 10 years ago

  At least I still remember that Ghana dropped to second and later to third position in world cocoa production under PNDC.
  Again, it was under the Limann regime that the leader of the opposition in parliament Hon Kwaku Baah b ...
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  At least I still remember that Ghana dropped to second and later to third position in world cocoa production under PNDC.
  Again, it was under the Limann regime that the leader of the opposition in parliament Hon Kwaku Baah brought kenkey to parliament to dramatize the high cost of living.
  The Alliance Comliance Order was not aimed against Nigerians or neighboring Afriacan states. The law sought to expel foreign nationals who had not complied with the laws of Ghana by staying in Ghana without the necessary resident permit, like the British, Americans, Italians, Ivorians, etc do to those who flout their immigration laws. Lebanese, Syrians and Nigerians were mostly affected by the law. Paradoxically, Nigerian subsequently promulgated a similar law to expel foreign nationals by their Indeginization Law. Ghanaians were mostly affected.
  The Busia regime intended the students loan scheme at the University level to equip students with funds to pay for their education when it was too obvious that the economy it inherited could no longer realistically support the free university education. The irony was that even though the Acheampong regime cited it as a ground for his coup against the Busia regime, it was the Acheampong regime which implemented it, upon the plea of the university students (NUGS) who had vehemently opposed it in Busia's time.
  It is factually incorrect that Busia, Ivory Coast and Malawi supported apartheid in South Africa. They were all unalterably and unequivocally against the obnoxious regime. It was the means of removing the regime that they differed on. They preferred dialogue to armed struggle proposed by the "radicals". In the end, the almighty apartheid was overcome by the power of dialogue. Jaw jaw not war war!
  We owe it a duty to posterity not to pollute the minds of our children with falsehoods in the name of propaganda for transient political benefits of today. The greatest disservice we can do to our children of today who would be the leaders of tomorrow is to twist and falsify our history. They need to master our history correctly and learn from it to avoid the misfortune of repeating the mistakes of the past. Comments may be free but facts are sacred. If our children get where we are coming from wrong, they will surely get where we are going wrong.
  I love Ghana for her cultural, ethnic and religious diversity and the unity in diversity God has blessed her with. Let us cherish and jealously guard and keep it. In any case let every Ghanaian note that God has purposed that all of us live together within the boundary of Ghana as one irrespective of our ethnic or religious background. God has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings. Behold, how good and pleasant it is for brethen to dwell together in unity!
  Let me tell those who are tribally or ethnically minded. They better extricate and liberate themselves from this shackle of backwardness. The stack reality is that every single tribe or ethnic group in Ghana is welcome and important part and parcel of this beautiful country and they can not do any thing about it. They better learn to put up with the situation.

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• Nana Yaw 10 years ago

  After the fall of Mozanbique, Angola and Zimbawe, with the help of the Cubans, the Apartheid regime found herself surrounded and therefore felt pressured to negotiate. Had it not been the armed struggle, the Black Southern Af ...
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  After the fall of Mozanbique, Angola and Zimbawe, with the help of the Cubans, the Apartheid regime found herself surrounded and therefore felt pressured to negotiate. Had it not been the armed struggle, the Black Southern Africans would have found themselves in the same situations like the Palestinians find themselves in under the Zionist State of Israel. As the weapons of war becoming old technology which the West does not have total monopoly any longer, a people with determination, aspiration and importantly, the just cause and will, must not take crap from any foreign oppressors. Israel is softening her stand because the last encounter with Hezbollah did not go down well and with Iran's missile and space technology speeding up, the earlier the Israelis get the Palestinians on their side, the better. The armed struggle against the Apartheid was justifiable and noble endeavour!!!!!

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• KAB 10 years ago

  With all respect, I wish to remind Nana Yaw that Ian Smith was not overrun by any army of the nationalist forces. Rhodesia did not fall through any armed struggle, but through dialogue at a round table conference. Let's not d ...
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  With all respect, I wish to remind Nana Yaw that Ian Smith was not overrun by any army of the nationalist forces. Rhodesia did not fall through any armed struggle, but through dialogue at a round table conference. Let's not deceive ourselves. Mozambique and Angola did not fall under the artilleries of the nationalists forces. When the Portuguese found the colonies to be no longer profitable, and in the light of their international isolation, they themselves abandoned the colonies. What ensued was the infamous internecine warfare between the nationalist themselves for years. The divided nationalists, engaged in the war of attrition amongst themselves, posed no threat to the economically sound Boer regime of South Africa, propped up by the reluctance of the Western powers to impose sanctions on them. Let us not delude ourselves into believing in the mere supposition and assumption that they "would have found themselves in the same situation like the Palestinians" in Israel, as theorized by Nana Yaw, ( with due deference to him and without disrespecting his view on the matter).
  The indubitable fact is that in both Zimbabwe and South Africa, the power of arguments in dialogue prevailed over armed struggle. This historical truth cannot be whittled away by mere sweeping assumptions.
  The historical lesson is that dialogue, arguments , logic rooted in common sense shall always prevail over war, violence and senseless killings in modern politics and conflict situations. At least, dialogue offers a better option.

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• Nana Yaw 10 years ago

  The UK begged the Zimbabwean freedom fighters not to invade Rhodesia. Rhodesia saw the end coming when South African Apartheid regime could not afford to support them any longer!!! The White Boers south Africans, like the Zio ...
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  The UK begged the Zimbabwean freedom fighters not to invade Rhodesia. Rhodesia saw the end coming when South African Apartheid regime could not afford to support them any longer!!! The White Boers south Africans, like the Zionist State of Israel understood only one language,VIOLENCE!!! Do not let them fool u!!! If violence solves nothing, why are American findings ways to send arms to Syria? Why did America spend millions in Latin America? Did America dialogue with Najibullah in Afghanistan, Libya, Iraq,Vietnam, etc.?

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• Repugnant. 10 years ago

  Busia owned the 1966 coup and was the tutelary think tank behind all its policies. Why would Ankrah a soldier and not the sociologist/educationist Professor Busia be the brain behind the Center for Civic education? Good try b ...
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  Busia owned the 1966 coup and was the tutelary think tank behind all its policies. Why would Ankrah a soldier and not the sociologist/educationist Professor Busia be the brain behind the Center for Civic education? Good try but we are not convinced. Please try to always warn us with a caveat lector. We are very aware of your tribal factor/allegiance. Thank you.

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• Nana Yaw 10 years ago

  The elitist buffoon traitor and a CIA agent could not even win a seat to the parliament. He was beaten by his own nephew in his own constituency on the CPP ticket. He was a villain in his own home tuff. He was affiliated with ...
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  The elitist buffoon traitor and a CIA agent could not even win a seat to the parliament. He was beaten by his own nephew in his own constituency on the CPP ticket. He was a villain in his own home tuff. He was affiliated with Kyebi Ahenfie by being a step brother of Nana Ofori Attah II. No blood relations!!!

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• JUDA 10 years ago

  J.B DANQUAH WAS A CIA AGENT, NO DOUBT ABOUT THAT. HE SOLD HIS CONSCIENCE TO THE WHITEMAN & BETRAYED HIS COUNTRY.

  J.B DANQUAH WAS A CIA AGENT, NO DOUBT ABOUT THAT. HE SOLD HIS CONSCIENCE TO THE WHITEMAN & BETRAYED HIS COUNTRY.

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• MINOR CASE 10 years ago

  Nkrumah was a KGB agent.

  Nkrumah was a KGB agent.

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• Biko 10 years ago

  "Kufour is one of the greatest and astute leaders we have ever had in Ghana." What an exaggeration ! Built bridges where? Just because be buried Fathia beside Nkrumah? So Ghana got developed thereafter? You contaminated what ...
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  "Kufour is one of the greatest and astute leaders we have ever had in Ghana." What an exaggeration ! Built bridges where? Just because be buried Fathia beside Nkrumah? So Ghana got developed thereafter? You contaminated what I thought was a very good account. I don't know what to believe anymore. You crucified Nana Okutwer Bekoe yet willfully omitted Kuffuor's corrupt practices including the famous 'Hotel de Waawaa'. I know too many people who fell into the river for the bridge that NEVER was. Please give us a break.

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• ILLITERATE APONKYI SARPONG 10 years ago

  I think the author of this article is a bit timid as he got most of the things wrong.
  
  Center for Civic Education was inaugurated by Ankrah NOT Busia. Ankrah made Busia the first chairman but this author is too timid to hav ...
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  I think the author of this article is a bit timid as he got most of the things wrong.
  
  Center for Civic Education was inaugurated by Ankrah NOT Busia. Ankrah made Busia the first chairman but this author is too timid to have gotten it wrong.
  
  And 'kuffuor is great'? 'For the where'?

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• Sam 10 years ago

  Hi Biko
  Do not talk about hotel de Waawa. Look, your Rawlings and his ahantan wife Konadu a wantumi anye man stole Ghana money to establish a diamond jewerely outlet in Europe,ask them what happened to the diamond outlet in ...
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  Hi Biko
  Do not talk about hotel de Waawa. Look, your Rawlings and his ahantan wife Konadu a wantumi anye man stole Ghana money to establish a diamond jewerely outlet in Europe,ask them what happened to the diamond outlet in Europe. The Hotel de Waawa is in Ghana, the owner whether Kufour or his son will pay tax on the hotel yearly to the Ghanaian government. What about the Rawlings jewerly outlet??? What bebefit does Ghana get from that??????? To the Swidish government or into ATONKO MU???? Judge for yourself. It is like doing the mmeda me ase game with a woman who has a husband, when a child come out of it, the emedamase man cannot claim the child as his, dig??????? The writer uses the phrase to build bridge as a metaphour. It is not like the visible Adomi bridge which one can see. But in this contest it means that bring people together rather than Rawlings who used the firing squad to flex his muscle. Like Rawlings who was and still is the racist president who publicly say that this is the Akanfo party and mine is the ayigbefo nye bro party. Let me tell you what Rawlings has done to the political landmark of Ghana. He has divided the political arena of Ghana into the Northerners plus the ayigbe, the Koo fantis, the brongs and the gas on one side for the NDC against the Akans made up of the Ashantis, Ashanti Akim, the Kwahus and the other Akan speaking tribes. Rawlings has polished the Adeka agbo, manya matele life into the Ghana poltics and lies which is the weapon for the NDC government. Remember that everything that has a begining has an end, one day one day Rawlings will come face to face with God our maker and that is where he will confess the evil he has done to Ghanaians. He will lament even more than what he did to the Acheampongs, the Akufos and the Afrifas. To end my little note I want to tell you that to build bridges means to amend, to bring people together, not a tit for tat attitude like JJ Rawlings was. For your homework try to find how Kufour bridged people together, have you learn something now????????????????

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• Biko 10 years ago

  Sam, I only commented on what was presented in the write-up. I hold no brief for the Rawlingses who were not praised. I also made no comparison with the Rawlingses. Thanks anyway for admitting that 'Hotel De Waawaa' was a fra ...
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  Sam, I only commented on what was presented in the write-up. I hold no brief for the Rawlingses who were not praised. I also made no comparison with the Rawlingses. Thanks anyway for admitting that 'Hotel De Waawaa' was a fraud; tax or no tax. Your 'grammar' was something! I wonder if I understood all you wanted to convey. Some fundamental English lesson would do you good otherwise you would have noticed that the 'river' in my submission was also a metaphor. Poor you soul. I can excuse your standard of English.

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• ????? 10 years ago

  Your comment show's how you hate the man Kufuor but you can never match up his success, whether hotel the wawa or the papa he has served his beloved country well.You can have sleepless nights about him who care's you stressin ...
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  Your comment show's how you hate the man Kufuor but you can never match up his success, whether hotel the wawa or the papa he has served his beloved country well.You can have sleepless nights about him who care's you stressing your mind and body.

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• kweku abraham . london 10 years ago

  Thank you very much for this rich history .

  Thank you very much for this rich history .

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• kusi 10 years ago

  foolish idiot don't con us with what u don't know much stupid man

  foolish idiot don't con us with what u don't know much stupid man

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• Joni 10 years ago

  Danquah and Busia didn't call themselves Matemeho. That term was a derogatory one given to them by their opponents. You should make that clear and not pass it off as their historically correct name.
  
  The CMB scholarship was ...
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  Danquah and Busia didn't call themselves Matemeho. That term was a derogatory one given to them by their opponents. You should make that clear and not pass it off as their historically correct name.
  
  The CMB scholarship was really meant for the children of poor cocoa farmers. But Ghana being what it is, some rich people who had never entered a cocoa farm before had it for their children.
  
  It wasn't Nkrumah who gave the name "Verandah Boys". There is a history behind how they came to be known like that. Your readers would be interested in knowing.
  
  "...thus creating massive reserves of skilled manpower in Ghana." Nkrumah didn't create massive reserves of skilled manpower. His education programme was meant to produce lots of skilled manpower. He started from a very low base and by the time he was overthrown, there was no massive reserve of skilled manpower in Ghana. It had not yet come up to that.
  
  Did Nkrumah give £10G million to Mali also? The 10 million to Guinea was necessitated by the French withdrawal in anger in 1958, carrying away everything from that country with the aim of making the country suffer. Nkrumah extended a helping hand. Mali's independence in 1960 was not under the same circumstances. Perhaps Nkrumah gave money to Mali too but not the same way as the Guinea one. Anyway, the money to Guinea was a loan, not a gift.
  
  Was Nyerere in the Casablanca group? Yes, he was a radical but he had his reservations about certain of Nkrumah's ways. Anyway, he was one of the African leaders who held out longest against the 1966 coup and refused to recognise the military regime.
  
  It was famously called Job600 because it was Job number 600 of a certain construction company???
  
  Busia did not support apartheid in South Africa. That is not correct. He favoured a policy of dialogue to change the apartheid regime. That is not the same thing as supporting the white regime and the policy of apartheid.
  
  You give the impression that Busia "caused" the price of cocoa to fall to rock bottom. That is not correct. The price fall was not due to Busia's actions or inactions.
  
  Please note: the 1972 coup was NOT staged by Acheampong. It was planned and executed by some middle-level officers led by Major Baah with some junior Ewe officers in active ground command. Acheampong was only brought in as head because he was the senior-most officer thought sympathetic to the cause of the coup. He did not plan it and was even kept in the dark!
  
  Did you say Rawlings stepped down for Kufuor in 2000 after losing the general elections? No. That is wrong. Rawlings did not stand since he had ended his maximum two-term stint.
  
  Conor Cruise O'Brien was briefly VC of University of Ghana, Legon but left after differences with the Nkrumah government. He was not VC of Cape Coast University. O'Brien, the Irish diplomat and academic, passed away at his home in Dublin in 2008, aged 91.
  
  On the whole, Busia was in power for too short a time (27 months) for any meaningful assessment of his policies. Such an effort will always be a difficult one.

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• Paa Kwesi Mintah 10 years ago

  Joni,
  
  Thanks for correcting my wayward cousin, whose long articles are mostly filled with half truths.
  
  I read his article late and was too tired to correct him. Well done for the corrections.
  
  Drink one up on me.

  Joni,
  
  Thanks for correcting my wayward cousin, whose long articles are mostly filled with half truths.
  
  I read his article late and was too tired to correct him. Well done for the corrections.
  
  Drink one up on me.

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• Kwame Asante 10 years ago

  Joni, thanks so much for your correction to this useless historical revision. A lot of people try to write and twist truths to suit their whims and caprices. Korlebu hospital was not established by Kwame Nkrumah. Governor Gor ...
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  Joni, thanks so much for your correction to this useless historical revision. A lot of people try to write and twist truths to suit their whims and caprices. Korlebu hospital was not established by Kwame Nkrumah. Governor Gordon Guggisberg established notable landmarks such as the Korlebu hospital, the railway system, U.G. Takoradi harbour and laid the foundation for the construction of Kumasi hospital(GEE). What the Ghanaians forget to know is that our present economic and political upheavals were created by Kwame Nkrumah. He was myopic and laid a poor foundation for the country.

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• C.Y. ANDY-K 10 years ago

  Thanks for your additions and corrections. I was going to mention some of the things you mentioned in my own rejoinder above but gave up in order to concentrate on what puts bread on my table.
  
  Andy-K

  Thanks for your additions and corrections. I was going to mention some of the things you mentioned in my own rejoinder above but gave up in order to concentrate on what puts bread on my table.
  
  Andy-K

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• Y.S. 10 years ago

  Egya Attah, Thanks for your interesting treatise Nkrumah Traditions Part 2. Unfortunately I have also noticed one or two minor impressions that I need to bring to your attention:
  Prempeh I, was exiled to Seychelles durin ...
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  Egya Attah, Thanks for your interesting treatise Nkrumah Traditions Part 2. Unfortunately I have also noticed one or two minor impressions that I need to bring to your attention:
  Prempeh I, was exiled to Seychelles during the Yaa Asantewa War of 1896 to 1901. Nana Sir Agyemang Prempeh II, was the Asantehene from 1935 to 1970, during the time Nkrumah was the President.
  The contractors that built the Kumasi Hospital were Cecil, Gee & Slater. The people of Kumasi shortened the name to Gee which you mentioned.
  Thanks.

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• Kobena 10 years ago

  That was A Lang's 600th Job!
  
  No governmnet before or after has ever come anywhere close to Busia's Rural Development Programme. It eradicated guinea worm, yaws and cholera from the countryside. If he had been allowed anot ...
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  That was A Lang's 600th Job!
  
  No governmnet before or after has ever come anywhere close to Busia's Rural Development Programme. It eradicated guinea worm, yaws and cholera from the countryside. If he had been allowed another 27 months, the gutters and beaches of Accra wouldn't be toilets today!

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• AJ-USA 10 years ago

  mr writer,give us a break.we are tired of past event been revisit.even a six years old boy in Ghana as at now knows there is something wrong with our dear nation.yet we always wants to tell the ppl the problems rather then ta ...
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  mr writer,give us a break.we are tired of past event been revisit.even a six years old boy in Ghana as at now knows there is something wrong with our dear nation.yet we always wants to tell the ppl the problems rather then talking about the solutions.there is no centralize nation in any western world,even as small as holland they all practise federation rather then cheap central govt.,

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• Pelicles 10 years ago

  Ghana is like an open wound. She needs a medicine that will help heal her wound. These old news or whatever, is dead. Just imagine how taxes have been raised. Workers have not been paid. Our roads are crumbling. Hospitals a ...
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  Ghana is like an open wound. She needs a medicine that will help heal her wound. These old news or whatever, is dead. Just imagine how taxes have been raised. Workers have not been paid. Our roads are crumbling. Hospitals are without medicine and the best we can is to come out with these dead old history?
  
  Let's come with solutions to our current predicament because UP/NPP this, NDC that or whatever, is not helping.
  
  Ghana is bleeding to death and the onus rest right on our head.

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• Concern Ghanabi 10 years ago

  Say that again.

  Say that again.

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• MINOR CASE 10 years ago

  Say it again bro. We have lots of the living but dead people in our midst .

  Say it again bro. We have lots of the living but dead people in our midst .

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• Ghanaba Babs in the Diaspora 10 years ago

  Danquah canvassed for the then Ashanti Colony and Northern Territories to join the Gold Coast Colony to form the Ghana we know today
  
  Danquah joined the National Liberation Movement (MLM), which became known as Matemeho or ...
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  Danquah canvassed for the then Ashanti Colony and Northern Territories to join the Gold Coast Colony to form the Ghana we know today
  
  Danquah joined the National Liberation Movement (MLM), which became known as Matemeho or Dombo Party, with people like R.R. Amponsah, Baffour Akoto, Joe Appiah, and S.D. Dombo in that political stable. They were for federalist and separatist form of government, whilst Nkrumah's CPP was for a unitary form of government for Ghana.
  
  How do we marry these two statements picked from your article. Stop re-writing history when we all blatantly know who the seperatist were . Danquah was a neo-colonialist with imperialist inclination. Period. Its a palpable lie that he researched and influenced the re-naming of Gold Coast Ghana.
  
  Rubbish article devoid of accurate facts.

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• Kobena 10 years ago

  Your knowledge of the history of Ghana is pathetic!
  
  Oh so neo-colonialists and imperialist stooges are just the ones who are influenced by the west uh? What do you call the ones the Russians made asses of?

  Your knowledge of the history of Ghana is pathetic!
  
  Oh so neo-colonialists and imperialist stooges are just the ones who are influenced by the west uh? What do you call the ones the Russians made asses of?

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• Ghanaba Babs in the Diaspora 10 years ago

  I reserve my right of silence Kobena. No need to argue further. I have made my point clear about the poor deductive reasoning underpinning the writer's logic. Nkrumah's legacy particularly in Education is unparalled . State i ...
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  I reserve my right of silence Kobena. No need to argue further. I have made my point clear about the poor deductive reasoning underpinning the writer's logic. Nkrumah's legacy particularly in Education is unparalled . State involvement in manufacturing and agriculture to assume the centre stage of our economic growth considering the lack of individual enterpreneurs to do it alone at independence is not a crime.
  
  It was a smart move that was adopted by Nkrumah that resulted in the name calling (communists)by your neo-colonialists forebears. You make call Nkrumah licking Russian asses using this model but as at that time, that was the best tailor made choice available to suit our development.
  
  Keep an inquiry mind when reading the history that you allude to have read and well versed in.

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• JAMES Y 10 years ago

  There are few omissions about projects Nkrumah established, but the important ones need mentioning in this comments are the Tema harbour and township.

  There are few omissions about projects Nkrumah established, but the important ones need mentioning in this comments are the Tema harbour and township.

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• Nusex A 10 years ago

  LUCKILY GHANAIANS CAN READ AND WRITE, MORE ESPECIALLY, ANALYSE POSITIVELY. I STILL INSIST THAT THERE IS LEGACY FROM THE DANQUAH - BUSIA REGIME. PLEASE DO NOT ATTEMPT TO CONFUSE YOURSELF. NKRUMAH'S LEGACY DISTINCT. DANQUA ...
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  LUCKILY GHANAIANS CAN READ AND WRITE, MORE ESPECIALLY, ANALYSE POSITIVELY. I STILL INSIST THAT THERE IS LEGACY FROM THE DANQUAH - BUSIA REGIME. PLEASE DO NOT ATTEMPT TO CONFUSE YOURSELF. NKRUMAH'S LEGACY DISTINCT. DANQUAH BUSIA DO NOT HAVE ANYTHING TO TALK ABOUT.

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