NPP Chairman Supports Coup D’etat

One of the many fallouts of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) congress over the weekend was the party chairman’s justification of the 1966 coup d’etat that ended the reign of Ghana’s First President. Dr Kwame Nkrumah. Supporters of the Nkrumahists tradition have reacted with shock to Mr Esseku’s comments and position on the matter.

The NPP Chairman told cheering party delegates and activists that the overthrow of Nkrumah who broke away from the UGCC, formed by the likes of J. B. Danquah was justifiable in all respects.

Discussions and assessment of the political implications of Haruna Esseku’s statement has been lost on many because of the euphoria, anger and political tension created by President Kufuor’s first major attack on former President Jerry Rawlings.

A JOY FM news report says Mr Esseku’s statement though not surprising stunned even some leading members of the party who would have preferred that it remained a matter to be talked about privately. In his long recap of the country’s political history, Mr Esseku in a sharp contrast to his party’s acclaimed utter aversion to coup d’etats, indicated his support for the 1966 revolt. Mr Esseku’s position is not strange.

The 1996 coup was welcomed by many, even by some CPP government appointees because of the resort to constitutional dictatorship and a one party state. Understandably, some leading members of the Nkrumahists fraternity have condemned the NPP old man for his comments, justaposed against the party’s oft-stated position on coups. Some political analysts have indicated that Dr Abrefa Busia benefited a lot from the overthrow of the Nkrumah regime.

Mr Haruna Esseku’s public pronouncement and justification of Nkrumah’s overthrow brings into question, the position of the NPP on coups, in the wake of its condemnation of only the revolts of Jerry John Rawlings.