I love this. Thank you for an intelligent post. Keep it coming. Nkrumah was hated by the same people who hated Mandela, Biko, Malcolm X and Matin Luther King jr.
I love this. Thank you for an intelligent post. Keep it coming. Nkrumah was hated by the same people who hated Mandela, Biko, Malcolm X and Matin Luther King jr.
YAW 8 years ago
Hi Francis,do you remember the book I recommended for you? [lawless world]. I just found out the author is one of the Lawyers fighting for Ghana in their maritime dispute with Ivory Coast.I wish him well.Btw,he is P Sands.
Hi Francis,do you remember the book I recommended for you? [lawless world]. I just found out the author is one of the Lawyers fighting for Ghana in their maritime dispute with Ivory Coast.I wish him well.Btw,he is P Sands.
francis kwarteng 8 years ago
Dear Brother YAW,
Yes I recall your recommending two books for me.
Wow! This is very interesting. This world is a small place, you know!
I have not got the books yet but hope to in the near future. I will definitely ... read full comment
Dear Brother YAW,
Yes I recall your recommending two books for me.
Wow! This is very interesting. This world is a small place, you know!
I have not got the books yet but hope to in the near future. I will definitely check P Sands out.
Thanks for the reminder.
Have a great week, my good brother!
cojo opoku 8 years ago
Please enough of Nkrumah. The man's party is irrelevant in the politics of today and that makes this a silly discussion of pedantic academic folly.
Please enough of Nkrumah. The man's party is irrelevant in the politics of today and that makes this a silly discussion of pedantic academic folly.
Tomm 8 years ago
This idiot Kwarteng has nothing going on in his life. He is married to Nkrumah ghost.
This idiot Kwarteng has nothing going on in his life. He is married to Nkrumah ghost.
PROPHET OF TRUTH 8 years ago
THEY HATE ANY LEADER WHO LOVED AFRICA.
THEY HATE ANY LEADER WHO LOVED AFRICA.
francis kwarteng 8 years ago
Dear Cojo Opoku,
It is not enough yet as long as the world exists.
Who in his/her right mind will say he/she is tired of Nkrumah and his innovative ideas?
Anyway what I am doing is not explicitly about the 'person" ... read full comment
Dear Cojo Opoku,
It is not enough yet as long as the world exists.
Who in his/her right mind will say he/she is tired of Nkrumah and his innovative ideas?
Anyway what I am doing is not explicitly about the 'person" of Nkrumah; it is about his creative ideas. It is also not explicity about party politics; it is about Ghana and Africa.
What am I saying? I am not used to encouraging people to think in partisan political terms because doing so constricts their horizons. I want to see the bigger picture, not the particularism of the thieving safari, ethnic politics or ethnocracy, ignorance, elitism, and arrogance which our practitioners of party politics have introduced into the systems...
Lastly, you will do you self a big favor if you can tell Indians to stop talking about GANDHI and NEHRU; Americans about GEORGE WASHINGTON and THOMAS JEFFERSON; South Africans about NELSON MANDELA; Tanzanians about JULIUS NYERERE; Chinese about MAO TSE-TUNG; Namibians about SAM NUJOMA; Kenyans about JOMO KENYATTA; Ivorians about FELIX HOUGOUET-BOIGNY; Senegalese about LEOPOLD SENGHOR; Singaporeans about LEE KUAN YEW...
Do that and come back to me! I MAY THEN CONSIDER YOUR DEAD-ON-ARRIVAL PROPOSAL!
Have a great weekend!
United Ghana 8 years ago
I disagree. The CPP's political fortunes may be low, but the philosophical ideas of Nkrumah are even more pertinent today throughout the whole of Africa. It explains the plight of Africa - economic, social, religious and all
I disagree. The CPP's political fortunes may be low, but the philosophical ideas of Nkrumah are even more pertinent today throughout the whole of Africa. It explains the plight of Africa - economic, social, religious and all
TEE 8 years ago
NKRUMAH NEVER DIES PERIOD
NKRUMAH NEVER DIES PERIOD
Dr. SAS, Attorney at Law 8 years ago
Nkrumaism is the suspension of one’s analytical reasoning for the cultic worship of Kwame Nkrumah in the belief that he never dies or does no wrong. It is also the wholesale inheritance of Nkrumah’s friends (if any) as he ... read full comment
Nkrumaism is the suspension of one’s analytical reasoning for the cultic worship of Kwame Nkrumah in the belief that he never dies or does no wrong. It is also the wholesale inheritance of Nkrumah’s friends (if any) as heroes and the constant criticism of his real or imaginary enemies.
Within this ideology, the elements of Nkrumah’s dictatorship: his imprisonment without trial, his self -aggrandizement, his one-party state and his life presidency all constitute a catechism of faith which must be defended on the fake grounds of opposition treason and passionately extolled by reference to similar evils elsewhere. His disastrous economic policies which left a rich nation on its knees is seen as a great model, and his character as an ingrate is deemed worthy for emulation.
To the Nkrumaists, unanswerable questions are made simpler by postures of diversion and deviation or simple distraction and unspeakable insults. And the most straightforward questions are resolved by the statement that Osagyefo Dr. J.B. Danquah was a CIA agent, or that Nkrumah was voted Africa’s man of the millennium; or that some persons somewhere praised him somehow, or that all those against Nkrumah are of treasonous “Mate Me Ho” group and their followers……….
No doubt, Nkrumah is the poison ivy of the African leadership conundrum, and even its educational failures. Having been extensively trained in the USA and in the UK, he returned to Africa without any intention to replicate the best in those western civilizations, but rather to exploit the existing leadership culture of tyranny for the purpose of his own perpetual self-aggrandizement. Thus he appropriated for himself the title of the Osagyefo hitherto reserved for chieftains, and conferred upon himself the permanency of traditional rule while abjuring its concomitant accountability. He also had a crier sing his appellations and describe his feats in super-human terms at functions. He abolished free speech and hence suppressed criticism of his flaws and instituted for himself some kind of one party state within which dissent became anathema in Ghana’s political context. Meanwhile, he broached no competition from these traditional rulers, once threatening that he would make them run, leaving their sandals behind.
As the poison ivy of the African leadership template, Nkrumah single-handedly caused the coup detats in Africa that introduced the likes of Iddi Amin, Emperor Bokasa, Siad Barre, Yayah Jammeh and Eyademah……… to politics in Africa. His greatest minion is Mugabe of Zimbabwe who is playing by Nkrumah's book of political chicanery. As a pioneer in the African leadership experiment, Nkrumah led in the abolition of the basic freedoms of the citizenry and trampled on their independence. He abolished the pluralistic democratic dispensation, the habeas corpus, freedom of the press, freedom of creative entertainment, the freedom of association and the freedom of the franchise, destroying the pride and dignity of the people to have a choice in their leadership. He is indeed the first to impose the trauma of fear and inferiority on the masses of the people.....
Under these severe indictments, what do people mean by the scientific ideas of Nkrumah? What science is found in emplacing one's effigy on the common currency and splashing one's images and statues on the streets? What is the science in imprisonment without trial, or declaration of life presidency or the imposition of a one party state? And when people speak of Nkrumaism as the embodiment of Nkrumah's ideas, exactly what do they mean? What are these ideas? Is it his attempt to impose the template of his leadership under a United Africa; or his disastrous economic policy that led a rich country bankrupt; or his waywardness in neglecting the affairs of state in pursuit of some unfathomable international prestige?
Now all of a sudden, the death of Kuan Yew has provided the Nkrumaists with an imaginary hero by which to measure Nkrumah's misbehavior. To the Nkrumaists, that is their version of scientific thinking, that they will narrowly strike a similarity in Yew and Nkrumah' s dictatorship, gleaning the former's success and imputing it as a certain possibility under Nkrumah. This is what scientific reasoning is like under the Nkrumaists.
Now I dare say that if Nkrumah lived today, he would have shown remorse for his evil deeds and converted, like Buhari, to a true democrat to shame his ardent followers.
But this reality will not dawn on the Nkrumaists whose idea of progress is shriveled in the daily praise of a dead and gone dictator. And this type of ardent incapacity to hear no wrong, see no wrong and say nothing wrong about Nkrumah lies at the corner of their own unscientific thinking. They cannot even put a working definition of a dictator and find that Nkrumah perfectly fits in. What else can they do?
And that is why I say that if all that Nkrumah did was to be a brutal dictator, our citizens would have lived past it by this time. But Nkrumah went beyond his dictatorship to destroy the impressionable minds of the people to accept tyranny as liberty, and fallacy as gospel truth, and long after his death, our most educated citizens have their minds obnubilated by his fiction, and the truth is not something they can speak due to their paucity of reasoning. That is why the future of the country is bleak. With the Nkrumaists, there can never be any rebirth of knowledge!
But our hope is now widespread insofar as the notions perpetuated by Nkrumah have been effectively abolished. Nigeria has taken the lead in showing us the glowing beauty of the democratic dispensation, and Ghana is also an example in true freedom and justice. In the coming years, Africa's respect in the world will be quantified by how closely the continent follows the democratic footprints of Osagyefo Dr. J. B. Danquah, and how far it shuns the evil ideology of Nkrumah. And within the context of the new dispensation, anachronistic rant like that spewed here by these ardent Nkrumaists will surely find its way to the dung heap of history, to be cited as a true example of the morbid reasoning and incoherent ideation of the psychotic Nkrumaists.
And Nkrumaist followers, his agents, assigns, ideologues, praise singers, young pioneers and action troopers will be condemned to the darkest catacombs of political Erebus, from whence their ideological screeching will become akin to the whimpering of a dying dog.
And when all these come to pass, sensible men will find better pastime for their talents, instead of spewing what is evolving here to be a trash heap the size of Mount Everest.
Kwame Bediako 8 years ago
What do you expect from a subjective and biased quasi-intellectual called DR SAS?
What do you expect from a subjective and biased quasi-intellectual called DR SAS?
Kojo T 8 years ago
Dr SAS is a poor specimen of an intellectual RIP
Dr SAS is a poor specimen of an intellectual RIP
YAW 8 years ago
Sarfo"s dreadful one-sided article is not only repulsive,it is baseless,narrow,crude and perfectly designed/written to repel thinking and decent people.I don"t have to worship Nkrumah to appreciate his immense contribution to ... read full comment
Sarfo"s dreadful one-sided article is not only repulsive,it is baseless,narrow,crude and perfectly designed/written to repel thinking and decent people.I don"t have to worship Nkrumah to appreciate his immense contribution towards Ghana and Africa.
Prof Lungu 8 years ago
Dr. SAS, Attorney at Law,
Among all esayists on Ghanaweb, you, Dr. SAS, Attorney at Law, have used them most expletives, and hurled the most insults at essayists, and non-essayists.
Your attempt at projection does not wa ... read full comment
Dr. SAS, Attorney at Law,
Among all esayists on Ghanaweb, you, Dr. SAS, Attorney at Law, have used them most expletives, and hurled the most insults at essayists, and non-essayists.
Your attempt at projection does not wash!
Reflect on your record(s), Dr. SAS, Attorney at Law, and come again!
Interesting. You've found a new love affair for Buhari's words, and his "conversion". Maybe you are thinking his kind of fortune will also befall on your NPP. Maybe you will be lucky!
But first, Akuffo Addo must settle his account with respect to the vehicles - settle his "spoils" benefit, so to speak.
More important, it is precisely Nkrumah who thus far, has saved Ghana from a Nigerian-type civil war, and the sorry mess of the Boko Haram in Nigeria's north, through the Unitary vision, versus a infantile Confederate-Federal proposals of the Danquah-Busia cohorts. We can imagine there is a mighty big difference between a Visionary and self-centered intellectual dwarfs.
Nkrumah was a Visionary and GHana and Africa's "Africa’s Man of the Millennium" has now soured in your mouths, wishing you could retract everything good you and your Danquah cohorts ever said about Nkrumah.
Nice try on all those front!
Prof Lungu 8 years ago
Dr. SAS, Attorney at Law,
Among all esayists on Ghanaweb, you, Dr. SAS, Attorney at Law, have used most expletives, and hurled the most insults at essayists, and non-essayists....
Dr. SAS, Attorney at Law,
Among all esayists on Ghanaweb, you, Dr. SAS, Attorney at Law, have used most expletives, and hurled the most insults at essayists, and non-essayists....
adumtumi nyansfuo 8 years ago
Preach brother preach
Preach brother preach
Just Think 8 years ago
If your father by then call himself "Mate Menwo" then whom are you blaming for the so call one party system. Go to hell he is still the best president Ghana has ever had as well as the Africa continent.
If your father by then call himself "Mate Menwo" then whom are you blaming for the so call one party system. Go to hell he is still the best president Ghana has ever had as well as the Africa continent.
adumtumi nyansfuo 8 years ago
Nkrumah did nothing credible worthy for Ghana's economy. That is why Ghana is in an economic crisis today. You need to think. I do not have time anymore with stupid Ghanaian shenanigans.
Nkrumah did nothing credible worthy for Ghana's economy. That is why Ghana is in an economic crisis today. You need to think. I do not have time anymore with stupid Ghanaian shenanigans.
Prof Lungu 8 years ago
THE ESSENCE OF "THAT" ONE PARTY STATE EXPLAINED:
READ: "...For another, Nkrumah extended invitations to Busia, J.A. Braimah, and others in the Opposition to join his government since many of them [leading members of the O ... read full comment
THE ESSENCE OF "THAT" ONE PARTY STATE EXPLAINED:
READ: "...For another, Nkrumah extended invitations to Busia, J.A. Braimah, and others in the Opposition to join his government since many of them [leading members of the Opposition] had been rejected by the masses one way or the other. Busia rejected the invitation. This Nkrumah did in furtherance of his belief in the moral power of inclusive politics, a major characteristic of Nkrumahism.
OUR COMMENT: Vision and foresight! Realizing that the CPP did not have the requisite number of professionals to manage the affairs of government in a competent manner, Nkrumah sought to be inclusive, the Opposition have been totally vanquished in one election after another!
So today, as Mr. Mahama sits in his people-funded official residence in Accra, he knows very well a number of the NDC functionaries he has appointed to important positions in government are incompetent, corrupt, or both.
But, we know Mr. Mahama has a Congressman John Boehner problem. In his mind, he must govern with 100% NDC functionaries, even if more than 50% of them are corrupt, incompetent, or both.
Nkrumah foresaw this "luxury" of wayward democracy.
So little time!
THEN THIS: "...Thus far, we have also emphasized time and again that science, economics, and mathematics cannot model every aspect of human nature or behavior (see Friedrich A. Hayek’s 1974...Hayek’s aggregate observations made...in 1974 still holds true today..(notwithstanding)...the advances chalked up in the fields of science and mathematical modeling...", including "chaos" theory"
OUR COMMENT: We will observe here that the limits of science and math as permanent useful tools in the management of human affairs was recognized by planning theorists a year earlier, in 1973, in "Dilemmas in a General Theory of Planning", by RITTEL and WEBBER, in their concept of "wicked problems" in pluralistic societies.
The idea is, whilst science is useful and necessary for governance, there is an important role for the practice of "art" - inter-personal relationships, communication, and capacity for alliances, what Francis Kwarteng now identifies a "political economy and statecraft".
As a resut, we can posit that between nations, "PSYCHOLOGICAL WARFARE" uses a blend of all those resources to achieve results in a national interest. Many times, "Zero-Sum" is the ultimate end where one "party" takes all the benefits, or the other reaps all ills/sickness.
With Nkrumah's overthrow, Ghana lost that Zero-Sum hyper-game, and ended up with even less than ZERO, in 1964.
THEN THIS: "... Regrettably, such works and others like them only provide limited diagnostic description of what Ali Mazrui referred to as the “African Condition” without so much as exploring the scientific depths of problems, the human condition so to speak, including such inquests as cause and effect, nature and environment, environmental psychology, and so on..."
OUR COMMENT: What HAYEK and RITTEL and WEBBER have been telling us since the mid-1970s is that Mazrui's so-called "African Condition" is an invalid construct to apply singularly to Africa. It is "foreign" to Africa/Ghana. It does not fit into any Nkumahist construct, as far as we can tell. In that sense, we hope to see more critiques of that particular construct, beginning with who it serves most, psychologically, politically, economically, internationally, etc.
Seen!
francis kwarteng 8 years ago
Dear Prof. Lungu,
Thanks for your informed critique.
Your take on Ali Mazrui's diagnostic label "the African Condition" is on point.
However, several scholars have offered similar critique of the concept. I have (d ... read full comment
Dear Prof. Lungu,
Thanks for your informed critique.
Your take on Ali Mazrui's diagnostic label "the African Condition" is on point.
However, several scholars have offered similar critique of the concept. I have (directly and indirectly) similarly done similarly previously.
That said, Mazrui's "African Condition" resulted from his 1979 Reith Lectures when he was still intoxicated by the dilemma of Eurocentric constructs. But his opinions changed with age, travel, and extensive reading.
Mazrui realized Nkrumah was right all along (he respectfully always referred to Nkrumah as "the Founding Father of Ghana"). Until his passing Mazrui championed the "African Union" Nkrumah championed, including such concomittant political economy variables such as the African High Command, etc.
Prof. Horace Campbell, one of Mazrui's closest friends (Mazrui's family and Campbell's family regularly visited each other's homes and spent some time together), has written extensively on this questions.
For instance, he was one of Nkrumah's fiercest critiques but later in his life he beecame of the stuanchest defenders of Nkrumah (I have addressed this question in one of my previous essays). That said, my reservation with that concept explains why I put it in quotes.
Yet I still want readers who have not read that presentation ("the African Condition") to read it. There is so much he says in that piece which are still relevant today, in spite of its "racist" undertone. I use "racist" for lack of a better expression as well as for analytic convenience.
Nevertheless, a closer reading of Mazrui's 1979 Reith Lecture echoes most of the things Nkrumah talked about (in his books and speeches) and tried to use his scientific thinking to resolve.
In other words, there are glaring correspondences between Mazrui's analysis in his "the African Condition" thesis and the core reasons Nkrumah used to justify Africa's self-determination, etc.
Remember, that Mazrui was a student of African history and politics and on that account, spent time devouring the works of Nkrumah and other African nationalists. However, Nkrumah's influence on his [Mazrui's] intellectual growth will manifest itself later in life when he went around the world defending Nkrumah's core ideas on African development (critics of Mazrui and Nkrumah need to take this spatial relationship between the two men as they evaluate their works and legacies). You may want to take another look at Mazrui's lecture again! This provides another reason why I keep bringing it up.
Finally, limitations of science and mathemtics in modeling human behavior, or planning in general, goes further back than 1973 and 1974. Philosphers and mathematicians like Bertrand Russel, Chandra Kant Raju, and Henri Poincare, to mention but three, realized this.
The acknowldgement of the limitations of science and mathematics goes all the way back to human history. But that is not the point of my little thesis here. Eugene Wigner's 1960 paper "THE UNREASONABLE EFFECTIVENESS OF MATHEMATICS IN THE NATURAL SCIENCES" (see Volume 13, Number 1 of Communications in Pure and Applied) speaks to the same issues!
Also Rapaport's 1959 paper "USES AND LIMITATIONS OF MATHEMATICAL MODELS IN SOCIAL SCIENCE" offers similar critiques of mathematics. In fact there are other technical papers that even goes further back than 1959 (for instance, see John Kennedy's 1952 paper "THE USES AND LIMITATIONS OF MATHEMATICAL MODELS, GAME THEORY AND SYSTEMS ANALYSIS IN PLANNING AND PROPBLEM SOLUTION). I can go on and on...
However, I used Hayek's Nobel Lecture because it simple to read (without mathematical computations, etc) and because he addressed the limitations of mathematics and science in a more geeral or inclusive sense, from human behavior, economics, the natural sciences, etc.
Thanks.
Prof Lungu 8 years ago
Thanks!
Theoretically, we are more from the social science/planning perspective. No so much into the mathematics, history, natural science aspects.
But we are glad you mention Rapaport's 1959 paper, which we had forgott ... read full comment
Thanks!
Theoretically, we are more from the social science/planning perspective. No so much into the mathematics, history, natural science aspects.
But we are glad you mention Rapaport's 1959 paper, which we had forgotten about.
All well noted!
Greetings!!!!!!!!!1
francis kwarteng 8 years ago
Dear Readers,
The following piece "Dead Tyrant" by Riccardo Orizio is about Jean-Bedel Bokassa appeared in the UK-based literary magazine, Granta.
Take note of the relationship among the French leadership, Bokassa, and ... read full comment
Dear Readers,
The following piece "Dead Tyrant" by Riccardo Orizio is about Jean-Bedel Bokassa appeared in the UK-based literary magazine, Granta.
Take note of the relationship among the French leadership, Bokassa, and Felix Houghouet-Boigny! Read on:
But I succeeded, on a different occasion, with Jean-Bédel Bokassa. It was Bokassa, the former self-proclaimed emperor of the Central African Republic, who had set off my interest in the subject of fallen tyrants many years before when I read a report about him in the British Guardian. I still have the cutting in my wallet: FORMER EMPEROR GOES HOME AND PROCLAIMS HIS SAINTHOOD. On June 8, 1995 I sat in a large house on the outskirts of Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic. After some effort I had managed to secure an interview. The house we were in, the Villa Nasser—named for the Egyptian leader—had once been the residence of the Empress Catherine, Bokassa’s estranged wife. Now its courtyards were filled with weeds, its walls crumbling, but the small old man in front of me seemed oblivious to the ruin. Bokassa sat on a large white sofa. Behind him a white curtain was pulled across the window, shielding him from the blazing equatorial sun.
Leaning against a white wall at the far end of the room were the last relics of his empire: a gilded throne upholstered in red velvet, and a suit of armour. ‘See that?’ Bokassa asked me, pointing at the armour with his ivory-tipped cane, the same cane that he had used to beat Michael Goldsmith in 1977, after the English reporter had somehow upset him. With his so-called ‘canne de justice’ he had beaten Goldsmith until he bled, and then forced him to sign a document in which Goldsmith confessed, quite falsely, to being a South African spy.
‘See that?’ Bokassa asked again. I took my eyes from the cane to the armour. ‘It’s medieval. It comes from Spain. General Franco’s gift for my coronation. That day all the powerful people had to come to Bangui. For the first time they bowed to an African emperor. Oh yes,’ he added with a rapt expression on his face, ‘right here in Bangui. And each one had to bring me a magnificent present.’ He stopped and looked at me, his eyes shining like a boy’s on his birthday. I concentrated on taking notes. He seemed disappointed by my failure to share his delight, but he carried on anyway. ‘That day I ceased to be the one who always had to give presents— diamonds, ivory, women… The international leaders respected me because I was an emperor.’ He gestured at the suit of armour again, as if the ancient relic contained—besides a handful of African insects baked to a frazzle by the heat—proof of his imperial dignity.
In 1965, Jean-Bédel Bokassa led a military coup against David Dacko, the president of the Central African Republic. He seized control of the government; Dacko was thrown into prison. Having annulled the constitution, Bokassa made himself President, then President for Life in 1972, then Marshal of the Republic in 1974. In 1977 he decided to crown himself Emperor. His coronation was held on December 4, 1977, in the Palais des Sports Jean-Bédel Bokassa, next to Jean-Bédel Bokassa University, on Bokassa Avenue. (The Vatican had refused permission to use the cathedral.) But it had not gone quite as the former emperor remembered it. The absentees had been more notable than the attendees. Despite Bokassa’s claim, the coronation had not been the first where the ‘civilized world’ had bowed to an African emperor. At Haile Selassie’s coronation in 1930 the celebrations in Addis Ababa had lasted for three days. All the great powers had sent delegations or members of their royal families, despite the difficult journey. George V’s son, the Duke of Gloucester, travelled from London. Prince Eugenio di Savoia came from Rome. Moscow and Washington supplied senior diplomats.
The coronation of Bokassa the First was, by contrast, snubbed even by his fellow autocrats. General Franco stayed away. The Spanish suit of armour travelled alone, by ship. Emperor Hirohito of Japan and Shah Reza Pahlavi of Iran, the first to be invited, made their excuses. Of the 500 foreign dignitaries who did make the journey, the most prominent were a relative of the Prince of Liechtenstein, Count Emmanuel, and the Prime Minister of Mauritius, Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam. Even Bokassa’s old friends—Idi Amin of Uganda, Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire and Omar Bongo of Gabon—declined the invitation.
Many of the ‘magnificent presents’ later turned out to be worthless; only France’s gifts were truly substantial. I reminded Bokassa of the French government’s generosity to the country they had regarded in colonial days as their ‘poor relation’. They had supplied twenty-two million dollars for the coronation. The money had gone towards ceremonial dress for thousands of guests, a throne in the form of a Napoleonic eagle, a gilded imperial carriage with eight white Belgian-trained horses and a crown by the Parisian jeweller, Arthus Bertrand, studded with eighty-carat diamonds. A troop of mounted soldiers in brocade uniforms made especially for the occasion escorted the imperial carriage.
Bokassa also bought 24,000 bottles of Moët & Chandon and 4,000 bottles of Château Mouton-Rothschild and Château Lafite Rothschild. He had sixty Mercedes cars shipped from Germany to Cameroon and then flown 740 miles over the forest of Central Africa to Bangui. He commissioned a French composer to write music for the ceremony. He paid a German artist, Hans Linus, to paint two official portraits of himself.
Bokassa’s eyes lit up as he listened to me run through this catalogue of European luxuries that he had had flown into the heart of Africa, luxuries never before seen in Bangui, a town still permeated with the smoky smell of an African village, on the banks of a muddy river filled with hippos.
‘
All true,’ he said, ‘but is there anything wrong with that?’ It was the least the French could do, he said, to repay him for his services as a soldier who had once fought for France and for all the personal favours he had done for French politicians. ‘I am the son of a king. My coronation was organized to give dignity to my country in the eyes of the world. The Central African government did not incur the debt of a single franc for the coronation. I did what any other African king would have done. And if Mobutu and Idi Amin chose not to come, it was because they were jealous of my becoming emperor. Jealous of my idea.’
His eyelids drooped and for a moment I thought he had fallen asleep. A man in a tailcoat tiptoed across the big room towards us, treading warily on the rotten ceramic tiles and flinching whenever one wobbled and grated against its neighbour.
Bokassa opened his eyes at the sound. ‘My cabinet secretary,’ he explained, jabbing his cane in the man’s direction with less enthusiasm than he had jabbed it at the suit of armour. The courtier bowed his head.
Bokassa launched into a tirade against the French. Having spent a few hours in his company I knew this to be a favourite theme. He listed his grievances in a monotonous voice, like a lawyer reading a will whose contents are already known to the family of the deceased.
There was the volte-face of the once-loved adoptive country. He had fought for France in three continents, and what had France done for him in return? Robbed him of his castles, crown and reputation. His ‘dear cousin’ Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, the former French president, a keen hunter of elephants and women, had betrayed him by backing the coup that in 1979 had ended his reign. Then there was the infidelity of the Empress Catherine, who Bokassa claimed had slept with d’Estaing and—worse—shared some of the imperial treasure with him.
‘I fought for France in Indochina—oh yes, Indochina. I fought against the Nazis with the forces of the Free French. I sacrificed my youth to France, even though the French killed my father before my very eyes, right in front of M’Baiki’s police headquarters. My father was a chief who opposed the colonial occupation. My mother killed herself shortly afterwards, in desperation. I was six years old. And yet I fought for France for twenty-two years.’ He listed his honours: one Croix de Guerre, two Croix de la Résistance, the Légion d’Honneur, an officer’s pension. But now he hated the French. ‘If I still had those decorations I’d throw them in a dustbin.’
The cabinet secretary began to laugh in an official, practised kind of way. While Bokassa had been berating France, the cabinet secretary had positioned a china tray laden with medicines—small boxes and bottles, all labelled in French—in front of the former emperor, who pretended not to notice. But the cabinet secretary stood resolutely in front of us. Bokassa looked at the tray with disgust. ‘I’m very ill, it’s difficult for me to move now. I can stand up for two minutes, two seconds, that’s all. The French have tried to poison me on several occasions. They did poison me. They have poisoned me.’
The cabinet secretary nodded, and nudged the tray nearer to Bokassa. ‘But I survived. Not thanks to the medicines, but thanks to this.’ He suddenly picked up a heavy silver cross from the coffee table in front of him and waved it at me. It was about half a metre tall, a solid cross with an emaciated Christ in the centre. ‘Paul VI gave this to me when he secretly nominated me thirteenth apostle of Holy Mother Church.’
I looked up from my notebook. Perhaps I hadn’t understood properly. Now for the first time I began to appreciate the former emperor’s outfit. He was dressed in a white priestly robe that reached down to his flip-flops, with a crucifix hanging on a chain around his neck, not at all the Bokassa I remembered from photographs posing in his glorious ‘Marshal of the Republic’ uniform. (In one of these pictures, he was standing in his presidential office holding two enormous rough diamonds. He held them delicately between his thumb and forefinger as if they had just appeared from a drawer in the imperial desk.)
At first Bokassa didn’t respond to my glance. Another distraction had arrived. A small girl wearing a blue school uniform had run into the room and curled up beside him on the sofa. I assumed she was one of his many daughters—he addressed her as ‘Petite'; he had told me earlier that he found it difficult to remember all of their names.
Then, registering my scepticism on the apostolic question, he asked rather angrily if I didn’t believe him. The large cross, he said, had been given to him by the Pope during his visit to the Vatican on July 30,1970. ‘Shortly beforehand, he baptized me with a special ceremony in his private chapel. He asked if I was prepared to receive a great honour. I said I was and he celebrated the rite. My role in the Catholic Church has been a special, secret one ever since. When I was in power I acted as a mediator for the Vatican in various conflicts, such as that between Libya and Egypt. After my overthrow, the Vatican offered me political asylum. I refused. When I was in prison here in Central Africa, awaiting execution, and then when I was expecting to serve a life sentence, an Italian missionary, Brother Angelino, visited me. We became friends. He gave me a Bible. For seven years it was the only book I read and it made me realize that myt being sent to prison was an act of divine grace. Now that the life sentence has been quashed and I’m free, I’m also poor. I don’t possess anything, not a square metre of land nor a single diamond. I don’t want anything any more. My only possession is the title of apostle, like Peter and Paul.’
Another lapse into silence. Outside the curtained room the afternoon sun seemed to grow stronger. The cabinet secretary repeated the date of the Vatican visit, presumably to give the revelation greater credibility: July 30, 1970. The former emperor struggled to his feet, and his daughter leaped up to help him. In the silence of the crumbling villa, he repeated, ‘The Pope himself gave me this crucifix. Together with my thirteen Bibles, it is the only thing I have left. Everything else—land, decorations, power, women— belongs to the past. This house, Villa Nasser, I have given to my ex-wife, Madame Catherine, even though she doesn’t deserve it after her adultery with Valéry Giscard d’Estaing. The man stole my diamonds and my wife. A pirate. He treated me like that because I am an African. But no matter. Today, thanks to divine intervention, I am a man of peace and faith. Inside, I am still His Majesty Bokassa the First, Apostle of Peace and Servant of Jesus Christ, Emperor and Marshal of Central Africa.’
The next day I went with him to court. He wore his white robe and his crucifix, and his hands clasped the larger cross he’d waved at me during our interview. Tucked under his arm was a framed print of Christ. We walked in a small procession—myself, the former emperor and his Christian symbols, several of his children, and, still in tails, the cabinet secretary. A few youths in jeans and sunglasses followed us, sniggering. Passers-by greeted him respectfully. Not far away were the muddy banks of the Obangui river where we could see women washing clothes and fishermen in dugout canoes.
Bokassa was in court to apply for the return of his property, nearly all of which had been confiscated after the bloodless coup of 1979, when d’Estaing’s government sent a team of paratroopers to restore David Dacko to power in a mission called ‘Operation Barracuda’. Bokassa, who had been visiting Libya at the time, was forced into exile. Now the current government of the Central African Republic were asserting their ownership of his castles in France. The Bokassa clan, led by ‘Petite’, seated themselves on the public benches. The session was adjourned after only a few minutes.
We trooped back to the Villa Nasser, where Bokassa asked me if I would like to take a photograph of him in uniform. He disappeared into one of his rooms, and then re-emerged into the courtyard in full military rig with the Napoleonic cross of a Marshal on his left breast and seven rows of insignia below it. He once again carried his canne de justice, the weapon that had descended upon his ministers, his opponents, and his own children.
Gazing into space, Bokassa recited his autobiography.
‘My name is Jean Bédel-Bokassa. I was baptized in 1950 at Fréjus, where my old French regiment was based. I received my baptism as thirteenth apostle on July 30, 1970 from Pope Paul VI. I was president from 1966 to 1976. I was, indeed still am, emperor of Central Africa, being crowned on December 4,1977. On September 20, 1979 the French removed me from power with a coup d’état. On November 20, 1980 I was condemned to death in absentia. In the same year I was extradited to a prison in the Ivory Coast, then extradited to France, where I remained under supervision for two years before being finally repatriated to Central Africa on November 23, 1986. My trial lasted from November 23, 1986 until June 2, 1987, when I was again sentenced to death. The sentence was subsequently commuted, first to life imprisonment and twenty years’ forced labour, then to ten years’ forced labour. I was finally freed on September 1, 1993. That is the story of my life, that’s who I am. I am Jean-Bédel Bokassa. And I no longer have any political ambitions. The present Central African leader is President Patasse.’
The recitation over, Bokassa hurried indoors and changed back into his priestly robe. ‘They gave me this robe in prison. It comes from Jerusalem,’ he whispered softly, and then repeated, as if in a reverie, ‘From Jerusalem. From Jerusalem.’
The real story of his life was rather different.
After the success of Operation Barracuda, and following the confiscation of his properties in Switzerland and Central Africa, Bokassa applied to his friend Colonel Gadaffi for asylum, but Gadaffi had his hands full with Idi Amin who had just escaped from Uganda and was now a temporary guest in Tripoli. So the French government turned to Felix Houphouet-Boigny, the President of the Ivory Coast, and persuaded him to accommodate the deposed emperor. Bokassa stayed for several months at the elegant Villa Cocody in Abidjan (he was to remain in the Ivory Coast for four years altogether). The Empress Catherine, meanwhile—having anticipated the coup—was already safely installed in Geneva (some said under the personal protection of D’Estaing). She spent much of her time reading tarot cards.
The deposed emperor was in shock. He spent his days playing, at maximum volume, a patriotic record called Brass Marches and Red Pompon performed by the band of the French Navy. From Bangui came news of statues pulled down, relatives arrested, houses destroyed, former mistresses fled abroad or absorbed into the harems of the new leaders. Then one day a flamboyant French businessman, Bernard Tapie, telephoned him. A few days later Tapie arrived in Abidjan without an appointment. Having gained entry to the villa by bribing the guards, he informed Bokassa that France was about to confiscate all of his French properties. These included four or five chateaux, a villa in Nice and a hotel in the Loire Valley. These properties were the last remnants of Bokassa’s fortune. Apart from them he had nothing. Claiming to have the discreet consent of the French government and Houphouet-Boigny, Tapie offered to buy the lot for 12.5 million francs. This sum amounted to less than half their actual value, but by seven o’clock that evening Bokassa had signed the contract.
Interviewed by the French press a few days later, Tapie admitted that the story of the imminent confiscation was a bluff and declared that he had ‘swindled the brutal Bokassa for the good of France’. The emperor sued and, two years later, won the case: the contract of sale was declared invalid. His French properties were returned to him, though they were later to be confiscated again by the government of the Central African Republic (hence our trip to court during my visit).
This story was not the only one Bokassa omitted from his autobiography. He also left out a discovery that had been made at one of his former residences, the Villa Kolongo. The house stood on the banks of the river in a district called Kilometre 12 outside Bangui. It had been occupied by his Romanian concubine. It was one of Bokassa’s favourite residences, with pools, fountains, tropical gardens, an enormous circular rotating bed, ceilings of rare woods and chandeliers of French crystal. When the French paratroopers searched the house they found diamonds in the safe and a museum which Bokassa had devoted to himself, spread across several rooms. And in the gigantic freezer adjacent to the kitchens they claimed to have discovered human cadavers, including those of the leaders of the student organizations that had opposed Bokassa’s reign. The paratroops cited this find as ‘evidence that [Bokassa] is a cannibal and deserved to be overthrown’.
Bokassa also left out his business dealings, though that would have been an exhausting recitation. He used to describe himself as ‘first peasant and first businessman of Central Africa’. In his presidential residences, in Villa Kolongo and Villa Berengo, Bokassa installed workshops producing textiles and copra. He had a butcher’s shop and a restaurant, both open to the public. He owned two airlines, two condominiums (Pacifique 1 and Pacifique 2) and a boutique which sold clothes made in a factory belonging to the Empress Catherine. He granted exclusive rights to trade in ivory to a Spanish company, La Couronne, in exchange for a third of the profits. La Couronne slaughtered at least 5,000 elephants every year. Then there was the Central African Republic’s diamond trade, at one point run by Bokassa’s Lebanese friend, Adrien Geddai, and his Arab associates, Adnan Khashoggi and René Tamraz.
He had also forgotten to mention the student massacre.
Impressed by the orderly cadres of Chinese students he had seen during a visit to Beijing, and angry at his nation’s disappointing results in the 1977 French baccalaureate examinations, Bokassa decided to bring a degree of military discipline to the classrooms of the Empire. On February 2, 1978, the Education Ministry announced that from October 1 all schoolchildren would be required to wear uniforms designed by the emperor himself. The girls were to wear dark blue dresses with light blue collars and belts, the boys dark blue trousers and light blue jackets. The uniforms were to be manufactured by the ‘Compagnie Industrielle Oubanguienne des Textiles’ or CIOT, a company owned by Bokassa, and they could be bought only in certain shops—shops also owned by Bokassa.
The order was largely ignored. Four months later, the Lycée Bokassa and the Lycée Boganda began to turn away children not wearing uniform. On January 15, 1979, 3,000 students took to the streets shouting, ‘Bokassa, pay our student grants!’ and ‘After the Shah, Bokassa!’ Reza Pahlavi had just been driven out of Teheran by the ayatollahs. In Kampala Idi Amin was about to go. The students smashed the windows of Pacifique 2 and took over Bangui.
At six in the evening the imperial guard intervened, led by Bokassa in army fatigues. Over the next twenty-four hours 150 students were killed by machine-gun fire. There were protests from Amnesty International and other bodies. Bokassa broadcast a speech rescinding the school uniform law. A few weeks later Giscard d’Estaing offered the Empire of Central Africa a loan of one billion French African francs—from ‘cousin’ to ‘cousin’.
The horror of Bokassa’s reign was accompanied by the absurd— two qualities which so often go together. In 1970, he solemnly announced to the nation that he had awarded himself the title of ‘Grand Master of the International Brotherhood of Knights Collectors of Postage Stamps’. On November 12, 1970, the day of General de Gaulle’s funeral, he appeared at the Elysée dressed in the uniform of the French parachute regiment. He proceeded to weep noisily in front of de Gaulle’s perplexed widow, crying ‘ Mon père, mon Papa. I lost my natural father when I was a child. Now I have lost my adoptive father as well. I am an orphan again.’ (De Gaulle had always ridiculed him as ‘Papa Bock’— bock being a beer glass.)
Now he stood in front of me and said: ‘God has absolved me. The people of Central Africa have absolved me, too. Now I don’t owe anything to anybody. Neither to God nor to the people. We’re quits. My people saved me. If the accusations spread by the French about me had been true, I would not be alive today. In Africa one pays with one’s life for evil deeds like cannibalism. I obeyed my people. I disobeyed France. They wanted it all their own way, they wanted to sell us their products at hugely inflated prices and buy our raw materials for a pittance. For years the French vetoed the construction of a cement plant in Central Africa in order to export their own cement. The English were different: they colonized in a more honest way. The only Africans in power today are the puppets of France. But you can’t build a nation like that. I built up this nation in thirteen years. And that did not please France. And for that they stripped me of power.’
I went back to Villa Nasser the next day, this time with Raphael Kopessoua, a journalist with Central African Radio and the local stringer for the Associated Press. It was thanks to him that Bokassa had agreed to talk to me. ‘Come to Bangui,’ he had said eventually when I called him from London, ‘and I will do what I can to help you.’
Raphael was a quiet and unexpressive man, who only grew animated when describing the many scandals and corruptions he felt characterized the workings of the current Central African administration. Despite the humid heat he invariably wore a jacket and tie and he always carried a leather briefcase. After my first couple of visits to the old emperor, I always took Raphael with me. In the morning I would go and pick him up from the radio station, which had neither windows nor chairs and where the only equipment, so far as I could see, consisted of old-fashioned manual typewriters. Many of his colleagues were related to politicians, he said, and rarely turned up for work. He himself was not so well connected. He was a fervent campaigner for honest government and good leadership— so fervent that he has since spent time in prison for agitating against perceived abuses of power.
Yet Raphael seemed oddly well disposed towards Bokassa. He appeared to regard even his most outlandish statements as tolerable eccentricities. I watched in amazement as he nodded at the former emperor’s boast: ‘Of all the African leaders I was the greatest. Why? Because I was the emperor. One step below me was the King of Morocco. A king and a great head of state. Then came all the others: simple presidents. I was the emperor…’
In 1978, at the annual summit of Francophone African nations, Bokassa had asked the French government to ensure that he was addressed as ‘Your Imperial Majesty’ and put first in order of precedence. The French diplomats had refused the request. Only the president of Gabon, Omar Bongo, was in favour, because he too had imperial ambitions.
I tried to press him on the subject of Giscard’s diamonds. Why had he given them to him? The emperor looked at me as if I was mad. ‘He asked for them. Besides, I was his friend, almost like a relative. He came to Central Africa twice a year. I supplied him with virgin women and virgin territory where he shot dozens of elephants without paying a single franc. Sometimes he came with his mistresses, some famous, some not. And I gave him diamonds. He wanted lots. To give to his mistresses. There you have your answer.’
I returned to the apostle question. He came out with a new revelation. ‘At twelve years old, yes, at twelve years old, at twelve… I had three visions of Christ. When I went to Rome I informed the Pope. And he, forty years after the visions, baptized me as an apostle.’
Raphael remained inscrutable. I asked Bokassa about the medals and the jewels, two subjects close to his heart. The emperor replied simply, ‘All stolen by the French. Now all I have is this cross.’ Then he began to list the names of the French officers who had taken part in Operation Barracuda, accusing them of having appropriated his imperial kepi, his pearls, his clothes. When he got to the end of the list, he said, ‘I am prepared to go and live in poverty with my children on the street. This house is Catherine’s. Beautiful woman, but with a cold heart.’
He sighed like a boy in love. ‘I’ve had the most beautiful women in the world. So I forgive Catherine, because her beauty was a ray of sunshine in my life. If she comes back I will hand over Villa Nasser and go and live in the market at Kilometre 5.’
The following day Raphael and I hired a car. He was going to show me the former imperial residences. A friend of Raphael’s came with us, to act as a driver.
The red earth road out of Bangui took us past the Palais des Sports, where the emperor’s coronation had taken place. This was where the presidential guard had held its march pasts. And where, in 1986, Bokassa was tried for the second time by the new government of the Central African Republic. (He was originally tried in absentia in 1980. That trial concluded in the death sentence—later commuted.) The charges against him included cannibalism, misappropriation of public funds and concealment of children’s bodies.
I asked Raphael if we could pull over. Tossed to one side of the stadium, under an arch of crumbling concrete, was Bokassa’s famous throne. It was rusty but instantly recognizable, three and a half metres high, shaped like a Napoleonic eagle with two huge golden wings. Papa Bock had had it constructed in France and placed in the middle of the stadium for the coronation ceremony, surrounded by ermine pelts and swathes of red velvet. The chair of the throne was carved out of the belly of the eagle. At the coronation, Bokassa sat in his eagle, picked up the crown and put it on his own head, in a conscious imitation of Napoleon’s famous gesture at his coronation.
Leaving Bangui we passed Bokassa Stadium. The oval of cracked concrete was deserted. No one in Bangui appeared to play football any more.
Just beyond a roadblock two kilometres outside the capital, we ran over a large porcupine. Raphael got out and dumped it into the boot of the car. ‘Delicious roasted,’ he said.
The eighty-kilometre road between Bangui and Berengo was built by Bokassa in the 1970s. It was the country’s first and only motorway, now reduced to a potholed single lane. In the course of a two-hour drive we saw just two cars and three lorries.
Our destination was the Villa Berengo. During Bokassa’s imperial reign Berengo had been a self-sufficient compound. It had had its own farms, cattle, staff quarters, offices and private houses. There were flats for foreign visitors, carefully furnished with reproduction antique furniture and gilt mirrors. This African Versailles was the home of the Imperial Council, a second government with protocols copied from the court of the Shah of Iran. The Imperial Council’s power and influence was far greater than that of the official government of Prime Minister Patasse.
Before me now lay a wreck surrounded by empty fields. We went inside the main building. Kalashnikov bullets littered the floors and vegetation had invaded the bare rooms. The initials JBK were still visible on the walls, also laurel wreaths in the style of Caesar Augustus and the motto of the empire: DIGNITE, UNITE, TRAVAIL. I wondered in which of the rooms the heir to the throne, Prince Saint-Jean de Bokassa de Berengo de Boubangui de Centrafrique, had played.
Raphael suggested we visit one of the bungalows near the entrance to the estate, where the custodian of the grounds lived. The custodian asked where I was from, and when he discovered I was Italian, he invited us to dinner, which consisted of one of the chickens that roamed around the ex-imperial courtyards. His wife served us silently, not sitting down to the table herself. Then, at the end of the meal, her duty done, she spoke at last, in perfect Italian. She had just returned from Rome, where she had worked as a housemaid for many years. A city, she remarked—with no hint of irony—that reminded her of Berengo because it had once been the seat of another imperial court and also had some interesting archaeological ruins.
On the drive back from Berengo a small antelope ran out from the bushes next to the motorway. Instead of swerving to avoid it, Raphael’s friend deliberately ran it over. Raphael got out and put it in the boot of the car with the porcupine. ‘Delicious roasted,’ he remarked.
Our next stop was at Villa Kolongo, at Kilometre 12. A group of baby-faced soldiers took us to see the villa where the Romanian concubine Gabriela Drimba and the imperial babysitter Martine N’Douta had been caught in bed with soldiers of the garrison. N’Douta was killed immediately. Drimba, Bokassa’s favourite among his women, defended herself by accusing Bokassa of ignoring her in favour of his Vietnamese and Gabonese concubines. Bokassa threatened to throw the men to the crocodiles, then relented and had them killed in prison instead.
Kilongo with its courtyards and fountains was like a Mexican hacienda. The ceiling of the banqueting hall had been dismantled. There was no longer any sign of the long table at which, according to statements made by David Dacko, twice president and a cousin of Bokassa, fillet of opposition leader was once served. Delicious roasted, perhaps.
The soldiers marched us round the perimeter of the estate to where Bokassa and Drimba, seated on a kind of altar, had improvised summary trials of their enemies, real or presumed. The emperor and the dancer decided the method of execution, deliberating between the firing squad, the prison, or the crocodiles.
Apart from cadavers in the kitchens, the French soldiers claimed to have found human bones at the bottom of Villa Kilongo’s swimming pools.
The swimming pools were still visible, although they had long since been drained and their blue tiles were now buried beneath layers of soil. The youngest of the soldiers scrambled down into the smallest of the pools. He scrabbled about beneath the weeds and pulled out a smooth white bone, declaring, ‘Human. Eaten by Bokassa. One hundred francs.’ Raphael seized the bone and studied it for a couple of seconds before pronouncing, ‘Goat.’ Faced with such certainty, the soldier conceded. ‘OK. Goat. But eaten by Bokassa.’
On July 29, 1972 the following order, Decree No. 29.058, was issued by the Republic of Central Africa:
Any person discovered in the act of theft shall be subject to the following punishments:
The first time such an offence is committed one ear shall be amputated.
The second time such an offence is committed the other ear shall be amputated.
The third time such an offence is committed one hand shall be amputated.
Amputations will be performed by suitably qualified surgeons within twenty-four hours of sentence being passed.
The decree was put into practice on several occasions. The amputations were carried out in the middle of the market square at Kilometre 5. Bokassa—who was at the time President for Life, Minister of Defence, Minister of Justice, Minister of Home Affairs, Minister of Agriculture, Minister of Health and Minister of Aviation—presided over the operations. The Secretary General of the United Nations, Kurt Waldheim, made a strong protest. Bokassa responded by describing him as ‘a ruffian’, ‘a colonialist,’ and also, strangely, as ‘an imperialist’.
New Year’s Eve 1985 was the twentieth anniversary of the coup that brought Bokassa to power. He spent it in one of the properties he’d won back from Tapie, the Chateau Haudricourt, near Paris. The vast rooms with their portraits of the Empress Catherine, busts of Napoleon and photographs of the battle of Dien Bien Phu (with the legend: ‘They gave their lives for Liberty’) were cold. There was no money for heating. ‘I haven’t got the money to feed the fifteen children who live here with me,’ he told journalists. ‘Every day more bills arrive and I don’t know how to pay them.’
Bokassa was a penniless prisoner. He couldn’t sell his chateaux because Dacko’s government had now laid legal claim to them. He had been forbidden to leave Haudricourt by the French secret services. A book he had written, Ma Verité, was pulped on the orders of Giscard d’Estaing before it reached the shops.
Six months later, however, the situation changed. The tribunal in Paris gave him back the ‘Corvette’, a plane worth six million francs that had been seized by the Central African Republic after Operation Barracuda. The gendarmes guarding the entrance to the chateau were recalled. Papa Bock found himself some new French friends, a lawyer and two former army officers with links to the extreme right. They helped him to sell the plane. The proceeds were invested in a new plan: escape.
On October 21, 1986 Bokassa told his new wife Augustine (whom he had met during his stay in the Ivory Coast) that they would be returning to Bangui next day on a scheduled Air Afrique flight, using forged papers. During their escape someone informed the captain of the plane about his famous passenger. But the captain assumed that if Bokassa was indeed on board he could only be there with the permission of the French government. He saw no reason to divert the flight.
At first, when Bokassa arrived in Bangui airport, no one recognized him. Then someone in the baggage hall shouted, ‘It’s Bokassa!’ The crowd began to buzz. ‘The boss is back… Get to the presidential palace! Get to the presidential palace!’ The airport police fled in terror. The crowd applauded. Bokassa began to make a speech.
Twenty minutes later, Colonel Jean-Claude Mantion, on secondment from Paris to command the new presidential guard, arrived in the baggage hall at a run, followed by dozens of soldiers. He arrested Bokassa, suspecting that the former emperor’s return to Bangui signalled his intention to seize power once again.
‘I’m here just to clear my name,’ Bokassa protested. Eight months later his first trial took place. He was sentenced to be executed. No one could explain why he had left Haudricourt.
‘It was the French secret service. They kidnapped me, my then-concubine and my children and put us on the first plane to Bangui,’ Bokassa told me. ‘I still have the names of all the officers in charge of the operation.’ He appeared to have forgotten about the letter he wrote to President François Mitterrand on the eve of his departure, which began: ‘I return a free man to a free nation. And if I am invited to be of service to it, I shall accept immediately, because my dearest wish is to serve the people. Indeed, to serve all men: a philosophical concept natural to those of us imbued with French culture.’
The crippled children encamped in front of Bangui’s only hotel now recognized me. Morning and evening they greeted me with cries of ‘Bonjour!’
The hotel, which belonged to the French chain Novotel, stood on the banks of the river. Every evening the bar was full of French soldiers in army fatigues. They talked about Rwanda, but only among themselves. Occasionally a girl dressed in yellow came to visit them. She walked barefoot up to the hotel door, with her very high-heeled shoes—also yellow—tucked under her arm. The leader of the crippled children watched the little ceremony. He addressed her as ‘sister’ and earned a tip from the soldiers.
At his home Bokassa often referred to ‘the fruit of my blood’. At first I assumed he meant the child he called Petite, of whom he seemed especially fond. Eventually I realized that he was referring to his French army pension, earned partly through spending ‘six months in a military hospital in Indochina’. The pension allowed him to survive. It also allowed over a hundred of his legitimate and illegitimate children, spread over Africa and France, to survive.
One day, tired of talking about his military experiences, Bokassa returned to the subject of the Bible. He recited the Lord’s Prayer. He compared Christ to Nelson Mandela, saying, ‘He suffered a lot in prison, like me. Mandela is a gift of God to the African people, to compensate them for centuries of suffering.’ Then he told me that he had seen the Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi on the television just after he was elected. ‘I liked him immediately.’
There was The Romanian, The Tunisian, The Gabonese, The French, The Vietnamese, The Belgian, The Libyan, The Cameroonian, The German, The Swede, The Zairean and The Chinese (a ‘present’ from Chiang Kai-shek). And then there was Catherine, the Empress.
Bokassa’s mistresses were the only visible outcome of his frequent official visits abroad. He claimed that they were mostly ‘given’ to him by foreign heads of state as tokens of friendship. Sometimes he would catch sight of a woman while he was on an official engagement, and ask to be introduced to them. If he liked them he took them back to Bangui. He installed each woman in a separate villa.
He met ‘The Gabonese’, Joelle, at the airport in Libreville at the end of an official tour in 1979. She was among the throng of notables who had come to see him off. She was very beautiful. According to the magazine Jeune Afrique, Bokassa whispered to her not to move. ‘I’ll be right back.’ Then he embraced President Omar Bongo and boarded his plane.
Fifteen minutes later he commanded the captain of the presidential jet to turn the plane around. Bongo, who was already being driven away from the airport, was informed that Bokassa had changed his mind. He returned to the airport in a hurry, to find the smiling emperor. ‘Earlier I was here as a head of state. Now I’m here in a private capacity. And I’m about to marry one of your fellow citizens,’ Bokassa announced. A few hours later ‘The Gabonese’ was in Bangui.
Most famous of all his concubines was ‘The Romanian’, Gabriela Drimba. Bokassa had spotted the blonde dancer in a Bucharest nightclub during a visit to his ally Nicolai Ceaucescu. She initially refused to marry him, but turned up a few weeks later in Bangui.
Most mysterious were the three Vietnamese women. One was Bokassa’s wife. Two were his daughters. One daughter was real, the other false. Both bore the name Martine Nguyen. They came to Bangui from Vietnam after Bokassa had searched (with the help of the French government) for his daughter by the wife he married in Saigon in 1953 and then abandoned. The first to arrive in Bangui was the False Martine. But she was exposed as a fraud. The French press fell on the story, ridiculing ‘the monster of Central Africa’. Bokassa responded to his critics by adopting the girl, to show the world how generous he was. Then he found the Real Martine working in a Vietnamese cement factory. She too was persuaded to leave Vietnam for Africa.
Once in Bangui, Bokassa offered both of them in marriage via a kind of public auction. Hundreds of young Central African men bid for them. The eventual winners of the competition were a doctor and an army officer. The sumptuous wedding in the cathedral was even attended by a few heads of state, the most prominent being the ever-faithful Bongo.
The False Martine’s husband, the army officer, eventually attempted a coup and was shot. The Real Martine’s husband, the doctor, remained loyal to Bokassa. He too was shot, but by Bokassa’s enemies after Operation Barracuda.
On my last visit to Villa Nasser I found the emperor alone, holding a Bible. I still had to ask him about the most serious charge, the one that worried him most. ‘The story about cannibalism was invented in order to destroy me. It’s a lie. Do you really believe that a much-decorated French officer could be a cannibal? It’s a lie,’ he repeated. And indeed the famous trial cleared him on this charge. But what about the other crimes? The murders? Bokassa did not deny them. ‘But I was not the only one. What about that Israeli politician, what is he called? Yes, Ariel Sharon. Why has he been forgiven for the massacres at Sabra and Shatila, while I have been forgiven for nothing? Just because I’m African?’
Jean-Bédel Bokassa died a year after we met, on November 3, 1996. He was seventy-five years old. He is buried at Berengo. In its obituary, the Central African state radio described him as ‘illustrious’. Ten years previously, the same radio station described him as ‘the Ogre of Berengo’.
The Empress Catherine lives in Lausanne and refuses to speak about Bokassa.
Giscard d’Estaing remains an influential politician. Few still remember the scandal over the diamonds.
Bernard Tapie has been a government minister, a convict and the owner of the Olympique Marseilles football team, which he had to sell but to which he has subsequently returned. He now works as an actor.
Patasse is president of the Republic of Central Africa. He is an ally of Colonel Gadaffi.
‘The Romanian’, Gabriela Drimba, returned to Bucharest, leaving her daughter, Anne de Berengo, behind in Bangui. Nothing more has been heard of her.
The Real Martine escaped from Bangui after the coup. She now runs a Vietnamese restaurant in Paris.
The False Martine was killed by Bokassa’s bodyguards a year after her husband’s failed coup.
Augustine, the last concubine, returned to Haudricourt where she now lives with several of Bokassa’s children.
Omar Bongo has been president of Gabon since 1969. A wealthy man (unlike surviving members of Bokassa’s family), he has been one of the main private clients of Citibank since 1970.
Ariel Sharon is prime minister of Israel.
Raphael Kopessoua is not, for the moment, in prison.
........................................................................................................................................................
Prof Lungu 8 years ago
READ: "...‘My name is Jean Bédel-Bokassa. I was baptized in 1950 at Fréjus, where my old French regiment was based. I received my baptism as thirteenth apostle on July 30, 1970 from Pope Paul VI. I was president from 1966 ... read full comment
READ: "...‘My name is Jean Bédel-Bokassa. I was baptized in 1950 at Fréjus, where my old French regiment was based. I received my baptism as thirteenth apostle on July 30, 1970 from Pope Paul VI. I was president from 1966 to 1976...‘They gave me this robe in prison. It comes from Jerusalem,’...‘From Jerusalem. From Jerusalem.’..."
OUR COMMENT: We see!
Thanks, Francis Kwarteng, for the reminder.
Prof Lungu 8 years ago
Can't help but add...the potential irony there!
READ: "...They gave me this robe in prison. It comes from Jerusalem,’...‘From Jerusalem. From Jerusalem.’..."
WE MUST ADD: Quite possibly, "robe" made by prisoners " ... read full comment
Can't help but add...the potential irony there!
READ: "...They gave me this robe in prison. It comes from Jerusalem,’...‘From Jerusalem. From Jerusalem.’..."
WE MUST ADD: Quite possibly, "robe" made by prisoners "From Jerusalem", by the "occupied," the fenced inside walls, and barb wire!
ADJOA WANGARA 8 years ago
Sure! Francis Kwarteng is highly subject to, the hegemony of superstition, ignorance, illiteracy, inferiority complex, cognitive imbecility and most especially uncritical thinking. These Problems are of course, seriously clou ... read full comment
Sure! Francis Kwarteng is highly subject to, the hegemony of superstition, ignorance, illiteracy, inferiority complex, cognitive imbecility and most especially uncritical thinking. These Problems are of course, seriously clouding Francis Kwarteng to such an extent that he can neither see nor think clearly.
Kwame Bediako 8 years ago
Homosexual ADJOA -KOJO WANGARA,you have given a vivid description of yourself.You are surely an embodiment of inferiority complex,cognitive imbecility lack of critical thinking.
Homosexual ADJOA -KOJO WANGARA,you have given a vivid description of yourself.You are surely an embodiment of inferiority complex,cognitive imbecility lack of critical thinking.
Robert Cudjoe 8 years ago
The homosexual and crazy ADJOA WANGARA just escaped from mental hospital.
The homosexual and crazy ADJOA WANGARA just escaped from mental hospital.
Dr. SAS, Attorney at Law 8 years ago
For a person flaunting his scholarship to Africa and the world, Nkrumah was the alter-ego of several characters in fictional narratives or tragic drama. In the first place, Nkrumah is pretty much like Kurtz, the character in ... read full comment
For a person flaunting his scholarship to Africa and the world, Nkrumah was the alter-ego of several characters in fictional narratives or tragic drama. In the first place, Nkrumah is pretty much like Kurtz, the character in Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness” who set out to civilize the natives of Congo only to find himself sucked into the depth of their culture. The only difference is that Kwame Nkrumah was a Black man. Nkrumah was the Great Leader in Ayi Kwei Armah’s “The beautiful Ones Are Not Yet Born”, under whose watch fecal corruption festered and flourished, and whose overthrow created euphoric joy among the masses of our people. Nkrumah was also Kongi in Nobel Laureate Soyinka’s “Kongi’s Harvest”, the arrant dictator whose lust for traditional authority misled him to perform unthinkable rituals.
But in spite of Nkrumah’s evil deeds against Ghana, he left a bunch of militant followers who know how to criticize even Jesus Christ except Nkrumah himself. These lobotomes follow a poisonous ideology in whose context Nkrumah does no wrong and never dies, and within which his ardent followers strain at the gnats of Nkrumah's perceived enemies and leave the log on Nkrumah's eye-balls intact. But, in general, the Nkrumaist position is doomed ab initio: they must defend the misbehavior of an arrant tyrant and a blatant traitor...his imprisonment without trial, his declaration of one party state, his conferment of the powers to overrule court judgments, his declaration of life presidency....
Even for an attorney professionally trained to defend both sides of an argument, I pity the awkward and contradictory position of the Nkrumaists. I really don't know of any leader that incarcerated both his foes and allies alike like Nkrumah, or went all out on a suicide mission to fatally doom his own presidency as Nkrumah did. And if any other leader committed one percent of Nkrumah's evil deeds, Nkrumah's followers would be up in arms against that person. See how Prof. Lungu is gloating over a doomed law suit against Nana Addo! Remember also how Nkrumaists profusely cite the injustices under Busia and Kufuor's regimes to cast them as non-democrats and to justify Nkrumah's cruelty to Ghanaians?
But their position regarding Nkrumah is understandable because they were indoctrinated to imbibe the propaganda that Nkrumah does no wrong, and that Nkrumah never dies. Fortunately for all of us, these people who are old and decrepit will soon die off with their shibboleth. But you and I, the younger generation, have a duty to dissect the truth, and let it guide our actions. We must confess that PDA was wrong, that life presidency was wrong, that dismissal of judges was wrong, that betraying friends who helped you was wrong, that indoctrinating children to snitch on their parents was wrong, that putting your effigy on a currency was wrong, that destooling chiefs and appropriating their titles was wrong.....If we don't do this, my greatest fear is that somebody else will find a "good excuse" to abolish our freedoms and hard-earned rights, citing Nkrumah as a glowing example. Remember that Rawlings has done it before; and that is why Kola has aptly stated how so similar J.J. is to Nkrumah.....
For them to be taken seriously, the Nkrumaists must confess all Nkrumah's evil deeds here, or else make a fool of themselves by defending them. In the end, that is how they can gain salvation. This is because the typical Ghanaian's crippled intellectual ability, gullibility and vulnerability and lack of creativity all descend from the Nkrumah's heritage which indoctrinated us in early childhood and made us receptacles to fakery and bad doctrines and took away from us the ability to ask questions and analyze incisively. So when the Ghanaian is deceived by the fake pastors and political leaders or shamans and witchdoctors and online scammers, the source of his child-like faith and acceptance of all imposture is traceable to his young pioneer days, when the end all and be all of his life is to subject his intellect to the worship of a conceptual idol, and to praise and serve him for life.
This is the time to free ourselves from the psychological shackles imposed on our minds by the great impostor, and to analyze and criticize and scrutinize these old assumptions which the great deceiver has implanted in our genes, making it impossible for us to decipher the good from the bad, the ugly and the evil.
Kwadwo 8 years ago
What Nkrumah preached and stood for is your typical garden variety political chat argued in most Black barber shop in the US. A guy always comes in spewing his guts out about how the black race must unite and conquer the evil ... read full comment
What Nkrumah preached and stood for is your typical garden variety political chat argued in most Black barber shop in the US. A guy always comes in spewing his guts out about how the black race must unite and conquer the evil white man. He gets incensed when you begin to attack the foundation of his thesis. He labels you Uncle Tom and you become the enemy. Contrarian views are unwelcome by him. This is Nkrumaism for you and there is nothing original, extraordinary and scientific about it.
francis kwarteng 8 years ago
Kwadwo,
I thought you said you were not going to comment on my articles again?
What then are you doing here commenting on the article?
Did you advise SAS to refrain on commenting on my articles?
I don't get you, ... read full comment
Kwadwo,
I thought you said you were not going to comment on my articles again?
What then are you doing here commenting on the article?
Did you advise SAS to refrain on commenting on my articles?
I don't get you, Kwadwo!
Tell me!
Kwadwo 8 years ago
Francis, I commented this time because I am having a hard time seeing anything scientific about Nkrumah's socialist political philosophy. All he said was that " we will perish if we don't unite". He said this towards the fin ... read full comment
Francis, I commented this time because I am having a hard time seeing anything scientific about Nkrumah's socialist political philosophy. All he said was that " we will perish if we don't unite". He said this towards the final days of his ouster. Is this any different from barber shops political talk we hear every week end in the U.S? If so, what is so profound or ground breaking about Nkrumaism you have been churning out?
BOAFO YENA 8 years ago
Truth be told, Kwadwo, how do you spell Nkrumaism, or Nkumahism?
The correct version reveals your politics; even in the barber shop of US.
Where do you stand?
Truth be told, Kwadwo, how do you spell Nkrumaism, or Nkumahism?
The correct version reveals your politics; even in the barber shop of US.
Where do you stand?
Kwadwo 8 years ago
Boafo, what is your preference? Just tell me, my friend, and I will oblige. Is there a philosophical difference betweeen Nkrumaism and Nkrumahism?
Boafo, what is your preference? Just tell me, my friend, and I will oblige. Is there a philosophical difference betweeen Nkrumaism and Nkrumahism?
BOAFO YENA 8 years ago
Don't cowardly skip my question
with a question; granted the philosophy is the same, my initial question was what is the difference in how one spells Nkrumaism vs. how one spells Nkrumahism?
Waiting for your response bra ... read full comment
Don't cowardly skip my question
with a question; granted the philosophy is the same, my initial question was what is the difference in how one spells Nkrumaism vs. how one spells Nkrumahism?
Waiting for your response bra Kwadwo!
Kwadwo 8 years ago
Stylistically, I prefer it without the "h" as it rolls easily on my tongue. What do you think being an ardent Nkrumaist?
Stylistically, I prefer it without the "h" as it rolls easily on my tongue. What do you think being an ardent Nkrumaist?
francis kwarteng 8 years ago
Kwadow,
Do you use your rolling tongue to type? Haba! You Danquah-folks can do weird things!
You see how your blind hatred of Nkrumah is making you go crazy! Hahahahaha...
Please could you remind us of the advise you ... read full comment
Kwadow,
Do you use your rolling tongue to type? Haba! You Danquah-folks can do weird things!
You see how your blind hatred of Nkrumah is making you go crazy! Hahahahaha...
Please could you remind us of the advise you gave SAS about not commenting on my articles (and your saying you have stopped commenting on my articles)?
Please stop swimming in your vomit!
Have a great weekend!
Kwadwo 8 years ago
To you as well. I guess I couldn't stay away too long. I will say my piece from time to time, but will be civil as always, Francis,
To you as well. I guess I couldn't stay away too long. I will say my piece from time to time, but will be civil as always, Francis,
BOAFO YENA 8 years ago
Your hatred of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the founder of our nation is mind boggling. To the deplorable extent that you think he accomplished nothing, other than killing Dr. J. B. Danquah.
You are entitled to your opinion however ... read full comment
Your hatred of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the founder of our nation is mind boggling. To the deplorable extent that you think he accomplished nothing, other than killing Dr. J. B. Danquah.
You are entitled to your opinion however dreadful and erroneous it might be.
But I will advise you not to use your anti-Nkrumah rhetoric to seek office hopefully in the NPP administration in 2016.
Ghanaians are not that daft, And stop calling your self Dr. you never researched and defended a thesis. Your J.D. degree does not entitled you to append Dr. to SAS. You are honestly SAS esquire.
Dr. SAS, Attorney at Law 8 years ago
1. Nkrumah accomplished nothing, except the gross satiation of his own personal aggrandizement, and the destruction of the African leadership psyche.
2. My hatred for the man is impossible to describe, and will not be ade ... read full comment
1. Nkrumah accomplished nothing, except the gross satiation of his own personal aggrandizement, and the destruction of the African leadership psyche.
2. My hatred for the man is impossible to describe, and will not be adequately described. This is because he is the unmentionable curse on the politics of Ghana and Africa.
3. You disrespect me by suggesting that I condemn Nkrumah just because I am seeking a political office. If I want to be the President of Ghana, I will be the President of Ghana, and I can do that much easier if I don't criticize Nkrumah. But I have everything I want in my life, and I can do whatever I want for my country without any political position. I don't need anybody to pay for my passage to Ghana or provide my board and keep to join in the politics of Ghana. So tell me why I would want to seek any office in any future administration? In order to achieve what I cannot achieve as an ordinary man? Note that many people have consulted me over the years to join the politics of my country, and I have asked them the same question! None has yet provided an adequate answer. Why the hell will I want to be president of Ghana?
4. JD means Juris Doctor, and so it is asinine to suggest that I cannot append "Doctor" to my name after earning a Juris Doctor degree by commensurate academic work. You, as an Nkrumaist loser, cannot and have not earned the JD degree, and can therefore not understand what it entails. Indeed, Nkrumah could not even manage to earn an inferior version in his time, and woefully abandoned the quest. J.B. Danquah did...
5. But if you are looking for a person that never went through any academic rigor to earn a doctorate, that is Nkrumah, the impostor extraordinaire who deceived Ghanaians that he had earned a doctorate when he had none. Of course he regularized the anomaly by having conferred on him some honorary doctorates at a latter date. But that doesn't take away the fact that he was retroactively an impostor.
BOAFO YENA 8 years ago
Many JD's who like you rigorously pursued and earned the degree throughout the world, from Obama to multitudes of British prime ministers never append Dr. In front of their names. Esquires they are & were. Drs. are for medica ... read full comment
Many JD's who like you rigorously pursued and earned the degree throughout the world, from Obama to multitudes of British prime ministers never append Dr. In front of their names. Esquires they are & were. Drs. are for medical doctors and Ph. D. earners. Prove me wrong SAS esquire.
By the way, my political affiliation is independent.
Prof Lungu 8 years ago
You are trying to sell the idea that Dr. Kwame Nkkrumah is an imposter.
We believe strongly that Nkrumah achieved a lot more in his short life span for Ghana, Africa, and the World, than you will ever achieve in your life ... read full comment
You are trying to sell the idea that Dr. Kwame Nkkrumah is an imposter.
We believe strongly that Nkrumah achieved a lot more in his short life span for Ghana, Africa, and the World, than you will ever achieve in your life time, and in all the life spans of the Danquah-Busia cohorts, combined.
So, on this one too, it is you who is imposing and projecting.
Might you be working to earn a "Masters" degree in "juris", Dr. SAS, Attorney at Law?
And what would Dr. SAS, Attorney at Law call himself when Dr. SAS, Attorney at Law finally earns a Doctor of Judicial Science degree?
On the Nkrumah question, maybe Nkrumah suspended his studies to return "home" to serve the people. Like, teach Danquah and the rest in the UGCC how to get the work done, you know, the work of "Independence Now" for Ghana.
ITEM: Our Kwesi Atta-Sekyi, in 2013, provided the best summary of Nkrumah's academic achievement, both earned and honorary:
READ (summary): "...Before going to America in 1935, Nkrumah had obtained his teachers’ certificate in 1930 from the then Prince of Wales College, now Achimota College...Nkrumah left for the USA in 1935, via Takoradi Harbour, and by 1939, he had obtained his BA degree from Lincoln University. In 1942, he obtained another BA in Sacred Theology. He obtained an MSc in Education from the University of Pennsylvania in 1942, and an MA Phil in Political Science in 1943. He lectured in Political Science at Lincoln, where he was elected President of African Students of America and Canada. He took to preaching at Presbyterian Churches in Philadelphia and New York....From 1939 to 1945, Nkrumah lectured on Negro History. With two masters’ degrees and two bachelors’ degrees under his belt, Nkrumah directed his search for academic laurels to the UK, where he hoped he was going to take a degree in law. However, his deep involvement in many Pan-Africanist activities in the UK robbed him of that dream and passion. He had hopes of studying Law at the London School of Economics (LSE) and to also complete his doctorate. He became the undisputed leader of the circle in the UK for the decolonisation of Africa and the emancipation of the Black man...Nkrumah was invited by Ako Adjei to Ghana to be the Secretary General of UGCC, and he arrived on the Gold Coast on 8th December 1947...Nkrumah was honoured with many doctorate degrees from Lincoln University in the USA, his alma mater, Moscow State University, Krakow University in Poland, and Humboldt University in Germany. In 2000, BBC World Service listeners voted Nkrumah the Man of the Millennium..."
SOURCE: GHANAWEB Feature Article of Sunday, 22 September 2013 Columnist: Sakyi, Kwesi Atta Special Tribute to Dr Kwame Nkrumah.
So, to put is bluntly, and kindly, Nkrumah "woefully abandoned the quest" in order to save the train wreck that was the Danquah-Busia confederate-federal gang!
Explains perfectly why Nkrumah is the Founder of Ghana, the Father of Ghana, that is!
BENONY TONY AMEKUDZI, ESQ. 8 years ago
BENONY TONY AMEKUDZI, BARRISTER-AT LAW, QCL, PLC, DPA, CPA, BA (HONS) {GHANA}, MASTER OF LAWS (LLM) {NEW YORK, USA} PENDING, MEMBER, INTERNATIONAL (WORLD/GLOBAL) BAR ASSOCIATION, MEMBER, COMMONWEALTH LAWYERS ASSOCIATION, ASSO ... read full comment
BENONY TONY AMEKUDZI, BARRISTER-AT LAW, QCL, PLC, DPA, CPA, BA (HONS) {GHANA}, MASTER OF LAWS (LLM) {NEW YORK, USA} PENDING, MEMBER, INTERNATIONAL (WORLD/GLOBAL) BAR ASSOCIATION, MEMBER, COMMONWEALTH LAWYERS ASSOCIATION, ASSOCIATE MEMBER, AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION, MEMBER, GHANA BAR ASSOCIATI
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HON. MINISTER OF LANDS & NATURAL RESOURCES
HON. MINISTER OF JUSTICE & ATTORNEY GENERAL BREW APPIAH-OPPONG
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INFO TO:
H.E.FORMER PRESIDENT OF GHANA & FOUNDER OF NDC DR.DR.(FLT.LT) JERRY JOHN RAWLINGS
H.E. FORMER PRESIDENT OF GHANA JOHN AGYEKUM KUFUOR
HON. CHAIRPERSON OF CPP SAMIA NKRUMAH
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HON. CHAIRMAN OF NDC DR.KOFI PORTUPHUR
SPECIAL INFO ALERT TO:
H.E.DR.MR.PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA
HON. SECRETARY OF STATE JOHN KERRY
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DATE: SUNDAY, APRIL 12, 2015
SUBJECT:DEAR H.E.PRESIDENT OF GHANA DR.JOHN DRAMANI MAHAMA & HON. COUNCIL OF ELDERS OF CPP,
TO RESPECTFULLY AND HUMBLY ACKNOWLEDGE THE CORDIAL RELATIONS
AND UNDERSTANDING THAT WAS REACHED BY YOUR MEETING OF
H.E.PRESIDENT OF GHANA DR.JOHN DRAMANI MAHAMA AND TO
RESPECTFULLY CONGRATULATE BOTH SIDES FOR THE MUTUAL ACCORD
YOU REACHED TO RETURN THE ASSETS AND THE PROPERTY OF THE CPP
SEIZED , THERETO.
THAT IN THE SAME VEIN, IT IS MY RESPECTFUL APPEAL ON BEHALF
OF MY FATHER,S FAMILY THE AMEKUDZI FAMILY OF KPEDZE IN THE
VOLTA REGION OF GHANA THAT MR.EMMANUEL K. AMEKUDZI IS THE
HEAD OF FAMILY AND ALL OTHER FAMILIES OF KPEDZE WHOSE FAMILY
LANDS WERE COMPULSORILY ACQUIRED BY THE LATE PRESIDENT OF
GHANA OSAGYEFO DR.KWAME NKRUMAH GOVERNMENT FOR KPEDZE SENIOR
HIGH SCHOOL WITHOUT ANY RELATED COMPENSATION OF THE LANDS
ITSELF IN CONTRAVENTION WITH GHANA 1992 CONSTITUTION,
THERETO.
THAT IT WAS ONLY "TREE CROPS" WHICH WERE DESTROYED WERE
COMPENSATED FOR. IT IS THEREFORE IN THE LIGHT OF THE GOOD
GESTURES OF H.E.PRESIDENT OF GHANA DR.JOHN DRAMANI MAHAMA TO
RELEASE ASSETS AND PROPERTY OF THE CPP SEIZED THAT I AM ALSO
MAKING THIS RELATED APPEAL TO BOTH H.E.PRESIDENT OF GHANA
DR.JOHN DRAMANI MAHAMA AND HON.COUNCIL OF ELDERS OF CPP TO
CONSIDER AS A MATTER OF URGENCY AND PRIORITY TO COMPENSATE
THE AMEKUDZI FAMILY OF KPEDZE AND OTHER FAMILIES OF KPEDZE
WHOSE FAMILY LANDS WERE COMPULSORILY ACQUIRED BY THE LATE
PRESIDENT OF GHANA OSAGYEFO DR.KWAME NKRUMAH GOVERNMENT,
THERETO. RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED.
GOD BLESS GHANA AND AMERICA.
VERY TRULY YOURS,
BENONY TONY AMEKUDZI,ESQ.
INTERNATIONAL LAWYER/LEGAL CONSULTANT
>
Jonas Adjei 8 years ago
My research indicates that after Ghana's independence Nkrumah's honoray Doctorate degree was conferred on him by his alma mater,University of Pennsyvania,an Ivy League institution for his remarkable achievement.Nkrumah did no ... read full comment
My research indicates that after Ghana's independence Nkrumah's honoray Doctorate degree was conferred on him by his alma mater,University of Pennsyvania,an Ivy League institution for his remarkable achievement.Nkrumah did not return to Ghana with a Doctorate degree as the eccentric DR SAS is speculating.
Nana Amponsem 8 years ago
You’ve written a thesis about Nkrumahism. The editor in the spirit of scholarship has given the audience the opportunity to comment on your article. And what do we see – you are trying your very best to stifle readers fro ... read full comment
You’ve written a thesis about Nkrumahism. The editor in the spirit of scholarship has given the audience the opportunity to comment on your article. And what do we see – you are trying your very best to stifle readers from commenting by planting another thesis on the comments section. Is that what you learnt from Nkrumah? Dishonest professor!
Inferiority complex 8 years ago
The Kwarteng guy, has an inferiority complex, that is his problem, hence always fighting peole commenting negatively to his Nkrumahism garbage.
The Kwarteng guy, has an inferiority complex, that is his problem, hence always fighting peole commenting negatively to his Nkrumahism garbage.
Appletus 8 years ago
What is this that the argument is about? Nkrumah and the rest, rip, did their part.
They left legacies for us to discourse on.
From my perspective, all these leaders could not fix our energy crisis the number of years they ... read full comment
What is this that the argument is about? Nkrumah and the rest, rip, did their part.
They left legacies for us to discourse on.
From my perspective, all these leaders could not fix our energy crisis the number of years they have ruled.
Take a look at Ghana's 'dumsor' situation, and realize that these philosophical concepts did not help us practically.
I want to see a leader take and make bold practicable decisions that help Ghana move forward.
Nkrumah, Busia, Afrifa, Ankrah, Acheampong, Rawlins, Kuffour have all failed the nation as we know it.
Give me two terms as president and I will prioritise and fix dumsor, build refineries.
The intellectual gymnastics is ok now. We need proactive leaders .
IT WILL TAKE ME TWO DAYS TO FINISH READING
I love this. Thank you for an intelligent post. Keep it coming. Nkrumah was hated by the same people who hated Mandela, Biko, Malcolm X and Matin Luther King jr.
Hi Francis,do you remember the book I recommended for you? [lawless world]. I just found out the author is one of the Lawyers fighting for Ghana in their maritime dispute with Ivory Coast.I wish him well.Btw,he is P Sands.
Dear Brother YAW,
Yes I recall your recommending two books for me.
Wow! This is very interesting. This world is a small place, you know!
I have not got the books yet but hope to in the near future. I will definitely ...
read full comment
Please enough of Nkrumah. The man's party is irrelevant in the politics of today and that makes this a silly discussion of pedantic academic folly.
This idiot Kwarteng has nothing going on in his life. He is married to Nkrumah ghost.
THEY HATE ANY LEADER WHO LOVED AFRICA.
Dear Cojo Opoku,
It is not enough yet as long as the world exists.
Who in his/her right mind will say he/she is tired of Nkrumah and his innovative ideas?
Anyway what I am doing is not explicitly about the 'person" ...
read full comment
I disagree. The CPP's political fortunes may be low, but the philosophical ideas of Nkrumah are even more pertinent today throughout the whole of Africa. It explains the plight of Africa - economic, social, religious and all
NKRUMAH NEVER DIES PERIOD
Nkrumaism is the suspension of one’s analytical reasoning for the cultic worship of Kwame Nkrumah in the belief that he never dies or does no wrong. It is also the wholesale inheritance of Nkrumah’s friends (if any) as he ...
read full comment
What do you expect from a subjective and biased quasi-intellectual called DR SAS?
Dr SAS is a poor specimen of an intellectual RIP
Sarfo"s dreadful one-sided article is not only repulsive,it is baseless,narrow,crude and perfectly designed/written to repel thinking and decent people.I don"t have to worship Nkrumah to appreciate his immense contribution to ...
read full comment
Dr. SAS, Attorney at Law,
Among all esayists on Ghanaweb, you, Dr. SAS, Attorney at Law, have used them most expletives, and hurled the most insults at essayists, and non-essayists.
Your attempt at projection does not wa ...
read full comment
Dr. SAS, Attorney at Law,
Among all esayists on Ghanaweb, you, Dr. SAS, Attorney at Law, have used most expletives, and hurled the most insults at essayists, and non-essayists....
Preach brother preach
If your father by then call himself "Mate Menwo" then whom are you blaming for the so call one party system. Go to hell he is still the best president Ghana has ever had as well as the Africa continent.
Nkrumah did nothing credible worthy for Ghana's economy. That is why Ghana is in an economic crisis today. You need to think. I do not have time anymore with stupid Ghanaian shenanigans.
THE ESSENCE OF "THAT" ONE PARTY STATE EXPLAINED:
READ: "...For another, Nkrumah extended invitations to Busia, J.A. Braimah, and others in the Opposition to join his government since many of them [leading members of the O ...
read full comment
Dear Prof. Lungu,
Thanks for your informed critique.
Your take on Ali Mazrui's diagnostic label "the African Condition" is on point.
However, several scholars have offered similar critique of the concept. I have (d ...
read full comment
Thanks!
Theoretically, we are more from the social science/planning perspective. No so much into the mathematics, history, natural science aspects.
But we are glad you mention Rapaport's 1959 paper, which we had forgott ...
read full comment
Dear Readers,
The following piece "Dead Tyrant" by Riccardo Orizio is about Jean-Bedel Bokassa appeared in the UK-based literary magazine, Granta.
Take note of the relationship among the French leadership, Bokassa, and ...
read full comment
READ: "...‘My name is Jean Bédel-Bokassa. I was baptized in 1950 at Fréjus, where my old French regiment was based. I received my baptism as thirteenth apostle on July 30, 1970 from Pope Paul VI. I was president from 1966 ...
read full comment
Can't help but add...the potential irony there!
READ: "...They gave me this robe in prison. It comes from Jerusalem,’...‘From Jerusalem. From Jerusalem.’..."
WE MUST ADD: Quite possibly, "robe" made by prisoners " ...
read full comment
Sure! Francis Kwarteng is highly subject to, the hegemony of superstition, ignorance, illiteracy, inferiority complex, cognitive imbecility and most especially uncritical thinking. These Problems are of course, seriously clou ...
read full comment
Homosexual ADJOA -KOJO WANGARA,you have given a vivid description of yourself.You are surely an embodiment of inferiority complex,cognitive imbecility lack of critical thinking.
The homosexual and crazy ADJOA WANGARA just escaped from mental hospital.
For a person flaunting his scholarship to Africa and the world, Nkrumah was the alter-ego of several characters in fictional narratives or tragic drama. In the first place, Nkrumah is pretty much like Kurtz, the character in ...
read full comment
What Nkrumah preached and stood for is your typical garden variety political chat argued in most Black barber shop in the US. A guy always comes in spewing his guts out about how the black race must unite and conquer the evil ...
read full comment
Kwadwo,
I thought you said you were not going to comment on my articles again?
What then are you doing here commenting on the article?
Did you advise SAS to refrain on commenting on my articles?
I don't get you, ...
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Francis, I commented this time because I am having a hard time seeing anything scientific about Nkrumah's socialist political philosophy. All he said was that " we will perish if we don't unite". He said this towards the fin ...
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Truth be told, Kwadwo, how do you spell Nkrumaism, or Nkumahism?
The correct version reveals your politics; even in the barber shop of US.
Where do you stand?
Boafo, what is your preference? Just tell me, my friend, and I will oblige. Is there a philosophical difference betweeen Nkrumaism and Nkrumahism?
Don't cowardly skip my question
with a question; granted the philosophy is the same, my initial question was what is the difference in how one spells Nkrumaism vs. how one spells Nkrumahism?
Waiting for your response bra ...
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Stylistically, I prefer it without the "h" as it rolls easily on my tongue. What do you think being an ardent Nkrumaist?
Kwadow,
Do you use your rolling tongue to type? Haba! You Danquah-folks can do weird things!
You see how your blind hatred of Nkrumah is making you go crazy! Hahahahaha...
Please could you remind us of the advise you ...
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To you as well. I guess I couldn't stay away too long. I will say my piece from time to time, but will be civil as always, Francis,
Your hatred of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the founder of our nation is mind boggling. To the deplorable extent that you think he accomplished nothing, other than killing Dr. J. B. Danquah.
You are entitled to your opinion however ...
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1. Nkrumah accomplished nothing, except the gross satiation of his own personal aggrandizement, and the destruction of the African leadership psyche.
2. My hatred for the man is impossible to describe, and will not be ade ...
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Many JD's who like you rigorously pursued and earned the degree throughout the world, from Obama to multitudes of British prime ministers never append Dr. In front of their names. Esquires they are & were. Drs. are for medica ...
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You are trying to sell the idea that Dr. Kwame Nkkrumah is an imposter.
We believe strongly that Nkrumah achieved a lot more in his short life span for Ghana, Africa, and the World, than you will ever achieve in your life ...
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BENONY TONY AMEKUDZI, BARRISTER-AT LAW, QCL, PLC, DPA, CPA, BA (HONS) {GHANA}, MASTER OF LAWS (LLM) {NEW YORK, USA} PENDING, MEMBER, INTERNATIONAL (WORLD/GLOBAL) BAR ASSOCIATION, MEMBER, COMMONWEALTH LAWYERS ASSOCIATION, ASSO ...
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My research indicates that after Ghana's independence Nkrumah's honoray Doctorate degree was conferred on him by his alma mater,University of Pennsyvania,an Ivy League institution for his remarkable achievement.Nkrumah did no ...
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You’ve written a thesis about Nkrumahism. The editor in the spirit of scholarship has given the audience the opportunity to comment on your article. And what do we see – you are trying your very best to stifle readers fro ...
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The Kwarteng guy, has an inferiority complex, that is his problem, hence always fighting peole commenting negatively to his Nkrumahism garbage.
What is this that the argument is about? Nkrumah and the rest, rip, did their part.
They left legacies for us to discourse on.
From my perspective, all these leaders could not fix our energy crisis the number of years they ...
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