In the first quarter of this year, within a period of 10 (ten) days, in-between 24 February and 6 March 2023, we observed anniversaries of 2 (two) major events which have characterized Ghana’s missed opportunities and misfortunes that have blighted our road to development and driven our country further back into pre-colonial under-development times.
Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, our first Prime Minister and later, first President of our republic was removed from power through a military coup d’état on 24 February 1966; 57 years ago, courtesy of Danquah-Busia-Dombo tradition, otherwise known as New Patriotic Party, which political party was instrumental in the overthrow of Dr. Nkrumah. For clarification’s sake, the Danquah-Busia-Dombo tradition has been variously known as United Party (1957-1969); re-named Progress Party by ex-Prime Minister K A Busia in 1969 and again, re-named by Ex- President J. A Kufuor as New Patriotic Party (NPP) in 1992.
Then, on 6 March 2023 Ghana observed its 66th Anniversary of Independence from Great Britain.
These two anniversaries pose the following questions:
1. Why did we fight for independence from Great Britain if we were not capable of managing our own affairs as stated by Kwame Nkrumah on Ghana’s attainment of independence?
2. Why was Nkrumah’s government overthrown if the opposition NPP, instigators of the takeover could not continue with the process of development put in place by Nkrumah?
We must not forget that the opposition NPP had tried unsuccessfully to win elections in Ghana and so resorted to various assassination attempts on Nkrumah’s life. It was therefore not surprising that after the coup d’état of February,1966, the then exiled opposition leader, Dr K. A. Busia returned from exile on 24th March,1966 to become the civilian head of the National Liberation Council military regime that removed Nkrumah from power.
Ghana is not working because all 11 (eleven) governments after Nkrumah have struggled too hard to run the affairs of our country as they lacked clear plans necessary to step into the shoes of Nkrumah. To wit, as powerful as he was, the removal of Kwame Nkrumah and then replacing him with Dr. K.A. Busia would be likened to uprooting an oak tree and replacing it with a pawpaw tree. Ghana needed a much more powerful leader to take over from Nkrumah than Busia.
Did we observe the anniversary of Nkrumah’s overthrow 57 years ago in solemn and sober moments of strife or remorse for the takeover that, to this date, has proven to be unnecessary and only succeeded in reversing the progress put in place by Nkrumah? We cannot turn a blind eye on Nkrumah’s achievements which took 9 (nine) years (1957-1966) to implement, including:
1. Building of Tema township/metropolis
2. Building of Tema Harbour
3. Construction of Tema-Accra Motorway
4. Construction of Adomi Bridge
5. Building of Akosombo Dam and Hydro-Electric project
6. GHAIP Oil Refinery at Tema
7. Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology
8. University of Cape Coast
9. A host of secondary schools and Teacher Training Colleges under Ghana Education Trust
10. Aboso Glass Factory
11. Bonsa Firestone Tyre Factory
12. Kade Match Factory
13. Pwalugu Tomato Factory
14. Bolgatanga Meat Factory
15. Silos-to preserve and store cocoa and other foods.
16. Atomic Energy Commission-Nuclear reactor for power generation
17. Tarkwa Gold Refinery (near completion in February 1966) Now a students’ hostel
18. Kumasi Jute Factory
19. National Omnibus Services Authority
20. Ghana Airways
21. Black Star Line Shipping that sailed through West Africa, Europe, United States of America, and Canada with circa 20 vessels as follows:
1. Benya River
2. Subin River
3. Lake Bosomtwe
4. Nakwa River
5. Afram River
6. Birim River.
7. Oti River
8. Sissalla River
9. Sakumo Lagoon
10. Bia River
11. Klotey Lagoon
12. Korle Lagoon
13. Keta Lagoon
14. Volta River
15. Kulpawn River
16. Tano River
17. Nasia River
18. Pra River
19. Densu River
20. Offin River
They came, they saw, they destroyed. In their desperation and excitement for political power, the opposition NPP tried unsuccessfully to erase Nkrumah’s record of achievements by labelling the CPP government as leaning towards communism because they did not understand Nkrumah’s policy of non-alignment which enjoined Ghanaians to link up with the Eastern bloc viz. USSR; China; Hungary; Poland; Czechoslovakia and East Germany in much the same way as the Western Europe, United States of America and Canada. This brings to the fore, what Nkrumah saw in the Eastern Block or Communism in 1950s NPP did not see. Today, the Peoples Republic of China otherwise known as Communist and Socialist China is a great friend of NPP which political party has set up an office in the People’s Republic of Communist China. Ghanaians now trade freely with the Chinese and Chinese Malls are springing up in Ghana today and the question once again is, what has changed the hitherto opposition NPP mindset that communism was bad for our country? Dr Kwame Nkrumah has been exonerated posthumously from censure now that NPP has acknowledged Nkrumah’s exploits?
Are we capable of running our own affairs?
On the day of Ghana’s Independence on 6 March 1957, Kwame Nkrumah said that “The Black man is capable of managing his own affairs”.
White supremacists in southern Africa countered Nkrumah’s statement as follows:
In 1965 Mr Ian Smith, Prime Minister of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) said “Give the Black man 1,000 years, he cannot run his affairs “and in 1988, Peter Willem Botha- South African Prime Minister and later State President said “Black people cannot rule themselves because they do not have the brain and mental capacity to govern a Society. Give them Guns, they would kill themselves. Give them power, they will steal all the Government money. Give them independence and Democracy, they will use it to promote Tribalism, Ethnicity, Bigotry, Hatred, Killings and Wars.”
In hindsight, Nkrumah’s assertion that we can manage our own affairs has been disproved by all eleven (11) governments after him, because after removing Nkrumah from power, most of infrastructures for development in place at the time were destroyed as part of their attempts to erase the good deeds and memory of Nkrumah and the CPP government. In so doing, the progress which we could have improved upon was halted. Without recourse, had Nkrumah’s foundations been continued, Ghana would have developed like Malaysia and other Asean countries. We can no longer fault the 2 (two) Southern African white Supremacist leaders; Ian Smith and Peter Botha for their statements because by the deeds of all 11 (eleven) Ghanaian governments after Nkrumah, they have alluded to the statements that truly, we cannot manage our own affairs.
The assertions by the white supremacists must worry us because they are entirely true by our own actions and inactions. Nkrumah was a self-less man who devoted himself to the success of not only Ghanaians but to the Black race everywhere on the planet. He was not parochial nor tribalistic or else he would have channelled the development of Tema township away from Greater Accra to the Western Region where he hailed from. He did not own a personal car; he did not build or buy a private house for himself as today’s parliamentarians and cabinet ministers do. His home, he maintained, was Flagstaff house. The only house to his name was a council flat or a local government housing estate property at Osu, Labone, Accra that Nkrumah renovated to accommodate his blind mother (Madam Nyaneba) and a few women who catered for Madam Nyaneba, hence, the name Nyaneba Estate was derived from Madam Nyaneba living on the estate. It was the public acclamation that named Labone Estate as Nyaneba Estate and that was apt and has remained so till this date.
The 57 years after removal of Nkrumah is summarised thus:
GOVERNMENTS AFTER DR. KWAME NKRUMAH YEARS
NPP: K.A. Busia (3yrs); J.A Kuffour (8yrs); Nana Addo Akuffo Addo Dankwa (7yrs- date) 18
PNDC/NDC 26
PNP: Dr Hilla Liman 2.5
Military Rules:
1. National Liberation Council 3
2 & 3. National Redemption Council and Supreme Military Council 7.5
Total 57
Breakdown of Eleven (11) Governments after Kwame Nkrumah
1. National Liberation Council February – 1966-1969 3
2. Progress Party (K. A Busia) – 1969-1972 3
3. National Redemption Council & Supreme Military Council 7.5
4. PNP (Hilla Liman) – September 1979 – 31 December 1981 2.5
5. PNDC – 1 January 1982 – January 1992 10
6. NDC – 1 January 1992 – January 2000 8
7. NPP (Kuffour) – January 2000 – December 2008 8
8. NDC – January 2009 – January 2017 8
9. NPP – 2017-2023 7
TOTAL 57
Abandoned Projects
NLC Military Junta, aided by the Danquah-Busia-Dombo tradition started abandoning projects by the Convention People’s Party (CPP) after the military take-over in 1966. Dr. K.A Busia, the civilian head of the military junta (NLC) was in charge and the soldiers endorsed irrespective the idea to abandon Nkrumah’s projects, whether it made good sense or not. Since then, this practise of abandonment has been the norm and has proved to be costly as the taxpayers’ funds are tied up in the abandoned projects. Truly, the statement Ghana Is not Working, sheds lights on what has gone wrong in the country since Kwame Nkrumah was overthrown.
Could we say the overthrow cast a spell on our country since nothing better has been done by the coup makers (NPP) to improve on Ghana’s infrastructural development and instead, destroyed and curtailed development in our motherland? It is now a reality that what ills were planted against Nkrumah has rebounded on our country and we are facing the consequences of mass unemployment, thievery within the highest places of several governments we have had, incompetency in governances because no one calls them to order nor do we as citizens have structures in place to probe political parties for undelivered Manifesto promises. We keep doing the same things and expect our country to move forward. Sadly, we have now entered a second era of Highly Indebted Poor Country (HIPC)and we have secured only 3billion dollars bailout form the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
This shall be discussed in the next input.
I salute Flight Lieutenant J.J.Rawlings and his Armed Forces Revolutionary Council on their 44th anniversary when they came to introduce Probity, Integrity, and Accountability. A few corrupt people, including Men/Women of God, Chiefs, Bankers etc were condemned to death by firing squad and most of them ran away to the UK, Germany, USA, Australia, and other countries. These corrupt people are back into the country and committing the same crimes for which they ran away from Ghana. Are we now calling for another military intervention to restore discipline in the country? Your guess must be as good as mine.
Kit Yawson
Chairman, PPP-UK, London
04 June 2023
