Celebrating The Life And Work Of Kwame Nkrumah

By Madi Jobarteh

‘Nkrumah battles Ghana’s neocolonialist intellectuals who were after their self-interest’

18 September 2015 marks the 106th birthday of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, first President of Ghana and the leading exponent for African unity in modern times. Following his studies in US and Britain, Nkrumah became a major organizer of African students in Europe until 1945 when the 5th Pan-African Congress took place in Manchester, UK in which he became the co-chair with the Honorable William EB Dubois, the chief convener of that historic meeting. The major resolution of that meeting called for the total decolonization of Africa, and for Nkrumah, it also meant the unification of African states. In 1947, Kwame returned to Ghana at the invitation of the conservative United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC), which was formed by elitist Ghanaian lawyers and businessmen, to help organize UGCC which was calling for independence on the basis of ‘as soon as possible’.

Immediately landing in Ghana, it became clear to Nkrumah that the leaders of UGCC led by a leading Ghanaian bourgeois intellectual and lawyer JB Danquah were not actually interested in the welfare of the people primarily; rather they were more interested to replace the colonizers in order to maintain their elite status as leaders of the people. Nkrumah had a different agenda. His agenda was for the people of Ghana and Africa to become the masters of their own destiny and control the resources of their land for the benefit of the people. Without doubt vibrations began to occur within UGCC especially when Nkrumah called for positive action, a peaceful civil disobedience action against colonialism leading to the arrest and detention of the leadership of UGCC. He was heckled by Danquah and Co while in prison for the ‘humiliation’ he brought upon them! Naturally, Nkrumah disengaged and organized common people and the famous ‘Verandah Boys’ (young, uneducated, poor, marginalized and exploited men and women who hang around stores and offices in cities and towns seeking any type of job to earn them a morsel of bread for that moment) into a formidable political movement called the Convention People’s Party (CPP) in 1949.

With a series of well calculated mass actions backed by a program of organization and enlightenment, the colonialists were forced to recognize that Ghana had to be free and independent. It must be recognized that the only weapons of the people against oppression and exploitation are organization and enlightenment. No force on earth; no army or amount of missiles can defeat a people who are conscious and aware of their worth and value as human beings and organized to bring about their freedom and dignity. However the struggle for liberation did not come without a number of schemes and delaying tactics by the British intended to derail the upcoming nation and sow seeds of disunity and conflict. For example, the first move the British did was to draft their own constitution as they always did with new nations designed to ‘legally’ disempower the new government that is to come in. For most of Africa for example, such as the Gambia, Nigeria and Zimbabwe which lacked conscious leadership at the time of independence, Britain imposed constitutions on them, which in the case of Nigeria and Zimbabwe came to haunt them throughout their post-independence history up to today.

A federal constitution was placed on Nigeria which is at the root of the disunity, power struggle and corrupt leadership in that country, while the Lancaster House negotiations between Britain and the European settlers on one hand and the African freedom fighters led by Robert Mugabe and Joshua Nkomo on the other hand in 1979 led to an agreement and a constitution which stipulated that the Mugabe government will not raise the issue of land redistribution until 10 years after independence which then would be funded by the UK and US. To add insult to injury the agreement further states that the land reform will be based on a ‘willing seller, willing buyer’ principle, which means even if the funds are available, the government can only buy land from a settler who is willing to sell his or her land, otherwise no selling takes place. Obviously the colonialist had no intention to honour such commitment and the reason for the 10-year moratorium on land reform was merely to continue the colonial structure and give the settlers enough time to use all forms of protection so that when the ten years elapses, the government of Zimbabwe will find it difficult to get back the land, legally. What then happened in Zimbabwe since the mid 1990s to date is a direct offshoot of what they unconsciously agreed to in 1979 leading to independence in 1980!

Nkrumah, who had advised Nigerian leaders at the time to reject the British-made constitution because of its trappings for a new state, automatically rejected the colonial constitution imposed on himself in Ghana. That constitution had divided Ghana into regions and empowered them on a federal basis. It made the Asante region the largest and made the Asantehene, the King of the Ashanti, the paramount chief of the nation. Nkrumah realized that such arrangement was as good as handing over the new nation and its President to the Asantehene, while the rest of the regions and their chiefs become subservient to the Ashanti. Incidentally Asante land is also the richest region in Ghana and constitutes more than half of the population, with most of the educated people of Ghana such as the leaders of UGCC. This action by the British was merely an attempt to plunge Ghana, as an emerging nation into a tribal warfare with a moribund government thereby laying the stage for a new round of colonialism as the new incapacitated nation will be forced to return to London for technical assistance of all sorts. With the intensification of positive action, Nkrumah was arrested in 1951. The people continued the unrest until the colonialists were forced to hold elections while the leader of the people was in prison. Nkrumah was registered for Accra and when the results came out, he won the Accra seat by more than 28,000 votes out of about 30,000 cast ballots! He was released immediately and asked to form a government on the basis of an ‘internal self-rule,’ another tactic of derailment and containment by the colonialist. As opposed to the Gambia, which continues to observe February 18 as Independence Day instead of April 24 when we became independent in 1970, Nkrumah realized the difference between ‘internal self rule’ and ‘independence’. In 1954, he laid before the colonial ‘internal self-rule’ parliament a ‘Motion of Destiny’ in which he called for Independence Now! The struggled intensified so much so that Britain had to concede and Ghana was granted independence on 6 March 1957. Fifty eight years ago!

On Independence Night Nkrumah declared that, “the independence of Ghana is meaningless unless it is linked up with the total liberation of the African continent.” Essentially what Nkrumah meant was that as long as there are other countries on the continent that were not independent then Ghana’s independence is under threat from colonial powers. This also means that just as Ghana was independent it is necessary all other states on the continent to also gain independence in order to ensure the security and development of all of Africa. In fact he utilized the resources of Ghana extensively to support the independence struggle. When Guinea Conakry drove the French out through a referendum in 1958, Nkrumah gave the new country 10 million pounds for the new government to begin with as the departing French virtually emptied the country of all ingredients needed by a government to run a country! Hence for Nkrumah, independence was merely a first step and a means to secure a developed Africa, as he used to say, “seek first the political kingdom, and all other shall be added unto it.”

With Ghana’s independence, Nkrumah launched an ambitious program of liberation for the whole continent. Ghana immediately became the headquarters for all liberation movements and freedom fighters. On 15th April 1958 he convened the Conference of Independent African States which were eight at the time – Guinea Conakry, Sudan, Libya, Egypt, Morocco, Ethiopia and Liberia. The purpose of that conference was for those states to come to a common understanding and plan for Africa in terms of how to support the liberation struggle and lay the basis for unity when independence is finally complete. It was at that conference that April 15 was declared African Freedom Day, which was to be changed to African Liberation Day on May 25 following the formation of the OAU in Addis Ababa in 1963. Following the April conference, Nkrumah again called another major congress in December of the same year, the All-African People’s Congress in which he invited all liberation movements and freedom fighters on the continent to converge on Accra for a series of consultations to decide our common and future destiny. From the Cape to Cairo; Banjul to Mogadishu, all liberation movements and hundreds of freedom fighters participated in the meeting. Within five years of that congress, Africa gained 32 independent states by 25th May 1963!

Nkrumah had realized very early that unless we have the capacity to decide own our destiny and take control of our resources which is basically what independence means, we would not be able to therefore develop ourselves socially, economically, culturally, intellectually and ultimately gain liberation in its totality. Furthermore Nkrumah’s concept of a free and independent Africa is incomplete without African Unity. On unity he was unequivocal that either Africa unites or it perishes. In a statement to fellow leaders who constituted the radical Casablanca Bloc in a meeting in 1961 in Rabat, Morocco, he said, “as I have always stated, and as I will continue to proclaim, I can see no security for African states unless African leaders like ourselves have realized beyond all doubts that salvation for Africa lies in Unity. Your Majesty, excellencies, let us unite, for in unity lies strength, and as I see it, African states must unite or sell themselves out to imperialist and colonialist exploiters for a mess of pottage, or disintegrate individually.”

This is because Nkrumah observed that it is only within the context of African unity with one government that can we garner the required capital, resources and expertise that individual countries lacked to engage in any meaningful level of economic development and investment. Otherwise he noted that what will happen is that we will end up going back to the colonialists to take loans, expertise and materials for our development thereby laying the foundation for a new round of colonialism. This he prophetically said would lead to our lack of fulfilling the needs and aspirations of our people and so with increased poverty and hardship all forms of vices such as corruption, coups, civil wars and strife will characterize the African nation.

“What I fear worst of all is the fact that if we do not formulate plans for unity and take active steps to form a political union, we would soon be fighting and warring among ourselves with imperialists and colonialists standing behind the screen and pulling vicious wires, to make us cut each other’s throats for the sake of their diabolical purposes in Africa,” observes Nkrumah.

Nkrumah already had a plan for unity even before most of our so-called leaders dreamt of unity. At the 1963 OAU Summit, he placed his plan before his colleagues which can be summarized into a 10-point proposal:

  1. A Common Economic and Industrial Program
  2. An African Common Market
  3. A Common African Currency
  4. An African Monetary Zone
  5. An African Central Bank
  6. A Continental Communications System
  7. A Common Foreign Policy and Diplomacy
  8. A Common Defense System
  9. A Common African Citizenship
  10. A Common African Army with an African High Command

It is clear today that the entire preoccupation of the African Union is merely to follow the proposals made by Nkrumah. This same proposal is what we see take shape in Europe which was not known to be keen about unionism at the time Nkrumah was vehemently arguing the case for Africa. Nkrumah’s contribution to the liberation and development of Africa was not only in the political sphere. He was also an accomplished and prolific writer who published books on socio-political and economic issues almost every year of his presidency. In 1963, Nkrumah published, ‘Africa Must Unite’ and distributed copies to the new leaders who converged on Addis Ababa to sensitize them on the challenges they confront and called for unity. They did not heed his call. In 1965, when the OAU summit took place in Accra, he again published ‘Neo-colonialism: The Last Stage of Imperialism’, a book that explores and exposes the nature of colonialism and its new versions and how they are strangulating Africa. Furthermore this book exposed how the neo-colonial system is intertwined with global politics and economics and the powers of the West in how they deal with Africa. This book was so revealing that the US government had to summon the Ghanaian ambassador in Washington to the State Department to hand over a protest note which threatened that anything that happened to Ghana was the fault of Nkrumah. Within six months of the publication of that book, the CIA hatched a well coordinated regime change in Accra with the help of misguided soldiers and police officers.

Nkrumah believed in Africa and argued that a new Africa was needed; hence the African Personality which he noted constitutes a set of values and standards which must characterize not only the African man or woman, but also of the African government and its institutions. In his view the New Africa needs a new African Personality who embodies these values:

“Africa needs a new type of citizen, a dedicated, modest, honest, informed man and woman who submerges self in service to the nation and mankind. A man and woman who abhors greed and detests vanity. A new type of man and woman whose humility is his and her strength and whose integrity is his and her greatness.”

In this new century, Nkrumah is gaining more and more popularity and acceptance than ever in his lifetime. In fact it is important to note that in 2000 BBC listeners in Africa voted Kwame Nkrumah as the ‘African Man of the Millennium’! African scholars, leaders, students and general public are now beginning to understand and appreciate the laudable project Nkrumah was engaged in for Africa. It is now believed in many circles that had Nkrumah’s program been left to flourish, the continent would have attained a higher level of development as to match that of the developed countries otherwise known as Tiger economies.

It is also important to note here that contrary to views held by some Ghanaians and Africans that Nkrumah neglected his home country for Africa, a cursory look at his government will show that in fact Nkrumah was laying the basis for a very modern state in Ghana with a speed and strength unprecedented in the history of any new nation, including the United States of America. By 1965 Nkrumah had already laid down plans to launch Ghana into nuclear technology! Not only was education and healthcare free for all at all levels, but also Nkrumah’s government virtually laid the foundation for any endeavor of development that any modern nation would require – from sports, communications, agriculture and energy to transportation, medicine, education and capacity building among others. When the Akosombo Dam opened in 1965, it was the biggest dam in the world. Of this dam, Nkrumah said the rationale was to provide adequate and uninterrupted energy for the purpose of industrializing Ghana, because as he put it, the future of nations will be determined by how industrialized a nation is or not; those who can manufacture their own finished products and compete in the global market versus those who are mere producers of raw materials and consumers of the manufactured goods of others; those who have mastered technology which they use to expand and provide healthcare, education and agriculture and those who depend on rudimentary and ancient methods in providing human needs.

Nkrumah’s life was not only significant for himself, but for what he stood for and his mission and what he envisioned. In the first place colonialism was a crime against humanity, just as slavery before it. The entire struggle against slavery and colonialism was a struggle for democracy and freedom. It was also a struggle for dignity, knowledge of self and re-discovery and recognition of a people’s worth and value as human beings. This is because slavery and colonialism are projects that dehumanize and disempower as they oppress and exploit human beings as tools to be used as a means to an end.

As we celebrate the life and work of Nkrumah, we cannot fail to assess the health of independence in Africa and to ask the fundamental question, ‘Is the struggle for liberation complete?’

Since the overthrow of Nkrumah on 24th February 1966 by the Ghana military and police with the direct backing from the US government and their Western allies, Africa has witnessed constant challenges of development and marginalization in the world. According to reports by the World Bank and the IMF, the vast majority of African people live on less than $2 a day, while disease and conflicts take a toll on its people. There is no contest that Africa is the most endowed continent with natural and mineral resources, yet Africa houses some of the poorest people on earth. Kwame Nkrumah himself had observed that, ‘if Africa’s multiple resources were used in her development, they could place Africa among the most modernized continents of the world, but Africa’s resources are used for the development of overseas countries.”

As the excruciating pain of conflicts, diseases and poverty ravage our people, it is sad to note that the African leadership, intellectuals and institutions have failed to develop the necessary instruments, policies and programs, or where they have created them, refuse to respect and apply them in order to place the continent on a path of development and democracy. Rather, bad governance and corruption has now become the major trademark of the continent. Human rights workers have observed that the respect for the rule of law and constitutionality are fast fading away in the whole of Africa day by day. In most countries, basic human rights and freedoms are being violated with impunity, while constitutionality is being disregarded leading to bloody civil strife as witnessed in Ethiopia, Kenya and Zimbabwe following election malpractices by their governments and political parties recently. In several other countries such as Burundi, DRC, Egypt and Sierra Leone among others constitutions are being changed or about to change or tailor-made in order to allow one man to rule indefinitely or have their sons inherit them as has already happened in DRCongo, Togo and Gabon. Corruption and narco-trade is so rife in many countries that it has polluted the political environment to a level that state institutions have basically collapsed or inefficient. In far too many countries, governments have become totally intolerant to dissenting view that basic freedoms are under constant threat. In other parts of the continent, for far too long civil wars are just common such as in Sudan, Somalia, and Congo, while coups, which are thought to be outdated have reared its ugly head again in Burkina Faso with many other countries facing threats of coups. In most of our countries, State inefficiency and wastage, and lack of public trust and confidence in the political system have become endemic, which serve to only entrench corruption, poor service delivery and proliferation of criminal activity.

While bad governance continues unabated, the leadership of Africa has refused to take the necessary steps to deal with the issue. For example the recent AU summit voted overwhelmingly to condemn the ICC, yet the continent has taken no definite steps to deal with impunity and crimes against humanity that continue to be unleashed by criminal leaders on the continent! With the exception of Botswana, even countries that pose positive signs for the continent such as Ghana have kept mute over the issue when it is expected that Accra of all places would stand up and speak out on the side of the people. Furthermore, since February 2009 when the Heads of State met in Addis Ababa and called for contributions to fund the trial of Hissene Habre, it is sad that up to today no one government has made any contribution to kick start the trial of that murderer. These and other intolerable conditions are one of the very reasons why African youths, having lost all hope in their motherland, are bracing the high seas on a deathly journey to Europe by any means, even unnecessary.

The end result of these tragedies is that Africa has become more impoverished, insecure, corrupt, marginalized, weakened and disrespected in the world. The situation is so grave that some observers claim that the continent now runs the risk of recolonization or self-destruction. The wealth of the continent however continues to feed the rest of the world and a very small minority of Africa’s elite, as the people scavenge in their rubbish and leftovers in the midst of abundance. From all indications therefore, it is clear that the New Africa and the African Personality dreamt by Nkrumah has been betrayed by mainly the leaders and intellectuals in Africa, but which are so essential if Africa is to fulfill the needs and aspirations of her people, and take her rightful position in the comity of nations.

In the 106th year of Nkrumah’s birth and given the deplorable condition of Africa, it is an understatement to call on all Africans to take their destiny into their own hands and demand an Africa that they deserve; an Africa where they enjoy the full and complete benefits of her wealth and resources; an Africa where people enjoy their rights and freedoms without fetters; an Africa where the rule of law and democracy thrives.

The greatest challenge we face today is how to continue to decolonize our minds, our institutions, our systems and Africa as a whole in order to ensure that rights and freedoms and democratic culture are internalized and become our way of life. This is the only way to empower and develop ourselves and Africa so that we will become direct beneficiaries of our wealth and work, and occupy our rightful place among the nations of the world. In this challenge we must confront ourselves as individuals, leaders, institutions as well as our beliefs and culture, for we no longer can afford to romanticize either the past nor abet bad leadership and glorify negative culture on the basis of color or African-ness. We are human beings who deserve dignity, freedom, justice and development. Nkrumah Lives…

Long live the New Africa! Death to this Decadent Africa of today!!

Ends

17 Comments

  1. deyda haidara

    It’s a delight reading you brother Madi Jorbateh.

    The last time I cried in private was in 1996 because I thought GOD had send us “Soldiers with a difference” to salvage the Gambia but Halas! I was woefully wrong. Today I cried again because Madi Jobarteh made me cry with his eulogy to my Master, my Prophet, and my Guide Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. It is known that in Africa, all Warriors had a special man who makes them feel like INVINCIBLE, well brother Madi, you are my historian in the true sense of words I cannot describe with satisfaction.
    What else can I say but HOPE. Somehow something deep inside me tells me that Africa will OVERCOME. Is it GOD/Allah telling us not to despire, I am not too sure but I beilive in FOCUS, WORK and PERSEVERENCE. Yes the Arabs had prophets. The Jews had theirs. Europeans also had theirs yet we Africans forgot ours. The “Naar/Toubabs” would not want us African to CHERISH and IMITATE our prophets. It is therefor obvious that the complex reside is our minds.
    Madi you have dilated on the socioeconomic and political aspect of Nkrumah’s journey but did divulge the SPIRITUAL dimension of the MAN. I am sure I chocked many when I referred to him a Prophet. Oh! He had no special way or place for worship as Muslims in the mosque, Jews in the synagogue or Christians the church. Behold! His place of worship was in his heart and mind. God was watching and guiding Him. As you rightly said Nkrumah NEVER rested in his quest and work to move and see Africa in a wonderful and powerful dream just as prophets prayed and wished to see their disciples excel. So was Nkrumah with his SPLENDOR prayed and wished us Africans to be the most powerful people on earth.
    Prophets are usually persecuted and Nkrumah was no exception but GOD never allowed anyone to kill him. He died PEACEFULLY in the hands of his loyal Lieutenant President Ahmed Sekou Toure who also died peacefully despite all the attempted coups against his regime. His most loyal disciple Kwame Toure was also spared from the hands of the neo-colonialist and died peacefully. There is a SIGN of GOD in the life and death of these honorable “trio”. I will also make you cry brother Madi Jobarteh. The Gambia has great people and you are one of them.
    Yaya Jammeh failed us, he betrayed us, he killed us, he torture us, he jail us, he steal our wealth, he exiled us, he insults us publicly, he faked his true colors but today the sun is shining. He is exposed, kept in an open jail called the Gambia he is scared, paranoid, confused and sick. He will end up BADLY.
    The future of our country is bright with Gambians like you.
    To bring a little laughter in this write-up here is a little story. In Senegal a lot people are yearning for a Yaya Jammeh leadership style in Senegal. They say they are tired of freedom of expression, movement and association and want to see a lot people go to jail and some even killed without due process. They say the dozens of political parties, the dozens of TV stations and the hundreds of radio stations make them confused and disgusted as NOTHING has changed in practice since Independence. A real paradox and contrast with the Gambia today. Mali will never say this, Burkina will never say this and many other African countries that have gone thru dictatorships will NEVER wish what these innocent and ill informed Senegalese wish for themselves. Lol! Sometimes when I hear these remarks, I don’t know if I should laugh or cry. It simply reminds me of Nkrumah’s prophecy of how erratic a people being fed-up with a particular status quo can go up to the point of wishing itself doom. French colonialism at work, I would say a lot of lessons are to be learnt from this. By mentioning this Senegalese anecdote, I wish to incite a reflection and debate on the African mindset.
    Madi look at how the Muslims are tearing each other apart and how Jews and Muslims are tearing each other apart around the world. Do they care about the Koran or the Thorah or the teaching of the prophets? Ney! What can we Africans learn from this? I would conclude by saying that someone else hidden somewhere around the world is pulling the strings between us all whiles being far away from the wars, conflicts, poverty and religious intolerance. Who are they? Your guess is as good as mine. Who said GOD never sent African prophets on earth? Verily GOD has inspired and will continue to INSPIRE Africans to tell others we are HERE and will not accept but the TRUTH and HEED to what Nkrumah told us 66 years ago. The message is CLEAR and VALID today.
    May our Master RIP.
    Thank you Teacher Madi Jobarteh.

  2. Lafia Touray la Manju

    Turning Ghana into a One Party State was Nkurumah’s gravest mistake. This was an invite to the successive coups that plagued Ghana in the 1970s and 80s. It is good to see that this trend has been irreversibly reversed with the RE-INTRODUCTION of multi-party democracy and the institution of term-limit.

    I hate giving credit to Flt. Lt. J.J Rawlings because of the inspirations he advertently or inadvertently gave to Yahya Jammeh of The Gambia, but he (Rawlings) deserves credit for relinguishing power and allowing multi-party democracy and term limit to take root in Ghana.

    Peep! Peep! Peep!, Ghana is free forever.

    Thanks

    • deyda haidara

      Lafia we have heard your old music billions of times. This is line of defense of the pro- neocolonialist. Times are of essence in analysing a situation. I will not waste my precious time on your anti- Nkrumahism. All prophets had enemies and Kwame is no exception. Thank God you acknowledge that Rawlings a devout Nkrumahist has renewed our Master’s wish and urshed in a stable and developping Ghana.
      Gambia needs his Rawlings and maybe it will be you??? lol!

  3. Lafia Touray la Manju

    Deyda, but is it not true that Nkrumah repudiated multi-party democracy in Ghana and turned the country into One Party State?? This is the only issue I have with Nkrumah’s legacy and all objective people who analysed Nkrumah’s legacy have acknowledged that this was a grave mistake and a bad precedent for Ghana and Africa as a whole. Who in his informed mind will disagree with that??

    By the way, I am not Anti-Nkrumah.

    Thanks

  4. Great piece and a fitting tribute to a very,very great man…

    Lafia….I think the context of Krumah’s time and circumstances must be considered to understand his decision to establish a one party state in Ghana…

    There is a time for everything and I don’t think independent Africa was ready for multi-party democracy, given colonialism ‘s strategy of “divide and rule”…where some tribes or ethnic groups were favoured against others…

    This caused bad blood between various groups and resentment and this was exploited by many post independent African politicians…hence the political violence witnessed in many newly independent states…

    Nkrumah could see that political parties in Ghana were assuming tribal,ethnic,religious and regional characters, which could threaten the survival of the new nation…

    That was why the “Avoidance of Discrimination Act” (which bars formation of parties on such considerations ) was passed in 1957, but obviously that didn’t work…So the drastic measure of abolishing political contest between different parties had to be adopted..

    One could say therefore, that the introduction of the one party state in Ghana by Nkrumah, actually saved Ghana from conflict and possibly, disintegration…

    • Luntango Suun Gann Gi

      Bax says: “One could say therefore, that the introduction of the one party state in Ghana by Nkrumah, actually saved Ghana from conflict and possibly, disintegration…”

      Luntango says: LOL my in-law, President Jammeh will probably agree with you!

      Personally, as a kid living in Haile Sellasie’s Ethiopia then (later a teenager in Jomo’s Nairobi where I still cherish an old group photo taken with Mzee in 1968), it is Nkrumah’s pursuit of the One-Africa Dream that stand’s out as his number one achievement. The RED, GREEN & GOLD colours of Ethiopia’s flag were adopted by Nkrumah’s Ghana and later in many countries across Africa (though The Gambia rejected the red green and gold colours to be “distinct” from Senegal who had the red green and gold).

      Nkrumah, like Haile Selassie, was a GREAT PAN-AFRICANIST but also, like Haile Selassie, he was a DICTATOR at home. Of course, Nkrumah was actively under-mined by the CiA who have accepted on record that they did help in his overthrow because he was a “Commie”.

      I attach a piece I did on Nkrumah some ten years back while vacationing in The Gambia – I bought the two books from Timbooktoo – a great bookshop.

  5. Lafia: Good to hear that you are not anti Nkrumah. I think you are right about the one party state issue but we must understand the times and circumstances which compelled the post independence leaders to declare one party states. These were newly emerging independent states from Colonialism whilst the fear of resorting back to Colonialism and distrust of the old powers lingered on at the time. Many leaders were of the view that if they allowed many parties to operate it may lead their countries to chaos and disunity. It was not only Nkrumah but African leaders at the time had all felt the same.
    But I agree with you that leaders like Nkrumah could have even stabilized their countries by opening up to multi-party contest and there was no doubt that Ghana would have flourished under his leadership and Ghanaians would have continued giving him the support he deserved based on the progress that was made.
    We must accept and give credit to Nkrumah and his likes as independence fighters who had done everything to free their countries from external domination which they have done very well during that epoch. The generation that came after them should have known that it is their responsibility to not only consolidate those gains but to build genuine democratic institutions and to make sure that those institutions serve the purpose for which they are intended and be respected. Unfortunately, corruption and greed took the toll of many of them and the whole situation degenerated leading to civil wars and poverty as predicted by Nkrumah.
    Our generation now has the duty to enlighten and reorganise our societies, to decolonize our minds, our institutions, our systems in order to ensure that rights and freedoms and democratic culture are internalized and become our way of life as stated succinctly by Madi. We must remember that even though guns can change regimes but it cannot bring about good systems unless and until we engage in the painstaking work necessary to uplift the level of awareness of our people without whom no change is everlasting.
    Bravo Madi!

  6. Madi………Your article on Nkrumah, his legacy, philosophy and ideology was great indeed.You have shown the true Pan-Africanist at work both in Africa and the worldwide African struggle.I agree with Deyda Hydara that you captured the true ideals of a great man, a man dedicated most of his life in the struggle for Africa’s liberation and emancipation. On his birthday anniversary, he must be smiling in his grave………but you know as we all should know that, he wants us to continue the struggle to liberate Africa.And remember that……..’the only person that has not made a mistake in the struggle, is the one that has done nothing’ …….Keep it up and keep it coming !!!

  7. Lafia Touray la Manju

    Bax, repudiating multi-party democracy can never be justified regardless of time. It was simply an invitation for successive coups in Ghana and it was a grave mistake.

    Thanks

  8. Invitation to successive coups..? How do you reconcile that claim with the following facts of history…

    Zambia turned into a one party state under Kaunda, for much of his rule…No history of successive coups…

    Nigeria never introduced one party state…but probably experienced the most coups than any in the continent…

  9. Mr Nkrumah is greatest African thinker with great Vision for the Africans . A great mind like Dr Nkrumah who are not interested in selfish name recognition and materials should be exemplary to all African intellectuals .

  10. Baxs says ” one could say therefore , that the introduction of one party state in Ghana by Nkrumah actually saved Ghana from conflict and possibly disintegration., ”

    Luntango says ” my in-law , president jammeh will probably agree with you ”

    Dida , you have seen how your in-law Baxs is thinking like Dictator Jammeh. You have pointed this because you have lived under dictatorship of Haile Sellasie while you continue to celebrate our military dictatorship . What an hypocritical stand . Bax and Jammeh has the same thinking because Jammeh use such pretext as well as the name of national security to oppress and suppress Gambians . This is why he came with stupid laws and policies that would entrench him in power forever. It is not a surprise to see him having the same thinking and position as Dictator Jammeh in democratic process .
    Bax went further to state that ” there is time for everything and I don’t think independent Africa was ready for multi-party democracy , given colonialism’s strategy of divide and rule ”
    Here is Jammeh talking about time :
    Jammeh says ” I will rule this country for one billion years , .., they cannot preach their democracy to us and anybody who used human rights to cause trouble will be killed ”

    If this is the type of mindset he has , why would he not offer personal sympathy to public officials and their families without any sympathy being offer to the real victims of military dictatorship ? Bax thinking is directly from Jammeh’s play book and I am sure he would be happy to see that Jammeh implemented 2015 election acts because Gambia is not ready for multi-party democracy.
    Don’t you know that when multi-party democracy was introduced in Ghana then , it would have much broader impact on the African continent at large .Multi-party democracy at the time should have been an experimental project which can result to geniune democracy today . Your suggestion to dismiss and repudiation of multiparty democracy at the time of Ghana’s independence is true testament to your current rigid and outdated political view regarding Gambian struggle.

    • deyda haidara

      In fact Maxs, the political history of Senegal teaches us about single party and multi-party politics for 50 years without a single coup d’etat. Food for thought.

  11. “Nkrumah was a dictator”, says my-in-law….What say you DH…?

  12. Firstly, anyone capable of understanding simple English can see that I referred to a specific period in Africa’s history ( immediately after independence), in my statement about multi-party democracy, and gave my reasons….. It is not a problem if one disagrees with me, but.to give my statement an open ended interpretation and then associate it with an event in The Gambia in 2015, is most dishonest, to say the least…

    Secondly, my statement on Ghana’s introduction of One Party Rule under Nkrumah, is actually in defense of that great man, against his accusers…I am thus very surprised that someone who calls Nkrumah the “greatest African thinker with great Vision for the Africans” would have an issue with my defense of Dr Nkrumah…That is the height of CONTRADICTIONS…

    Either Dr Nkrumah was the “greatest African thinker with great vision for the Africans” or he was a dictator….So which is it, Mr CONFUSED…? He can’t be both in my view..

  13. Luntango Suun Gann Gi

    Bax, my in-law he can be both – if I may paraphrase the English Pen “The sweetest rose also has the prickliest thorn”. Jomo too was a hero – and a dictator and killer (Google Mboya and JM Kariuki). Kaunda, Nasser, Sekou Toure, Mugabe, etc, etc. Even Mwalimu himself was a dictator (Google Kambona).

Leave a Reply to Lafia Touray la Manju Cancel

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*