CPP North America challenges President Mills

Dear Professor Mills,

Our organization has been in the process of writing to congratulate you on your election as the President of our nation, Ghana. Though late, we thought we should let you settle in your office and complete your honeymoon as well as have clear mind in selecting your team to govern the nation. The desire to write to you came about after we listened to your “state of the nation address.”

We are writing this letter in a simple, plain Queen’s English so all will understand.

You unmistakably and honourably promised to institute a founder’s day in honour of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. Whilst we applaud you for this bold, long overdue initiative, we the North American Branch of the Convention Peoples Party believe that the founder’s day cannot be instituted in isolation. In a sense you cannot honour Nkrumah without the fulfillment of certain conditions. Your fulfillment of these conditions will make the declaration BOLD, UNTAINTED, LEGITIMATE and COMPLETE. It will further correct a wrong which has existed in our country for many years. The conditions are very simple and they are as follows:

that your government and your party, NDC, should condemn all coup d’états that have taken place in the country since independence, including that of December 31st 1981. that the name “Kotoka International Airport” be changed prior to the day set for the founder’s day. that you call on the founder and leader of the P/NDC to rescind his statement that Kwame Nkrumah gave us only a Flag and the National Anthem. Professor Mills, these are three simple but necessary conditions that MUST be fulfilled before the founder’s day becomes legitimate and complete. Our reasons are simple and as follows.

You are instituting the Founder’s Day principally because of the achievements of Kwame Nkrumah towards our independence. But you cannot raise Kwame Nkrumah to prominence whilst saboteurs of the very thing you are raising Nkrumah for is standing. Both achiever and the saboteur cannot stand; one has to sit whilst the other stands. As you raise Kwame Nkrumah to national and international prominence, the national saboteur/s must be torn down. Kotoka International Airport which is the gateway to Ghana should therefore be changed to Kwame Nkrumah International Airport. Kotoka’s statue must be torn down whilst that of Nkrumah’s is erected. No country on earth has named its international airport after someone who stood in a way of democracy, peace and development. John F. Kennedy, Foster Dulles and Charles de Gaulle did not stage coups in order to have airports named after them. Someone who does not come from Ghana may ask “who is this Kotoka person that you have named your airport after?” What will then be our answer? “He staged a coup to topple the founder of country.”The person may ask, “Are you Ghanaians serious people?” Coups d’états, irrespective of the reasons must be condemned. It is a treasonable offence to overthrow a democratically elected government. The NDC metamorphosed from the PNDC. All Ghanaians know that NDC is PNDC. PNDC led by J J Rawlings, came to power after overthrowing a democratically elected Nkrumaist government of Dr. Hilla Limann. When world leaders, UN and the World Bank forced the PNDC to hand over power to a civilian government, J J Rawlings removed the P from this military junta, named it the NDC and won the election. Fl. Lt. J. J Rawlings derided Kwame Nkrumah by saying “Kwame Nkrumah gave us only a National Anthem and a National Flag.” What an ignorant statement!!!! It is therefore appropriate that the founder of your Party (P/NDC) apologizes to the Nkrumah family, Ghanaians and the CPP for his reckless and ignorant remarks about Nkrumah and for his dastardly act - coup d’état - before his Party goes to Parliament to seek approval for the institution and implementation of the Founder’s Day.

Indeed Kwame Nkrumah gave us something that has never been matched. Below are just a few I want to remind you of. He offered Ghanaians of all social classes equality of opportunity to receive education, and equality of opportunity for employment, and more importantly, raised our awareness of our African identity and laid the foundation for national integration of a hodgepodge of colonial creation – Eastern and Western provinces (the colony), Ashanti, Northern Territories, and Trans-Volta Togo. We will like to remind you that the Akofenata (the State Sword) with which you took the oath of office; the Oman Adwa (the Seat of State) that you sat on during your inauguration ceremony; and the Oman Poma (what is erroneously called the Speaker’s Mace), are but few of the numerous national cultural symbols that Nkrumah had them created to foster a sense of national identity and to promote national integration. We urge you and all Ghanaians to study the symbolism of these unique items of the Ghanaian material culture. After 100 years of British rule and by the time Nkrumah assumed office in 1951 only 235,000 pupils were enrolled in primary schools. By 1965 over 1.2 million children were enrolled in primary schools. Check the records for secondary and tertiary education: in the 1964-65 school year, there were 89 secondary schools with 32,9721 pupils; 47 teacher training colleges with an enrolment of 10,168; 11 technical schools and 3 universities. Your party, P/NDC, dismantled our educational system and in its place, a JSS system was introduced. Since its inception, the JSS system has promoted poor quality of education in the country. The public school system in which your father (yes Prof Mills’ father) was a head teacher at Kisi (near Komenda), and of which you were a product, is now derisively called “cyto.” The JSS system has seriously undermined the foundations of human resource development, capacity building, and human capital formation in the country. At this stage, we will like to categorically state that any attempt to institute a founder’s day without the fulfillment of the above conditions would be seen as an attempt by your Party to hoodwink Ghanaians and the entire world into believing that NDC is an Nkrumaist party which, for Christ sake, you are not. It would be considered a mere rhetoric, empty gesture and your government would have done our nation justice and honour by instituting “Coup Makers Day” for Ghanaians. After all, the founder of your party considers Kotoka as his Hero. The NDC is not committed to NKRUMAISM and yet it wants to "Steal" Nkrumah's personality and legacy from CPP. This is deceptive. CPPNA and other CPP chapters have a role to expose your deception and hijacking events to push CPP agenda. We warn you that you WILL FAIL in your attempts to hijack CPP agenda and ideas. You cannot castigate us when we call on Nkrumah’s name and yet your (P/NDC) pretends to be Nkrumahist party. You have used Sekou Nkrumah to further disintegrate Nkrumah’s home. Your activities will come to naught.

President Mills, NDC doesn’t represent Nkrumah neither does it believe in NKrumaism. Nkrumaism is the ideas and ideals of Nkrumah, the founder of CPP. The founder of AFRC, P/NDC is not Nkrumaist, he believes in Kotoka. CPPNA is therefore calling on you, Prof Mills and the P/NDC to please stop deceiving Ghanaians. CPP is on the ascendency to liberate mother Ghana once again from neo-colonialism, poverty, injustice, looting, environmental degradation and the total liberation of Africa.

And lastly, we should all bow down our heads in shame for denying Kwame Nkrumah the right to come home and die in dignity in a country he devoted his entire life selflessly to liberate and empower socially, economically and politically. That was a national disgrace and we cannot honour him justifiably enough. We expect you to do the right and honourable thing, Prof.

May the Good Lord bless you.

Kweku Manful Vice-Chair: CPP North America Email. akokonini@hayoo.com