Editorial: Poor Osageyfo

The ghost of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah must certainly be a very sad one and it is for good reasons.

The very forces which opposed his struggles for independence from colonial rule are in power today and they have the responsibility of leading the celebration of 50 years of independence.

These are the forces which boycotted Parliament when Nkrumah moved his motion of destiny for Ghana’s independence.

It was these same forces which argued that Ghana was not ready for independence and that instead of getting independence now (then), we should get it in the shortest possible time.

It is even more incredible that the same forces are proclaiming President Kufuor as the President of Africa following his selection as the Chairman of the African Union when one of the justifications of the 1966 coup was that Nkrumah wanted to be President of Africa.

What an irony?

The signs of our times are very clear.

As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of our independence, feverish preparations have been put in place to refurbish the image of J.B. Danquah and Obetsebi-Lamptey some of the most strident opponents of Nkrumah.

The Danquah and Obetsebi-Lamptey circles are being reconstructed and it is expected that they will be unveiled during the independence celebrations.

Unfortunately, relics which remind us of Nkrumah and his heroic contribution to the liberation of Africans are being neglected.

Water is sipping into his tomb at Nkroful. The house he was born in is crumbling and the mausoleum built for him in Accra has been completely neglected.

As for his ideas, they have been abandoned by even some of the people who claim to be members of the Convention People’s Party (CPP).

The other day, one of them was on radio claiming that the new ideology of the CPP was “Dignitarianism,” whatever that means and what happened to Nkrumaism.

Another one claimed that Nkrumaism is no longer relevant and that the CPP ought to look to Tony Blair’s failed third way theory.

Why would Nkrumah’s ghost not be very sad?

Oh! Poor Osagyefo!