Nkrumah & Rawlings equal but opposite - Mazrui

Professor Ali Mazrui, Director of the Institute of Global Cultural Studies at Binghamton University in New York, USA, on Monday described former presidents Jerry John Rawlings and Dr. Kwame Nkrumah as equal but opposite in their political ideals.

Nkrumah, first president of Ghana, begun his political carrier as a democrat and ended as a dictator, whilst immediate past president Rawlings begun as a military dictator and ended as a democrat, Prof. Mazrui observed in the first of a series of three lectures in memory of Aggrey, Fraser and Guggisberg, organised by the University of Ghana, Legon to commemorate the immense contribution of the three great men to the development of education in Ghana.

The theme for the lectures were: Nkrumah's Legacy and Africa 's Triple Heritage: The Shadow of Globalisation and Counter-Terrorism, and the sub-topic for the first lecture was; Nkrumahism and triple heritage in the shadow of globalisation.

Prof. Mazrui recalled that his first lecture on Nkrumah's legacy in Ghana, in the 1960s was cancelled by the then Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Legon due to perceived controversy and political divisiveness at home. "I can now see that the atmosphere is freer for an open minded and critical discussion of Nkrumah's legacy in Ghana without fear of division," he said.

Prof. Mazrui noted that Dr. Nkrumah's contribution to globalisation, manifested positively and negatively in religion, governance, culture and technology, adding that his concepts came at a time when they were perceived as being over-ambitious and ahead of history.

"Nkrumah's hydro-electric dam at Akosombo, his marriage to Fathia having an Arabic and Islamic background as against his western training and claim to Christianity among others, were concepts which were perceived with suspicion at the time."

Prof. Mazrui noted that Dr. Nkrumah stood for African unity when he proposed a single state concept for Africa as the ultimate goal of his Pan-Africanism vision, whilst in Ghana he pursued a one party system.

"It was an irony for Nkrumah to have pushed for a single African state which would have reduced the sovereignty of individual African states, and yet maintained that in his country, Ghana multi-partism was a foul and out of place," he said.

This he said, made him very popular as an African and very unpopular as a Ghanaian, adding that: "Nkrumah was a great son of Africa but not a very good servant of Ghana."

Prof. Mazrui said the famous Preventive Detention Act (PDA) and the dismissal of a Chief Justice in Nkrumah's era were "dubious precedents", which have made his name go into history as the pioneer of black authoritarianism in post independence Africa.

He said Kwame Nkrumah projected himself so well on the African continent that he was a potential candidate for president of the proposed single African state, adding, other African leaders looked up to him for direction and for mortal inspiration without him asking for it.

"This Monarchical tendencies of Nkrumah made Ghana look larger than life in the eyes of other Africans and Nkrumah looked larger than destiny in the 1950s," he said. "Most African leaders took after Nkrumah to pursue similar policies in their individual countries."

Professor Mazrui cited former President Julius Nyerere of Tanzania who described multi-partism as obscene, artificial and unhealthy for the progress of Tanzania at the time, whilst Robert Mugabe has in recent times proved that he still holds on to lessons he learnt from Nkrumah.

"Mugabe must understand that such dictatorial tendencies helped Nkrumah in the eyes of the international community at the time, owing to the ideological conflict between the eastern socialists and the western capitalists, but now such dictatorial tendencies are frowned upon by both sides," he said.

Nkrumah had his training and culture from the west but was very anti-western in his policies, Prof. Mazrui noted, saying that his neo-colonial concept was designed to castigate western imperialism, which was the last of the attempts by the capitalists to rob Africa of its sovereignty.

"It is unfortunate that Mugabe seem to follow the same route at a time when the world is fast getting globalised and it is obvious that one nation can not survive under an exclusive ideology to the total detriment of other opinions," he said.

Prof. Mazrui noted that Nkrumah led the way in criticising terrorism when he spoke against Israeli attack on Palestine long before Israel finally took the lands from the Palestinians in the Middle East.

"It is also on record that the Palestinian Leader Yasser Arafat publicly criticised apartheid several times before Nelson Mandela was finally released and apartheid crumbled," he said. "It is unfortunate that African leaders can not follow the good example of Nkrumah but have rather remained quiet over the Middle-east affair."

He urged African leaders to comment on conflicts in other parts of the world as they expected leaders of the developed world to comment and contribute to conflict resolution in Africa.

He said the good examples and policies of Kwame Nkrumah should be considered as the future of Ghana and Africa and his bad examples considered as the past, "if present African leaders are to chart the right path for African development."