Watch video of charged political atmosphere as Komla Gbedemah campaigns to beat Busia in 1969 polls

Scenes of the political atmosphere in 1969 were not so different from the ones of recent years, as have been seen in a video shared by Ghana Facts & History on X.

In this particular video, where Komla Gbedemah, a former Minister of Finance who served under Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, was captured in the heat of a campaign environment, shows how charged up the crowd was as he appeared on the scene.

The black and white visuals also captured the excitement of some of the sympathisers of Gbedemah as they hailed him.

When he took the stage to address the charged crowd, Gbedemah said, “We must rebuild our country. We must not expect people from America or from China to come and do it for us. We may need advice and we do not have advisors, we can seek advisors, but the main task would have to be done by ourselves, and we must condition ourselves to work so hard without tiring, that in five years, we can look back and say to ourselves, could this have been done before?

“Yes, it could have been done before, but men were misguided, men lost their sense of direction, men lost religion which brought to them into public office and began to look after their own interests.”

The caption as shared by Ghana Facts & History with this video reads:

“Komla Gbedemah, a Former Minister in Kwame Nkrumah's Government, makes bid for power in the 1969 Elections in Ghana -- the first since the military deposed Nkrumah in a bloodless coup. The leadership battle was between Gbedemah, leader of the (NAL) and Dr. Kofi Busia, of the PP.”

See the video below:

Komla Gbedemah, a Former Minister in Kwame Nkrumah's Government, makes bid for power in the 1969 Elections in Ghana -- the first since the military deposed Nkrumah in a bloodless coup. The leadership battle was between Gbedemah, leader of the (NAL) and Dr. Kofi busia, of the PP. pic.twitter.com/6T5N00Nmfx

— GHANA FACTS & HISTORY (@GhanaianMuseum) August 1, 2024