Indeed, Nkrumah never dies

Folks, all the drivel from the anti-Nkrumah camp, seeking to undermine him has already backfired. Nowhere in his political career did the Great Osagyefo, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, ever declare himself as the FOUNDER of Ghana.

I have read around and done a lot of research on the concept and come to naught. The Great Osagyefo was a humble servant who did his part to get Ghana where he thought it should be in the community of nations.

And he left the scene, virtually unsung, even if he has remained dear to the hearts of those of us who still acknowledge him for his accomplishments in diverse ways. That is why we still uphold the refrain that “Nkrumah never dies”.

Those who think otherwise can go to blazes. But they must first produce evidence to support their claim that Nkrumah declared himself as the founder of Ghana. He never did so. Those seeing him as such in our time have their reasons for doing so, probably based on circumstantial evidence: Nkrumah’s lasting legacy to Ghana, Africa, and the world. No wonder he is regarded very much for his talk on the “African Personality”. He still stands tall.

That is why all the gas that functionaries supportive of the Danquah-Busia political wastepipe have spewed out of late to create the impression that Dr. Kwame Nkrumah is not the founder of Ghana has already ended in smoke. It hasn’t achieved anything to erase the Great Osagyefo’s monumental contributions to the making of the Republic of Ghana. And it won’t do so for as long as their own idols left nothing significant behind with which to erase the image of the Great Osagyefo.

What are the lasting achievements of Dr. Joseph Kyeretwie Boakye Danquah? Or the wide-mouthed effeminate Dr. Kofi Abrefa Busia? Nothing with which to immortalize them, even if we quickly dismiss them as sell-outs.

So-called intellectuals, politicians, and shapers of public opinion like the Speaker of Parliament (Mike Ocquaye) did all they could when they spoke at for a arranged by the anti-Nkrumahist camp purposely to rewrite Ghana’s history with the view to belittling the Great Osagyefo.

Whatever came from the Speaker of Parliament only added vim to our critical assessment of his own worth (someone who has written books on the political growth of Ghana to put Nkrumah on a high pedestal only to turn round to undercut himself just for political expediency under an Akufo-Addo government that is bent on whitewashing the Danquah-Busia political farce without really knowing how to do so).

In a sense, then, the lectures addressed by Prof. Ocquaye and the utterances issuing forth from him haven’t achieved any concrete object to sideline the Great Osagyefo. Neither have opinion pieces written by some such as Cameron Duodu, which Ghanaweb published on the occasion, dimmed Nkrumah’s light.

He remains the best gift to Ghana by Nature at the time and will continue to be upheld as such. Indeed, Nkrumah’s life teaches lessons in humility, purposefulness, focused political pursuits, and brazen confrontation with the powers-that-be. Nkrumah knew that in terms of material wealth, he was nothing before the merchants and moneyed people who formed the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC) to pursue objectives that he would later break away from because he hated “reactionary” posturing.

Indeed, once he saw the light, he found his own means to chart a path that would give Ghana what it needed when it needed it. The British establishment agreed with him and supported all his efforts to win political independence for Ghana without any bloodshed after lessons had been learnt on the February 28, 1948 nationwide rioting and arson (thanks to the vigilante work by Nii Kwabena Bonnie IV, Osu Alata Mantse, and the unfortunate mis-reaction of the Inspector Imray contingent that caused the Osu Castle crossroads murder of the demobilized Gold Coast soldiers of the Second World War, namely, Sgt. Adjetey, Corp. Ayitey, and Co.). I recall the history here, folks.

In it all, Nkrumah found his way out of the Ussher Prisons to be what his good work had prepared him for. When in prison, his opponents (the UGCC had almost disbanded for inaction and lack of support from the grassroots) were so indolent as not to do political mobilization. They counted more on their personal treasure and worth than the support of the people to move the Gold Coast forward. No wonder their campaign of ‘self-government in the earliest possible time” didn’t catch on. Sore losers.

Let’s cut the historical accounts short here to say that Nkrumah brushed all these negative forces aside to give Ghana what it needed at the time. We are told that the supreme conservative and so-called intellectual leading the anti-Nkrumah camp in the person of Dr. Joseph Boakye Danquah couldn’t even win his own Akim Abuakwa seat at the polls. Yet, he teamed up with another disgruntled reactionary in the person of the sociologist (Dr. Kofi Abrefa Busia) to bring together all the unsuccessful political elements under the umbrella of the United Party. Sore losers.

They did a lot to undermine the Osagyefo, leaving behind the template for their followers, mostly the products of the very elitist establishment that their political front was built on, to pursue. They have done so since their caused the overthrow of the Great Osagyefo but ended up being removed from office by one of their own in the military. They lost the bid to return to power in 1979 because they weren’t even sure of who they were or what they sought to pursue in power. Ghana’s good.

The table turned round for them after 30 years in the wilderness when Kufuor became President to do what he thought he could. The voters proved him wrong by rejecting Akufo-Addo at Elections 2008 and 2012. The fact that Akufo-Addo was uplifted at Election 2016 hasn’t changed anything.

That is why the moves being made against the Great Osagyefo come across as ridiculous. He is better known than his opponents, and he will remain so for as long as the concrete evidence of his political ideology and accomplishments to put Ghana where it could be under him and after him are concerned.

Let’s be more blunt here. Nkrumah is remembered for his intellectual work as well. He wrote many books, treatises, and whatever else to immortalize himself. His works are all over the place to extol his worth.

Unfortunately, his detractors don’t know how to undercut him, using intellectual work as the main tool. They lack the resources because their forebears, especially Dr. Danquah and Dr. Busia didn’t write anything to pin-pointedly address the plight of the very people that they thought they were fighting to lead. In that sense, Nkrumah still stands tall above them.

To conclude, let me say that all that is happening under Akufo-Addo to subvert Nkrumah has already failed. Those of us who have read Nkrumah’s works will do all in power to fight for him. Until and unless the Danquah-Busia masqueraders come up with anything better, the day belongs to the Great Osagyefo. He never dies!!

I shall return…