"...Nkrumah as a 'great man by all standards' would be very disappointed in such people for being ‘lazy thinkers’ despite receiving the best of education...", (Prof. Richard Amoako Baah, Ghanaweb, 16 Dec 2014).
In Part I of this series, we detailed several of Professor Amoako Baah's 2014-2015 utterances about the uselessness of the principles and ideologies underpinning Dr. Kwame Nkrumah's vision for the development and consolidation of Ghana (and African). As far as the KNUST professor is concerned, (1) Nkrumah was not consistent on his ideological stance which reflects in clear lack of definition of ideology among those who believe in those ideals, (2) Nkrumah would have found it very difficult to implement some of his ideas because of the growth in population, (3) Ghana’s education is almost useless and independence is "meaningless" because Nkrumah built monuments instead of "passing on knowledge to the next generation, (4) America's " best president", Abraham Lincoln built "Nothing", (5) Ghana and Ivory Coast should join forces as a cocoa cartel to sell cocoa because "no western country would come and make any suggestion of that sort".
We continue with Part II........
The reader will agree with us that "national development and education", particularly in a new Nation suddenly free of colonial domination, will be a lot more complex and challenging than teaching "political studies", a quasi-discipline from the ivory tower academy.
Fact is, Prof. Amoako Baah who says that Nkrumah was not "consistent on his ideological stance" with respect to his principles and vision for Ghanaian national development cannot tell us there is only one definition of "political science", or, of "history" for that matter. This is the same for even the narrower concept of “Human Dignity” that Prof. Amoako Baah explores in Chapter 7 of his book, "Human Rights in Africa -The Conflict of Implementation".
In a review of that 2002 book, Prof. Paul Magnarella, University of Florida, Gainesville, agrees that "philosophers and human rights scholars do not agree on the nature of human dignity...(that)...the claimed universality of human rights is problematic..."
To cut to the chase, national construction and development vision post-colonial dictatorship, must necessarily address more complexities, "wicked problems", as described by Rittel and Webber in 1973. And whilst Prof. Amoako Baah may want all of us to know that he is a social scientist, we want to remind him that, in case he has forgotten, there is also an art to the discipline of political science itself. And to that, we must also add power relations - internal and external.
Wicked, indeed!
In that light, to argue that "Ghana would be better off if Nkrumah hadn't made enemies" is one of the craziest claims we have ever read from a university professor. Fact is, nations, as people, do not choose their enemies, nor do they specify the permanent interests of even their "best friends". Why, after all, did the British Empire treat the US differently from Ghana when they each got their independence from Britain? What kind of relations applied in each case? So, while we do not agree with the method and the "failed state" label for Ghana, we find that David Amoah Boateng understands those power and control factors (even within Ghana) when he commands Ghanaian youth in a Ghanaweb feature article thus:
"...the leaders of this nation...have taken us for granted for a long time. They steal from us and use the stolen money to school their children abroad Dubai, U.S.A and Europe because they themselves don’t trust the education system of the country they manage..." (Ghanaweb, 24 April 2015).
Dear reader, you must surely concur that Prof. Richard Amoako Baah, in his position as the Chairman of that department, is himself, a manager of education in Nkrumah's Ghana, as surely as night follows day. Our professor, a manager of education as KNUST, does not even trust what he manages.
Why, we want to know, must Prof Amoako Baah blame Kwame Nkrumah today for the failure of education when he himself concedes that "Nkrumah...(was)...a 'great man by all standards'...(who was behind)...the best of education..."his "lazy thinkers" received? And how does a scholar reconcile all of that in their head, then next, attempt to sell all of that to the people on radio and television?
We are saying that Prof. Amoako Baah ought to understand that the complexities in governance are significant for practitioners. He himself wrote about conflicts/complexities in "implementation." Therefore, a single conceptual definition of governance and development ideology is not practical, important, or even necessary. Even less so for practice. Again, Prof. Amoako Baah ought to be the first to acknowledge that fact considering he has already argued that there are significant local/Akan variations that add complexities to the western concept of "Human Dignity", a theoretical construct practiced in arm-chairs.
To govern, Nkrumah had to apply theory to practice, and practice to theory!
He did!
And Dr, Kwame Nkrumah succeeded, until the overthrow by traitors by: "...bona fide members of the Ghanaian military....(and)...rascal... civilians...(among them)...former prime minister...Busia" , a hopeless gang remotely funded and controlled by western powers external to Ghana/Africa.
What we will say here is this. As governance goes in Ghana, what is important is the development of a Ghana-centered vision and a coherent road map and plans. Then, the best qualified professionals and technicians are assembled to help build and construct the national project consistent with sound national human - development goals. You do not get to "home" using a spoils system of your political party by doling out jobs and government contracts to "foot soldiers", family members, members of your ethnic group, friends, or those with deep pockets some of it may have been stolen from the people in the first place.
For Ghana, the essential requirement for Nkrumah was a Unitary Vision for the former British colony from the get go! So, using the promise of regional planning under the rubric of National Development policy, Nkrumah accomplished a lot for Ghana within that small window of Ghanaian national life (1957-1966). After all, students and children (including those at KNUST and GIMPA, in Accra-Tema), and professors like Amoako Baah himself, must all walk or drive on public roads to school and work, They must work in public buildings that protect them against the elements, rodents, vermin, and diseases, They must use publicly-supported electricity at work and at home - to do homework and research, find their way in the dark, entertain themselves, power industry, and so forth. (Need we cite the facilities by name on these pages?)
Clearly, Nkrumah and the CPP did not achieve any of those things through laziness. Certainly not through lazy "thinking" or "doing". Rather, it is our latter day Prof. Amoako Baah who appears now to be lazy in thought, and absent-minded about major matters even as he chooses to bask in the minors.
While noting the contribution of Amoako Baah's book to the field, another reviewer of "Human Rights in Africa -The Conflict of Implementation", Nonso Okereafoezeke, note that the "book is an example of a legitimate argument somewhat carelessly presented..." Okereafoezeke observes that "...(T)he book seems to have been hurriedly put together...: the page numbers in the table of contents differ from those on the pages; some of the chapter titles are absent from the table of contents, while other chapter titles differ from what are listed there. Prof. Magnarella as well found similar confusion and laziness in the book, observing that "...the pagination of the table of contents and body of the book do not match..."
On another front, one is curious about the last time the head of the Department of History and Political Studies at KNUST got out of his "Lazy Boy" academy chair to visit his own department's website to see (1) how the site is organized, (2) what research and studies by faculty and student are posted, and (3) what is the quality of information available to those who may be interested in the programs of that department. Does he know what the average prospective student, a member of the media, a researcher, a potential sponsors/donor, etc., come away with, after visiting his department's website?
2007-2008 AD. Remarkably, as of this writing, Prof. Amoako Baah's "Research & Collaborations" webpages all have 2007-2008 era information, going back to the Ghana@50 "celebration" that was orchestrated by the NPP government. For instance, "Conferences" page has this:
"...The 2007/2008 academic year was very eventful for the Department. It continued to play an active role in the organization and delivery of the Roundtable Conferences...(on)...the Golden Jubilee Anniversary of Ghana's Independence....Dr. W.J. Donkoh, Head of the Department...presented a paper on the Progress Party (PP)...17th-18th December 2007..."
And we thought Prof Richard Amoako Baah is Chaiman, Department of History and Political Studies, KNUST, Kumasi, Ghana, today!
Under the tab "News and Announcement", we found no information for "Announcements and Notices". "No events available for your search" is what you get for "Upcoming Events" and "Upcoming General". On the other hand, "Latest News" has information about a 2014 student group visit to Kakum National Forest. (In fact, we found even more alarming deficiencies with the department's "Academic" webpage, too numerous for us to care enumerating on these pages).
On a more serious note that goes to character as well attitude to work, in the review of Prof. Amoako Baah's book, Prof. Magnarella notes that:
"...Unfortunately,... (Amoako Baah)...fails to explain when or exactly how the data were gathered. The reader does not learn, for example, whether the author himself administered the questionnaires and conducted the interviews or whether he enlisted the help of others..."
We believe this is an unfortunate breach of scientific inquiry. In fact, this major point has important implications for the entire foundation of Prof Amoako Baah's thesis in "Human Rights in Africa -The Conflict of Implementation", if we must be sufficiently critical. As far as we know, this item is unsettled.
..........In the language of Francis Kwarteng, our other Ghana-centered colleague, "We Shall Return!".
SOURCES: See Part I. (Expect update in Part III):
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/features/artikel.php?ID=355976&comment=11612782#com.
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