RE: The Rehabilitation Of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah Is Incomplete
I make reference to the article, ‘The Rehabilitation of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah is incomplete’, written by Prof. Agyeman Badu Akosa.
Much as the article offers worthwhile information and gave due credit to the ‘Greatest African that ever lived’, I think that considerable aspects of it are repetitive and hackneyed. In fact most of the prevailing information about Nkrumah in the public domain, which probably constitutes less than 10% of the records of the works and achievements of the man, has been recycled for many years making it seem as if there is nothing else or anything much more to be said about the great African icon. This inaccurate impression has given room and audacity for ‘ants’, ‘earthworms’ and ‘rodents’ to attempt to nibble his toes – even whilst he lies peacefully in death.
On the contrary however, there are heaps of other very educative and useful material that the Ghanaian public and the whole world deserves to know and which will reveal what the real circumstances on the ground were about Nkrumah. This information, when induced, will help inform and benefit Ghana, Africa, all Black people and all under-developed nations all over the world to better advise themselves on the political choice of development of their various countries.
To read Nkrumah, to study Nkrumah and to observe the man Nkrumah is in itself a joyful, eye-opening and invaluable education of life. He is one of those rare human beings, whose sum total of accomplishments, achievements, limitations and even failures – warts and all, offers profound education and a greater insight into the dynamic minutiae of history and the politics of under-development. He is one of those true to life legends that makes you grudgingly wonder whether it might really be true that some are indeed predestined, or perhaps simply created more equal than others.
Having been duly recognized in a freely conducted international poll as the greatest African of the millennium, he must as a matter of course - barring some of the famous kings and queens of ancient Egypt, therefore be one of the greatest Africans of all time. There are no known historical records of other Africans in previous centuries and millennia as great as he was. What with the genocidal holocaust of slavery and colonialism that turned Africa into a free-for-all slaughter house that decimated our strongest, our most intelligent and the brave unyielding sons and daughters of Africa who refused to capitulate in any way whatsoever, to the criminal dictates of slavery.
If, as it turns out, Kwame Nkrumah has indeed emerged as the greatest African ever, then he might as well be accorded the accolade as the greatest world leader ever. This argument is made on the premise that should the sum total of his accomplishments and downsides be juxtaposed squarely against other competitors and fairly judged without acquiescing to racist subjectivity or any other kinds of subtle corrupt capitalist favor, our man would win hands down.
All other personalities, who in the chronicles of the white mans history have been unilaterally acclaimed as great, have so many blemishes, so many skeletons in their cupboards, so much blood dripping from their biographies and history that it would take greater proportions than the entire volume of the Pacific Ocean - from hence to eternity, to clean up the execrable mess, muck and grime from the records of their presumed greatness.
Now because Africans, as a people, have been so traumatized, emasculated and dispirited by the iniquities and horrors of slavery, colonialism and now neo-colonialism - all stretching back a few centuries, it has naturally, from a sociological and psychological perspective, become extremely difficult for black people to recover from the indelible incubus of this anguish and for us to articulate confidence, pride, enthusiasm and favorable expression of our own innate abilities and racial prowess. This is why we shy away from honoring our heroes and recognizing our good sides in our everyday encounters with our own. This is why it may appear that we are incapable of doing anything for ourselves.
This psychologically degenerative syndrome has become so pervasive that it is not unusual to come across thick-lipped, fat-nosed, curly-haired, flat-intoned-english-speaking Africans who, as comical as it may sound, go by names such as Guggisberg, Stanislaus, Cecil Rhodes, Hackensburg and even Von Backustein. African names - if at all, are surreptitiously hidden from our certificates and all other official documents. Worse of all are those Africans who by some curious twist of fate, have been so severely struck by the syndrome of ego dysfunction that they have resorted to posturing in racial drag. In spite of their vividly contrasting physical traits, they wear blonde wigs and cravats, striped three piece suits and long black cloaks in humid climates reaching 40°C. They contort their tongues and purse their fat lips to enable them to lisp in the effeminate vocal mannerisms, akin to that of their historical oppressors. They then turn around in this to grotesque charade to call themselves ‘learned friends’.
Even when in isolated or personal cases, we do muster courage to express tendencies bordering on creativity or anything close to being described as expressions of independent or original thought, alarm bells will begin clanging all around you. Your own unliberated brothers and sisters, out of the historically ingrained psychosis of fear – ‘the fear of abandoning the white man’s ways’ and moving into the great unknown - away from where we have been instructed to stay put and remain subservient, will berate you, isolate you and demonize you as they have done to every African who has sought to be original, innovative and to do things in an unprecedented way that suits the particular interest of Africa. It is this caliber of persons - nonentities and nun-quams, who have the cheek and the effrontery to offensively point the fingers of their left hand at Kwame Nkrumah.
If, on the other hand we are proud of the man Nkrumah and of our own God-given abilities, we must be as forthright as we must be brave to vaunt his legendary triumphs – including all his known and hitherto unknown achievements. We must take after him and forge new and bold ways of getting ourselves out of the conundrum of underdevelopment. Of great importance, we must justify and publicize the circumstances that motivated him to undertake some of those admittedly daring, bold and unparalleled historical accomplishments which elevated him high above the post of ordinary mortals and which the imperialists and their unprincipled and shameless hangers-on, now use against him.
We must conscientiously research, analyze and loudly playback the details of all those events for the benefit of the masses of uninitiated, who since 1966, have been calculatedly led astray by the skilful dissemination of misinformation that has also served to reverse the monumental and unassailable socio-economic gains made in the 1st Republic. This anticlimactic trend has by default, helped entrench the iniquities of neo-colonialism and the measly interests of Dr. Nkrumah’s detractors – the local pimps of imperialism.
The accomplishments alluded to, include those contentious decisions that the first Parliament of Ghana effectively endorsed during the period of the first Republic, for the greater interest and security of Ghana. I am referring to the nuisance issues of the Preventive Detention Act (PDA) and the subject of the One Party State. For this, the local lackeys and minions of neo-colonialism, who cannot break the chains of mental slavery and who can only think, act, live and die in a regimented colonial box, remorselessly continue, to pillage and disparage the ‘Greatest African’ that ever lived.
For fear of offending the frail and intolerant political sensitivities of our intimidating historical oppressors, coupled with the brow-beating propaganda of vilification orchestrated by them against former colonial subjects who so much as attempt to head towards genuine independence or, those who show the slightest signs of ‘going astray’ from the dictatorial circuit of imperialism, many Ghanaians, out of the fear of retribution from the largely neo-colonial establishment, have become fearful of mentioning or even much more, discussing or defending the glaring merits of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah’s PDA under the circumstances under which it was established.
We are all aware that even before the word terrorism recently became notorious in international politics, those who are making all the noise about it today, recruited ill-informed, disgruntled and all sorts of nefarious Ghanaian characters and paid them to subvert and carry out terrorist acts against the Independence movement, human rights activists and the sovereignty of Ghana and Africa. For reasons best known to themselves, the imperialists powers, in spite of all available evidence and complicity to the prevailing facts, chose not to categorize or own up to those extremely villainous, murderous and seditious transgressions against Africa, as acts of terror.
Many innocent men, women and children were killed or maimed for life in those dastardly terrorist bomb attacks which were aimed at physically eliminating the Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah from the face of the earth. In this pursuit, they had no other reason than the fact that Nkrumah had divergent views from theirs. Meanwhile, when they eventually did manage to overthrow the CPP govt. in 1966 with the American CIA as the protagonist, these same people who had deposed Nkrumah on the trumped up charges of dictatorship, ironically and shamelessly established a Military junta which ruled for several years without elections. That military dictatorship, under the daily guidance and remote control of foreign intelligence, sunk as low as legislating against the possession of Kwame Nkrumah’s photographs and books.
Notable victims of the imperialist hatched terror and destabilization campaigns in Africa are today, even in death, all incontestable and proud heroes of African history. They were all kindred spirits who collaborated and associated in the struggle against the terrorism of imperialism. The contributions that they have made to make the world a better place, will be remembered long after the names of their adversaries have been buried in the rubbish heaps of history. These proud African heroes include, Patrice Lumumba, Nelson Mandela, Ken Sarowiwa, Steve Biko, Samora Machel, Muamar Ghadafi, Maurice Bishop and Kwame Nkrumah.
Today, all discerning Africans know those who did not collaborate with and align with these valiant icons of Africa. We know those of us who recognize the effort of those who by deed and by example gave self respect and self-esteem to black people to the extent that we can now at least manage our own affairs and stand up in international fora and demand our due. We can also joyfully see and hear today, the dignified voices of those who acknowledge, applaud and honor the accomplishments of our true heroes.
We also know all those who did not turn up in the roll call of those who fought against imperialism for the liberation and independence of all black people all over the world. We know those who, for the fear of losing the blood-soaked crumbs that fall off the tables of our oppressors, do not speak the language of anti-imperialism. We know them – all of them, including those of them who either because of ignorance, lack of self-respect or for scraps of sustenance, collaborated with the Apartheid regime in South Africa to further oppress, maim and kill uncountable numbers of fellow Africans.
Quite surprisingly – or perhaps not surprising at all, I have not heard the voices of those who condemn Kwame Nkrumah’s albeit brief implementation of the PDA, equally condemning the Colonialists for using a similar but more horrific version of the PDA law on the defenseless natives of the Gold Coast and Ghana for over 200 years when they imposed themselves on us without the license of consent or democratic elections.
Neither have I heard them complaining about a similar law, recently enacted by a Western imperialist countriy – the Patriot Act, which has been expanded to apply not only in their own western countries but, in spite of established international conventions on sovereignty and the human rights of all, embedded in the United nations Charter, they have for their own selfish convenience, unilaterally crafted what they refer to as anti-terrorism laws that are randomly applicable on anyone, at any time and in any part of the world.
Today this draconian law, hatched from the legislatures of Western democracy without the consideration of other sovereign interests, is arbitrarily applied by America and Europe on the whole world and on the pretext of fighting terrorism. To all intents and purposes, this is only a ploy for the expansion of the parameters of global imperialism.
In spite of this unilateral global policy, which very clearly is a ruse to protect the singular and exclusive interests of global imperialism, I however still continue to hear the local pimps extolling to high heavens and making laudable references to those same countries as the citadels of ‘democracy’. What kind of naiveté, what kind of hypocrisy and double-standards is this? How come they are incapable of judging Nkrumah, their own blood brother, with the same subservient yardstick? I guess this is what the blind hatred of irremediable pimps can do to undermine the divine mission of the entire African race.
Is it not interesting to note that Kwame Nkrumah is exclusively branded a dictator for allegedly committing comparably much lesser sins? If so it be, how then, should we describe these people – their masters, who have run roughshod over the entire world decimating hundreds of millions of human beings in the pursuit of colonies, resources, slaves and now their exclusive security for so many centuries? Hello!!!? We are listening.
Obviously exercising the right to ape the same standards of hypocrisy as their masters, these neo-colonial archetypes still continue to lambaste Kwame Nkrumah for advancing the ideals of what they ignorantly and derogatorily refer to as a ‘One Party’ State in Ghana, whilst their loud silence on the Communist State of China – a visibly ‘one party’ nation, whose achievements they paradoxically and subserviently applaud and with whom they enthusiastically endorse grandiose trade agreements and from whom we gratefully receive – in our begging bowls , huge amounts of economic largesse running into billions of dollars, is painfully evident. This kind of two-faced insincerity, borne merely out of hatred - not principle, must stop and give way to what they themselves refer to as pragmatism. For their benefit, I will shortly unravel the bedeviled myth woven around the concept of the ‘one Party’ nation.
When the imperial masters of the local pimps gate-crashed into the serenity of this part of the world and held tyrannical dominion over us for over 400 years, they did not find it fit nor necessary to treat the natives with due human dignity nor the need to establish the ideals of a democratic social system. However barely two years after independence, they, together with their local serfs were jumping around all over the place hounding the Nkrumah govt. at the least opportunity, for what they claimed were democratic short-comings, some of which were conspicuously prevalent in their own western societies at the time.
For their information, the historical and unparalleled feat of Communist China was achieved devoid of the evil practice of slavery and without fraudulently, insensitively and criminally helping themselves, without permission, to the resources of poor ‘uncivilized’ Colonial subjects for hundreds of years.
The ‘Chinese miracle’, like all other presumed miracles, is in fact not really a miracle at all. It was simply realized through a system known in scientific socialist practice as ‘democratic centralism’ – simply put, it is a ‘one Party’ system where all political concerns and interests of state are channeled through one monolithic ‘Parliamentary and Executive structure’.
This arrangement does not brook nor tolerate the dangerous schisms of ethnic antagonisms, religious intolerance, petty political squabbling and other prejudicial social conflicts - the sort we have hanging on our heads like the sword of Damocles and which threatens to reduce the entire continent into a bloody debacle. In that system, petty differences are therefore not given the oxygen of unfettered freedoms to fester in opposing political camps, rather, all differences and antagonisms are managed and settled within the family – so to speak. Any sane opinion would prefer this to the specter of spending ten to a hundred years nursing ethnic and political conflicts instead of concentrating on progress and development.
It must in passing, be explained that democracy and the principles that the philosophy expounds, were made for the convenience of man. Man was certainly not made for democracy. Therefore if, as in the occasional justification for wars and civil strife, man is confronted with dire and trying circumstances which demand a temporary deferment of principles and statutory conventions for a greater historical purpose for the interest of society at large, then so shall it be. Likewise, people who commit, or assist in committing crimes in society are after all not entitled to democratic freedoms or rights.
Africa must take note that if relatively more stable African countries like La Cote d’Ivoire, Sierra Leone, Kenya and Liberia can be so easily torn apart and virtually destroyed by religious, civil or ethnic strife, then all Africans should sit-up and think twice about the second-hand political systems that we have inherited and which has only ensured the continuous impoverisation and destructive antagonisms between our people.
History tells us that the ‘wounds’ of just one ethnic, political or religious upheaval between contending opponents wreaks irrepressible social enmity and distrust which take several decades, if not centuries, to heal. We should not therefore, by default of the lack of serious judgment, allow ourselves to drift helplessly, on the tides of a well-marketed but abominable imperialist system, to our collective doom.
Western democracy serves the purposes of its native origins pretty well. At least it clearly delineates and perpetuates a system where the ‘wheat’ is effectively separated from the ‘chaff’ – where the ‘undesirables’ are in effect, excluded from the spoils of power and from getting anywhere close to the means of controlling the resources of society or the true wealth of the state. This clearly shows that Western democracy is un-African because Africans, by nature, are not greedy people. Africans are communal self-respecting people – we share whatever little we have, amongst ourselves. Africans are genetically, a ‘simple’ people.
Admittedly after reluctantly associating with white people for many centuries and adopting their values and political systems, Africans have unfortunately become something different. Until the nascence of the slave trade and its aftermath, Africans lived peacefully amongst ourselves without the recent traits of greed and the clamoring for power and material which have made all of us suspicious of each other and reduced our once dignified approach to life into a squabbling melee of miscreants.
Therefore for the lack of an appropriate all-embracing political system, political parties throughout Africa have likewise degenerated into belligerent bastions of vicious ethnic, religious and political adversity. This is because Western Democracy tends to be a contest of significantly different competing creeds, interests and ideologies. When juxtaposed onto an under-developed society what you have is bedlam and chaos. There is no under-developed society or country anywhere in the world, other than those who have been propped up by the largesse of blood-money from countries that made it by the slave trade and colonialism, who have achieved any measure of success by practicing western democracy.
Even in Europe and America, their democratic practice is simply and generally marked by the competition of people and organizations of similar interests, beliefs and principles which at the end of the day comes down to the same point of a ‘one Party’ system.
Even when they come under names such as Democratic Party, Labor Party, Neo-Liberal Party, Republican Party, Le Front Nationale, Liberal Democrats, Ku Klux Klan, Conservative Party, British National Party or the Raving Looney Party and so on and so forth, the only distinguishing feature that sets them apart is usually the leading personality of each of their rivaling Parties. Without doubt, they are all in deed and in fact, of the same unequivocal ideology and practice that evolved from the principles of the slave trade.
In our situation - and for good or perhaps bad reasons – tribal and religious sentiments have implanted themselves in, or, have transformed themselves into contending political parties and sometimes all it takes is just one word out of place or a stolen guinea fowl to cause irrepressible conflagrations which lead to years of social instability and thousands of needless deaths, not to mention the infinite economic losses.
Of course there are also ‘those’ for whom, such adverse situations, brings satisfaction and prosperity. In fact they do not only encourage, but they also actually stoke the fires of socio-political dissent so that whilst we fight and quarrel amongst ourselves over petty material gains, ethnic rivalry, imaginary and inconsequential political differences and our economies and already bad social standards rapidly decline, they can more easily and more cheaply - with the active assistance of the local pimps and compradors, grab our gold, our diamonds, our oil, our cocoa, our rubber, our manganese, our platinum, our juicy state enterprises and even our specialized human resources at give-away prices.
Fifty to sixty years ago, the visionary Kwame Nkrumah had already foreseen the trend of this looming disaster. The wake-up call was when the mainly Twi leaning Danquah-Busia clique, after having failed in several democratic attempts to wrestle power from the high-flying CPP, resorted to terrorism to remove Kwame Nkrumah physically by assasination. When that failed, they resorted to ethnic subterfuge - not only with the aim of rallying the entire Ashanti Kingdom against the CPP, but when in addition that also failed, they aimed towards disengaging the whole Ashanti and Northern regions from the geopolitical body of the newly independent state of Ghana and declare a separate nation-state or, at the minimum, push for a federal system of govt. Guess what..? They failed again.
At that point, having dealt with the unruly and uncompromising posture of the Danquah-Busia elements in every possible civilized manner, it was reckoned that time had come for a bit more firmness to keep the sovereignty of the state intact - and from disintegrating - hence the PDA and the One Party system.
No civilized man, woman or child – or for that matter any true Nkrumaist, owes anyone any apology on any of these counts. The future of our newly fought for independence and indeed the morale and the impetus of the entire liberation movement throughout Africa and the world that had evolved over several centuries was at stake. The success or otherwise of the first black African and newly independent sub-Saharan nation - Ghana, was the litmus test for the difficult but on-going liberation struggle of the entire African continent. If Kwame Nkrumah had caved in to the misdemeanors of those who saw the struggle towards independence merely as an opportunity to assume positions of privilege and continue where the colonialists had left-off, Ghana would have suffered from some kind of comatose independence or from the kind of situation that is described in the medical field as still-birth. There is evidence of many such countries in and around Africa that have actually degenerated into socio-economic conditions of national mendicancy which in some cases, are much worse or similar to conditions existing prior to independence.
Nkrumah however would not tolerate a few humorless jokers to toy around with this major historical momentum that would eventually change the world. His remarkable achievements during the period between 1950 and 1966, had ignited the spark of the Civil and Human Rights movements in oppressed Black communities in faraway places such as the USA, the Caribbeans, Europe, southern Africa and South America. There was not going to be any slip-ups caused by a few inconsequential and unprincipled serfs who either out of spite of their own, or sheer stupidity, wished upon themselves, perpetual enslavement. With the full support of the CPP, he confronted and effectively quelled all the reactionary moves by the puppets of colonialism.
Nkrumah’s reaction, though well-intended, of course played into the hands of the colonialists who had by now realized that ethnic conflicts in Africa served their geo-strategic neo-colonial moves and purposes in Africa quite well. They fathomed that the continuing political fracas between the CPP and UP which was degenerating into an ethnic confrontation, would help curb the formidable progress of Kwame Nkrumah who to all intents and purposes, was taking this independence thing too seriously and much too far for the comfort of global imperialism.
Of course ‘they’ know that the inherent technicalities and decadent cultural values of the western type of democracy is not favorable for the development of Africa or for that matter, any developing non-Caucasian society. The historical antecedents, evident all over the world, are clear for all who have eyes, to see. ‘They’ know that western democracy, a concept which devolved from and subsists on the superiority or domination of a few over a majority and delineates an ‘us’ and ‘them’ division in society, rather deepens and putrefies hypersensitive ethnic, political and religious fault-lines in underdeveloped societies. But ‘they’ will encourage - or at best, pretend not to have noticed this fact for their own ultimate benefits and self-centered convenience.
For many centuries after the European colonizers of America had began to practice their brand of democracy and when even at a time their economies were more organized and better than that of Ghana today, they did not allow the hapless native American Indians – the ones who God in His own wisdom created and put on that land, to vote - they were not even accorded the most fundamental human rights or the basic freedoms of speech. This is in addition to the sordid facts that their populations in a matter of a few decades after ‘the Paleface’ arrived and ‘discovered’ their land, had curiously dwindled from several tens of millions to a few hundred thousand. They were slaughtered like ants on the untenable excuse and pretext that they were savages – that is, they did not speak the same language, they did not wear the same clothes, they did not eat the same food, they did not sing the same songs, they did not worship the same way and they were not of the same color or of the same physical features as Europeans.
Cowboy movies that were subsequently made to justify and glorify those dastardly events, today ironically serve as testimony to one of history’s most gruesome episodes. Those Indians that the colonizers did not readily have good enough reason to exterminate were systematically expelled from their vast lands, which ‘the Paleface’ had forcibly occupied and violently misappropriated. They were then confined onto what up to today is referred to as ‘Reservations’ – disconsolate and inhospitable areas where they are to remain and leave only under the supervision and exit permit of the ‘Paleface’. Lest we forget, it was this same system that the same ‘Paleface’ – ‘Whiteman’ as we call them here, introduced in South Africa and which was/is called either ‘homelands’ or the Apartheid system. These examples are just two of the many harrowing experiences that the world has had to suffer at the hands of imperialism. Because the settler white population could not in the same way stand the sight of the natives whose lands they had forcibly taken over, they resorted to create these ‘homelands’ – some sort of Blacks only territories where only Black Africans lived under white supervision. Those Blacks with whom they had no other choice but to live with were subjected to the Apartheid laws of segreagation.
Concurrently, at the time the Indians were undergoing this pogrom, millions of black slaves in Europe, America and the Caribbeans, who had likewise been violently uprooted from their native origins like cattle and on whose blood and backs - under the most horrendous conditions, the critical socio-economic factors that transformed Europe and America into modern societies were formed, were not allowed to vote, neither were they accorded basic human rights or the freedoms of speech, justice or enterprise.
This was premised on the fraudulent and ungrateful basis that they were not sufficiently europeanized or americanized, nor intelligent enough to be accorded the privilege of electoral franchise and the rights and freedoms of a ‘free civilized society’.
‘Their’ own women, until as recently as a few decades ago, were also not allowed to vote – ostensibly because they were not trusted to make the right decisions and choices in elections. Even those of their own citizens who did not own property were deemed as not being democratically qualified to vote either. The local Ghanaian apologists, errand-boys and mercenaries of imperialism who also claim to be pursuing some kind of ‘property owning democracy’ should go and ask ‘them’ why, instead of venting their bile and rotten spleen against Kwame Nkrumah.
It must be stated quite clearly that we in Africa do not have the evil luxury of slaves and other oppressed, speechless and disenfranchised subjects, who under the threat of genocidal extinction, are obliged to do our dirty work for us, but we do have the God-given and mandatory option to devise an alternative, a more humane and workable system for our admittedly difficult developmental needs. No matter how difficult it may be and no matter what obstacles we may encounter, it is a task that must be done, and in time, when the chicanery of our ‘development partners’ has been exposed to all, it will be so done, but definitely not at the expense of hundreds of millions of Gods other children as they have done to us.
The most niggling stumbling blocks for us however, are the local pimps of imperialism. For the understandable lack of originality, native pride and independent judgment, arising from an unrelenting and ruthless imposition of colonial subjectivity of many centuries upon us, and having thereby become obstinate slaves, they insist on practicing the same unjust routine of capitalism which is derived from the heinous bigotry of slavery and colonialism. They insist on practicing that system because having crumbled to the psychological syndrome of ego-dysfunction which is simply the mental version of physical branding that slaves had to endure, they first and foremost seek to please and appease their (neo)colonial masters who, hopefully, will in turn throw back at them, the crumbs and the trifles of the blood-splattered spoils of exploitation of their own brothers and sisters. In their subjective minds, this, at the very least, will gratify and happily elevate them above the station of the oppressive poverty of their fellow-kinsmen and women.
In any case and after all has been said and done, it must be explained to the world that the substance of the word ‘democracy’ is not exclusive only to the blinkered doctrine of western democracy – as has been seemingly and fraudulently portrayed by the West. The principles, the essence and the purposes of true democracy are adaptable to and can be calibrated to suit and to serve the best interests of all cultures, political systems and societies known to man in several variable ways and by whatever desirable means suitable for each. To arrogate to oneself as the paragon of democracy, as they have erroneously sought to do, is simply as implausible as it is laughable. It is tantamount to their earlier sins, which in attempting to justify their callous maltreatment of slaves, they purported to assume that Black people were not of God and did not have a soul so slaves were not, in any case, eligible to go to heaven
It is a pity that the short-sighted detractors of Kwame Nkrumah either refuse to or perhaps are unable to recognize the fact that when one closes ones eyes to the valuable lessons of history or, when one obstinately works against the evolution of human progress and real civilization, one may, from time to time, seem to make sense by advancing specious arguments in favor of imperialism and all that it stands for. In that same regard, others may appear to have thereby gained limited, ephemeral and transitory developmental advantages. However in the scope of the larger picture of the unyielding tides of history - that which promises succor, respect, hope and comfort to all and not a few, such reactionary opinions will continue, as their likes before them, to suffer set-backs, losses, ignominy and historical damnation until they succumb to and fall in line with the infinite and relentless dynamics of the positive and Godly values of human progress for all.
It is this element that distinguishes the true democrats a world apart from the brigands of history. That is, the Kwame Nkrumah’s from the Houphouet Boigny’s, the Busia’s, the Pieter Botha’s, the Mobutu’s et al. Kwame Nkrumah was and still stands as an unshakeable symbol of what true democracy is – or should be. His scope of democracy was not limited to the puerile, deceptive and fraudulent imperialist limitations of voting rights, the free-speech of mass ignorance and acrimonious multi-Party systems – his understanding and divine mission of democracy towered over these narrow-minded and mundane deceptions and spread out to demand a favorable share of the national wealth, opportunities and privileges for all according to the reasonable needs and demands of any given situation or at any particular time in the history of a nation or indeed of the entire world. Indeed his democratic beliefs are incidentally parallel – if not synonymous to what the Christian religion – and in fact, Jesus Christ Himself teaches.
Even the perceived shortcomings of Nkrumah were as a result of his impatience at overcoming, eliminating and at other times circumventing the more serious and detrimental undemocratic inadequacies of the world. Here, the use of the word ‘undemocratic’ additionally connotes the more important but silent aspect of we unknowingly or wrongly refer to as democracy - that is the uncouth, the uncivilized, the barbarian and the undemocratic global misappropriation of wealth, education, health, shelter and employment amongst nations at the higher echelons and in human society at large on the ground. For this, even the most intellectually insensitive and underprivileged citizenry laud and praise the man Nkrumah. There are many prototypes of the ‘Nkrumah characteristic’ all over the world and in all kinds and spheres of vocation who have and continue to discreetly contribute to the humane development of human society in Africa and elsewhere.
But of course, there are equally many others who have done their best to make the world a miserable place to live in. These are the kings, the queens, the Christian religious hierarchy and the political establishment of Europe and America who engaged in, supervised, defended, benefitted immensely from and built empires out of the industry of slavery, colonialism and capitalism – all active components of imperialism. The subsidiary owners of mercantile companies, ships and plantations in the Caribbeans, the Americas and elsewhere whose seemingly superior racial prowess and livelihood depended on the capturing and selling of many hundreds of millions of slaves throughout several centuries, were another. Then again there are those who have created and invented contemptible sophisticated weapons such as the atomic bomb that has obliterated many hundreds of thousands of human beings and still threatens the entire species of humanity today.
One could go on and on, but suffice it to say, the debate must in the true spirit of democracy, be opened up. I hope that others will also follow-up with informed diagnoses with the ultimate purpose of educating the world as well as posterity on the interesting details about how in spite of unyielding imperialist subterfuge, Nkrumah went ahead and established practically the entire national infrastructure and other related continental achievements in only 9 years and on which 50 years after his overthrow, the nation of Ghana and to some extent, Africa still thankfully survives on. We also need to brainstorm on the far-reaching democratic and economic dynamics of the development of that vast Ghanaian infrastructure to make it the most outstanding and commendable in Africa. Of course we still have a long way to go but if the determined will of one person, Nkrumah, could achieve what he accomplished way back in the in the sixties, one can very well imagine what a paradise Ghana would have been today if many more of us would put our shoulders and our brains to the wheel instead of indifferently hanging on to the largely imperialist status quo and perversely looking at ourselves from the cynical and devastating perspectives of the neo-colonial nightmare.
In the same vein, it is hoped that many more others will also take up the challenge – this challenge, in the search to clean up the history of our dear nation. We now - as no other time as before, need to also ‘separate the wheat from the chaff’, to ascertain our true history, re-assert our real value systems and from thence, to chart a new and constructive way forward. We cannot, as hypocrites do and in spite of our circumstances, continue to subsist on the ingredients of archetypal imperialist subterfuge - lies, spite, treachery and those other ignoble values that submit to mans disrespect for man – all of which, in no small way, has impeded the universal momentum of the progress of the black race and ultimately, the shame of mankind.
Because we willy-nilly inherited rules and regulations that were designed for the best interests of others and that more or less were friendly to the unjust interests of those who made those rules, we have by so-doing, stalled our own ability to progress freely.
We spend more time and effort today justifying and trying to live within those largely unsuitable colonial establishmentarian rules than looking out for what is best for us and what is good for our own interests and development. Kwame Nkrumah realized this difficulty and much as he couldn’t overturn in its entirety the problem overnight, he discreetly attempted to navigate the tempestuous political environment with self-serving conventions and populist support. Unfortunately it is precisely this crunch-point that his more colonially subjective local opponents employed to rail at him as an iconoclast, a communist and a dictator – words which even those evil people who engaged in slavery and colonialism, history’s most contemptible crimes, today disrespectfully use against Africans with unrestrained effrontery, audacity and impudence.
Let the local pimps of imperialism continue to spew out vile stories and falsehoods, fabricated and spoon-fed to them by their slave and colonial masters against the achievements of Nkrumah. Let them continue to subject themselves to and make an industry out of serfdom. Let them persist in eking out a livelihood out of crucifying Nkrumah’s image and his achievements. Let them say that we, Nkrumah’s admirers, are brain-washed idol-worshippers. Let them say what they want to say but the impregnable truth shall steadfastly remain that the man is still the greatest and thankfully, the whole enlightened world – particularly and most importantly Africans, recognize the veracity and the merits of this fact.
For the black man to find comfort and contentment – at least in his own habitat, he must devise new rules and institutions that favor or are in consonance with the social and biological dynamics of our race and our environment. With great difficulty and against the grain of our psychological frame of mind and physical habits, we have endured rules and a political ethos that were made by others for themselves but which have been unfairly imposed on us for centuries at home and abroad.
Even Africans living in Africa are mesmerized by European rules, regulations and social habits - from the manner of eating our own different food, to the way we dress to the names we call ourselves. We still happily sing “I am dreaming of a white Christmas …..” - Christmas carols which depict reindeer, fir trees, winter and the image of a Caucasian Father Christmas riding on a sled in snow-white conditions. Meanwhile whilst we are singing these carols, the weather in Africa around that time of the year, would probably measure up to 32°C in most parts of the continent.
This situation continues to persist much to our disadvantage and peril. It is this psychological tool that has facilitated the cultural disorientation of Africans all over the world to paradoxically defend further imperialist incursions on African culture, politics and wealth. Again, it is this induced racial schizophrenia that the Danquah-Busia clique effectively employed in the political domain to justify their angst against Kwame Nkrumah as a dictator simply because he refused to play by all the white man’s rules. Simply put, the sins of Kwame Nkrumah were that, in his inordinate desire to release Africans from the clutches of imperialism, he refused to comport or subject himself to the dictates, rules, obligations and regulations of imperialism.
To end, I strongly propose that the name of the man who, if he were still alive, would have been tried for high treason and duly executed, should be immediately replaced at the Accra airport with a more respectable and self-serving epithet to read, “Paa Grant International Airport”.
We cannot continue to live in self-denial by appending the name of a serf, a mercenary, a terrorist and a coup-maker - today’s equivalent of a Judas Iscariot, whose singular damning misdeed of 24th February 1966, in concert with other equally villainous miscreants, effectively caused the historically unpardonable obstruction to the then vibrant impetus of the progress of the entire black race. He is a man whose name we would rather not hear of even though his name will continue to resound throughout history for the wrong reasons.
We cannot continue to pretend to say that we abhor anarchy, acts of treason, coups d’état and other statutory illegalities when the first thing one meets on arrival in this country is a major state institution – the airport, named after a person whose distinction - or rather despicable notoriety, is derived from carrying out precisely such activities. In my considered opinion, so long as any government condones by default, to the transgression of maintaining that name there, that govt. by obvious implication and principle, seeks to underestimates the legal status of sovereignty, and recognizes the random application of violence, illegalities and coups d’état on society. It is such flaws and absurdity of character which casts African leaders and governments as so ‘third world’ and backward.
Paa Grant on the other hand may not have been a socialist or a even a politician but he was equally a respectable, hard-working and successful Ghanaian timber Merchant – an astute businessman and not a slave trader as many ignorant and spiteful people have asserted.
Paa Grant was a man who before any Ghanaian living today was born and who, in spite of pervading global racism, which widely debarred and still persists to exclude the democratic and human rights, interests and due privileges of Black People, particularly in ‘certain’ parts of the world, employed white people on his ships and in his offices in Africa, racist Europe and America.
Aside of his personal achievements as a merchant, he was the initiator and force behind the formation of the United Gold Coast Convention. He was the man who organized and financed the political activities of some of the nationalist and independence movements. He was also responsible for the recruitment and return of the ‘Greatest African’ back to the Gold Coast (Ghana). He was the man behind the scenes who made great things leading to the Independence of Ghana, happen. What more do we need, to appropriately honor and express gratitude to this most honorable human being?
For that, the imperialists in their typical sinister manner, schemed and deviously undermined his thriving global shipping and timber business empire, thus he died under circumstances which reflected a pale shadow of his former glory – a few months prior to the Independence of Ghana and a few weeks after the ‘Greatest African’ had paid him a visit on his sick bed.
Whilst bomb-throwers, traitors and imperialist lackeys have been prominently honored by being named after public places, to date, Paa Grant is the only significant ‘freedom fighter’ from those heady days who has not been given due credit, due recognition and commensurate honor in Ghana. His significant contribution to the political evolution of and the actual realization of the state of Ghana has been, as it were, seemingly snubbed and disavowed by people who today are living and enjoying the fruits of his labor.
Many respectable Ghanaians and Africans from all walks of life and from all shades of political, ethnic and religious persuasion, have over the years emphasized Paa Grants significant and crucial role in the liberation struggle and the creation of the state of Ghana but thus far, there has not been a favorable reaction from present-day protagonists of the very nation that Paa Grant played such a significant and far-reaching role to found.
Discerning Ghanaians, Africans, Black people all over the world, let us from the perspective of our own judgment and values, honor our true Heroes where honor is so deserved, so that our children may take after them and where we failed, they can thereupon make this country greater than what the extraordinary dynamism of Paa Grant and Kwame Nkrumah made it for us all.
Freedom!
Kojo Sapara
