As Nkrumah declared during the struggle for independence, that “seek ye first the political kingdom”…..…The political kingdom was ultimately inherited at independence. The question was what action plans or strategies will the new government pursue to ensure that the people experienced the benefits of the ‘kingdom’? In the heat of the cold war in the fifties and sixties, it was no surprise that the ruling government’s action plans will be shaped by its political ideology.
The CCP had at its core socialist ideas. Nkrumah’s vision was for Ghana to be a socialist country. He also envisioned a United States of Africa.
Nkrumah’s socialist agenda emphasized empowerment of the masses and rapid modernization of industries and communications. He believed that for these goals to be achieved faster, it was necessary for the workforce to be completely Africanized and educated. Coupled with his ambition of helping to realize the creation of a United States of Africa, Nkrumah became a leading figure of Pan-Africanism enlightenment among the new generation of African leaders who had fought to gain independence for their respective countries in the early sixties. His efforts were pivotal in the signing of the Charter that gave birth to the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in 1963.
On the domestic front, hopes of a new form of leadership with the moral authority to shape a new destiny for the country had risen high after independence in 1957. Nkrumah’s definite claim for self government as articulated in his famous speech entitled the ‘Motion of Destiny’ in 1953, inter alia was the narrative that captured the aspirations of the colonial peoples and sent a ‘ripple of hope’ across the country. In many ways his intellectual stimulation, visionary appeal, idealized influence and inspirational motivation positioned him to be transformational leader. Nkrumah signaled his transformational ideals when he stated that “the true heroes of our generation will be those that will lead our people out of the stifling fog of disintegration through serfdom, into the valley of light where purpose, endeavor and determination will create the brotherhood which Christ proclaimed two thousand years ago, and about which much has been said but so little done”
At independence in 1957, virtually the whole nation had rallied behind Nkrumah’s new principles of “freedom and justice, equity and free education for all, irrespective of ethnic background, religion or creed”. These were a set of egalitarian principles that Nkrumah believed were; uniquely consistent with Marxist socialism, fundamental to the African cultural experience and had the best chance to neutralize what he perceived to be the social, political and economic inequities of the capitalist model introduced to the Gold Coast by the colonial master. Nkrumah addressed this issue in a 1967 essay entitled "African Socialism Revisited" where he noted: "We know that the traditional African society was founded on principles of egalitarianism. In its actual workings, however, it had various shortcomings. Its humanist impulse, nevertheless, is something that continues to urge us towards our all-African socialist reconstruction. We postulate each man to be an end in himself, not merely a means; and we accept the necessity of guaranteeing each man equal opportunities for his development. The implications of this for socio-political practice have to be worked out scientifically, and the necessary social and economic policies pursued with resolution. Any meaningful humanism must begin from egalitarianism and must lead to objectively chosen policies for safeguarding and sustaining egalitarianism. Hence, socialism. Hence, also, scientific socialism”.
One could however, argue that Egalitarianism could not be uniquely aligned with socialism as suggested by Nkrumah. It is a universal doctrine that maintains that all human persons are equal in fundamental worth or moral status. Thus it supports the fundamental principles freedom and liberty as inalienable rights of mankind in every society. For example, albeit a strong proponent of capitalism, Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States of America in his draft of the Declaration of Independence invoked egalitarianism in an attempt to sideline the dominant social doctrine of the time, the Divine Right of Kings, by saying "All men are created equal".
Notwithstanding, Nkrumah made some progress on his education agenda. New secondary schools were built around the country, laying the infrastructure for a new school system. Both secondary and primary educations were free. Schools in parts of the country that were underdeveloped were given priority in terms of resources to prop up their standards.
On infrastructure, roads and highways were built to link the rural areas where much of the nation’s food was produced to the commercial centers. In the process, the first motor way in Ghana, Tema Motor Way was constructed to link Tema, a major seaport city to Accra, the nation’s capital. The Akosombo Hydro Electricity grid was constructed to provide electricity to the new nation on a national scale and more importantly to promote Nkrumah’s vision of rapid industrialization as a way of attaining economic independence from the colonial master.
On trade, Nkrumah reasoned that if Ghana escaped the colonial trade system by reducing dependence on foreign capital, technology, and material goods, it could become truly independent. He therefore, sat up import substitution industries as part of an overarching strategy designed to realize economic independence. These organizations were run as national symbols of pride and economic emancipation rather than as efficient and effective institutions for economic advancement. Their creation also served to reinforce Nkrumah’s socialist leanings of state control of the means of production.
Unfortunately, many of the industrialization projects he initiated were too expensive, unsuccessful, or had delayed benefits. Ultimately, his rapid industrialization and trade policies did not free Ghana from imports.
Most of his policies tended to hurt the economy and impacted the masses and his supports bases such as farmers and trade unions the most. As a result, there was a rising discontent with his policies across the nation culminating in demonstrations against his policies. Realizing that his policies were becoming unpopular, Nkrumah sought to tighten his grip on power and to silence political and social opposition by introducing a series of dictatorial legislations to restrict various freedoms in Ghana.
After the Gold Miners' Strike of 1955, Nkrumah introduced the Trade Union Act, which made strikes illegal. When he suspected opponents in parliament of plotting against him, he wrote the Preventive Detention Act in 1958 that made it possible for his administration to arrest and detain anyone charged with treason without due process of law in the judicial system.
When the railway workers went on strike in 1961, Nkrumah ordered strike leaders and opposition politicians arrested under the Trade Union Act of 1958. While Nkrumah had organized strikes just a few years before, he now opposed industrial democracy because he perceived it as conflicting with his rapid industrial development agenda. He told the unions that their days as advocates for the safety and just compensation of miners were over, and that their new job was to work with management to mobilize human resources. He argued that wages must give way to patriotic duty because the good of the nation superseded the good of individual workers. This was a classic socialist argument that sought to suppress individual freedom and liberty but to advance state control of social and economic institutions.
The Detention Act of 1962 led to widespread disaffection with Nkrumah’s administration. Some of his associates used the law to arrest innocent people, to acquire their political offices and business assets. Advisers close to Nkrumah became reluctant to question policies for fear that they might be seen as opponents. Police came to resent their role in society.
Nkrumah sought to entrench himself in power even further. In 1964, he proposed a constitutional amendment making Ghana a one party state and declared himself President of Ghana as well as the CPP for life.
After succeeding in driving out fellow intellectuals such as Dr. Busia into exile and jailing JB Danquah, who were strong contenders for the presidency, there really was no substantive opposition political party or opposition party members left in the country who had the resolve to challenge his policies. These acts of silencing dissent and the establishment of a one party state had much affinity with the Leninist conception, which includes a form of political organization based on control of the means of production and government by a single political party apparatus that claims to act in the interest of the working class, and an ideology hostile toward markets and political dissent, with coordination of economic activity through centralized economic planning (a "command economy").
In the end, Nkrumah’s dream of perpetuating himself in power proved to be his nemesis.
History has taught us with few exceptions, that in every country where the freedom of expression is suppressed and intellectual political discourse is banished, an olive branch is extended to the military for intervention since civility is perceived as an act of cowardice.
In February 1966, while Nkrumah was on a state visit to North Vietnam and China, his government was overthrown in a military coup. The coup leaders cited Nkrumah’s despotism and dictatorship among others as their reasons for their intervention.
In the context of the current political debate, one is tempted to ask what people really mean when they invoke the term Nkrumahnism? If they are referring to Nkrumah’s policies or ideas, then the next question one would ask is, are Nkrumah’s policies or ideas still relevant to current Ghana’s political and economic pursuits?
Maxwell Dapaah
Virginia, USA
