"The answer most appropriate for such development was that the Convention People's Party,having won power in the colonial times through the ballot box,abandoned,once independence was secured,the democracy it had promised to e ... read full comment
"The answer most appropriate for such development was that the Convention People's Party,having won power in the colonial times through the ballot box,abandoned,once independence was secured,the democracy it had promised to established[sic},and immediately instituted a dictatorship,built up its leader Dr.Kwame Nkrumah into an almost godlike figure,
flunging its political opponents into jail and then indulged in an orgy of ostentatious spending,corruption and general mismanagement that was bound to end in national disaster."
Nana Akwah, Nkrumah's "ostentatious spending" brought us Tema city and harbor,Tema motorway,GET schools(like Yaa Asantewa Girl Sec.School,Ghana National College),Cape Coast University,the upgrading of the University College of Gold Coast(Legon), and the University College of Technology(KNUST),and most important,free universal primary education - which the terrorists Danquah and Busia opposed.
This same "ostentatious spending" established Ghana Airways and Black Star Line;built Black Star Square(now Independence Square)and many industries all over the country.
Nana Akwah(those taken from their villages and educated by Nkrumah and CPP now call themselves "Nana"),how did Nkrumah become a "dictator"? You made no mention of the the terrorist group - the NLM led by Baffour Osei-Akoto(then Asantehene's chief linguist),nor did you mention the nefarious and terrorist activities of Danquah,Busia,Mallam Tula,S.D. Dombo and Obetsebi-Lamptey,Jake's father. So,you think Nkrumah should have invited these murderers who killed and maimed hundreds of innocent Gold Coasters/Ghanaians ,and also tried to assassinate him three times - to Flagstaff House for a State Dinner?
Nana must be out of his mind to imply that Nkrumah threw his political opponents into jail for no apparent reasons.
Whatever corruption that occurred during CPP's rule, pales in comparison to the blatant corruption that engulfed the NPP government under Kufuor.Checkout the comments of former national chairman of the NPP - Haruna Esseku and former U.S Ambassador Pam Bridgewater.
Nkrumah never put up $100million Presidential Palace, nor did he wear $1million gold chain - while under-tree schools were all over the country.
Visionaries like Ataturk(Turkey),Lee Kuan Yew(Singapore),and Tunku Abdul Rahman(Malaysia) were labeled as "dictators" when they started to modernize their respective countries. Thousands died in the Malaysian civil war, and assassination attempts were made on the lives of all three leaders(Singapore and Malaysia passed Preventive Detention Laws).Today, these leaders are heroes and are revered in their countries for bringing reforms ,development and modernization to what were once backward countries like Ghana.But don't tell this to the backward-thinking and inveterate tribalists of the NPP.
This polemic by NPP apparatchik,Nana Akwah,is one-sided and full of holes.He deserves a D.
"The answer most appropriate for such development was that the Convention People's Party,having won power in the colonial times through the ballot box,abandoned,once independence was secured,the democracy it had promised to e ...
read full comment