Do you know what works? Our issue is not about ideology but stupidity and lack of creative intelligence. What are we practicing now? Even Nkrumah didn't practice socialism. Although he always thought that we Africans have to ... read full comment
Do you know what works? Our issue is not about ideology but stupidity and lack of creative intelligence. What are we practicing now? Even Nkrumah didn't practice socialism. Although he always thought that we Africans have to be creative and develop our own African ideology. Nkrumah gave more in terms of education, infrastructure, and self-esteem during his nine years of rule than any Ghanaian ruler.
Mahmoud 9 years ago
I have been challenged by Kwarten Francis to explain line by line what Dr. Kwame Botwe-Asamoah said in his three-part series that confirms our claim, even remotely, that Nkrumah was a communist that cunningly used the UGCC pl ... read full comment
I have been challenged by Kwarten Francis to explain line by line what Dr. Kwame Botwe-Asamoah said in his three-part series that confirms our claim, even remotely, that Nkrumah was a communist that cunningly used the UGCC platform as a cover to work against the group from within, and in the end stabbed the group from behind to take power. The following excerpts are only from Dr. Asamoah's Three-part series entitled, Kwame Nkrumah: The ONE and ONLY Founding Father of Ghana -2014 Independence Day Special..
UGCC HIRED A PAN-AFRICAN COMMUNIST
"The fact is Nkrumah initially was reluctant to accept the offer as he perceived the UGCC members to be “bourgeois reactionaries” enamored in capitalist ideology and philosophy." "Secondly, he, as the General-Secretary of West African National Secretariat, as well as Chairman of “The Circle,” was at the time busy working on a West African National Conference towards a Union of West African Socialist Republics, slated to be held in Lagos in October 1948."
CONSPIRACY HATCHED IN LONDON TO SABOTAGE UGCC
"Nonetheless, after meeting with his comrades in the West African National Secretariat, it was decided that Nkrumah should accept the offer and return to operationalize the 1945 Manchester Pan-African Congress resolutions. Nkrumah assured them that he would not compromise with the reactionaries and reformists in the UGCC (Smertin)"
UGCC SENSED A DANGER (THEY HAVE PATAKU (Wolf) IN THEIR MIDST)
"They (UGCC) brought many charges against Nkrumah based on differences in vision, ideology, philosophy and strategy. One was the word “Comrade” in one of Nkrumah’s letters Obetsebi Lamptey and William Ofori Attah had confiscated from Nkrumah’s office in Saltpond. They quizzed him about the word comrade, since they found it to be synonymous with Communism. Second. The Working Committee accused Nkrumah of acting outside his authority…" "They blamed Ako Adjei for his role in recommending Nkrumah to the group. Dr. J. B. Danquah wept saying that he would not have supported the recommendation by Ako Adjei, had he (Danquah) known of Nkrumah’s ideological persuasion."
A SECRET NETWORK IN THE NAME OF UGCC TO STAB IT FROM BEHIND
"The (UGCC) Working Committee accused Nkrumah of establishing a Youth Study Group at Osu in Accra with Komla Gbedemah as its Chairman. This would later embody a nationalist youth movement with the Ashanti Youth Association and the Ghana Youth Association of Sekondi, and become known as the Committee on Youth Organization (CYO).The CYO, Nkrumah explained to the Working Committee, was to serve as the youth wing of the UGCC, yet they still objected to its formation. They found the CYO’s manifesto, “Self-Government Now” a threat to the program of the UGCC, “Self-Government within the shortest possible time.”… All the while, Nkrumah and his Comrades were working on turning the CYO into a political party." And that was CPP of course.
francis kwarteng 9 years ago
Mahmoud,
See Dr. Zizwe Poe's book "Kwame Nkrumah's Contributions to Pan-Africanism: An Afrocentric Analysis," pages 91-94. It reads:
........................................................................................ ... read full comment
Mahmoud,
See Dr. Zizwe Poe's book "Kwame Nkrumah's Contributions to Pan-Africanism: An Afrocentric Analysis," pages 91-94. It reads:
........................................................................................................................................................
Nkrumah arrived in the Gold Coast and after meeting with his family he assessed the political climate from the ‘ground level.’ He had done investigations from abroad through conversations with Africans and others who had traveled to and from the colony.
The political climate was ripe for his plans and the African
masses only required the systematic organization of their collective agency. All that remained was his official installment in the UGCC. The process leading to his installment would cement Nkrumah’s doubts about the group he was to work with. His testimony is both illuminating and somewhat satirical.
"The members received me enthusiast ically and made many speeches of welcome before we finally settled down to the business in hand. The first item on the agenda was my appointment as general secretary. This, it was agreed by everybody, should be confirmed forthwith. When the question of salary arose, however, there was diversity of opinions. The hundred
pounds a month and the car had obviously, I realised, been used only as a bait for I soon discovered that the Convention (which itself lacked any kind of programme or mass organisation) had no funds at all and had not even attempted to open a banking account. As the payment of a hundred pounds was quite out of the question, they compromised by offering me twenty-five pounds a month instead. I realised that even this sum was going to be difficult for them to find and I proposed that I would work for nothing so long as they would take care of my board and lodging expenses. The whole room full of them turned to look at me in astonishment. As each one was
making an income of around two or three thousand a year, they must have
thought I was either a pretty queer char acter or that in a shrewd way I was trying on something too clever for them to see.... They obviously intended taking no chances for they would not agree to my proposal and insisted on paying me twenty five pounds a month. It mattered little to me one way or the other, and I accepted their offer. In January of the next year, therefore,
I began my official duites as genera
l secretary of the U.G.C.C. (Nkrumah
1973a, 58)"
Nkrumah set out immediately to do organizational work according to a program of action he put before the Working Committee of the UGCC. The work of implementing the platform fell into three periods.
The first period was to include the coordination of the various organizations under the control of the UGCC. These included “Political, Social, Educational, Farmers’ and Women’s Organizations as well as Native Societies, Trade Unions,
NKRUMAH AND THE PAN-AFRICAN MOVEMENT 1945–1966 91 Co-operative Societies, etc. (Nkrumah 1973c, 53)” which were to be granted affiliate membership with the UGCC.
Existing branches were to be consolidated and new branches were to be established in virgin territories throughout the colony. Odikros 7 were to be persuaded to become patrons of the UGCC. Weekends ‘Convention schools’ were to be opened wherever there were UGCC branches for the purpose of “political mass education of the country for Self- Government” (Nkrumah 1973c, 53).
During the second period, political crises were to be made use of by constant demonstrations to test organizational strength. These actions would be expanded in the third period to include boycotts and strikes to bring pressure to bear on the colonial forces to allow Self-Government. The third period also included the convening of a Constitutional Assembly
of colonial subjects of the Gold Coast
(Nkrumah 1973a, c).
Nkrumah discovered that only a couple branches of the organization existed.
Within six months he established 500 branches. Dues began to flow in and a
bank account was established for the UGCC. As Nkrumah traveled throughout
the country establishing branches of the organization he became even more
aware of the frustration of the population. He began to politically educate the masses.
Nkrumah spoke to about two thousand persons of the Nzima group at Aboso in February 1948. He told them that only the united support of the people
could bring about success. He went on to say, Without organizational strength we are weak; unity is the dynamic force behind any great venture. In whatever sphere of labour you are placed we want you to work so well that when the time comes for you to serve your country you will be the right man at the right place.
(Nkrumah 1973b, 3)
In a typical fashion he went on to extol the virtues of working with the UGCC by starting a branch.
A rapid series of events and alte rcations between the populace and the
colonial administration provided Nkrumah with the opportunity to advance to the second phase of his strategy within a year.
Even before the leadership of the UGCC, the traditional structures and other organizational forces were in rebellion. “A countrywide boycott of European and Syrian merchants had been called by a sub-chief of the Ga State, Nii Kwaben Bonne, in an attempt to force foreign shopkeepers to reduce the high prices of
their goods. The boycott spread quickly and lasted about a month. (1973c, 54–55)”
The boycott was called off on 28 February 1948. On that same day the colonial authorities were responsible for an alte rcation at a demonstration of the Ex-Servicemen’s Union that re sulted in the death of two demonstrators and five
wounded. The resultant uprising lasted for several days, “during which some twenty people were killed and 237 injured” (1973c, 55).
Nkrumah gave his first mass presentation in Accra at the Palladium Cinema at
the end of January 1948
8 to an overflowing crowd. There were thousands of 92 KWAME NKRUMAH’S CONTRIBUTION youth in attendance. His topic was “The Ideological Battles of Our Times” (Nkrumah 1973a).
This presentation, taking place during an economic boycott, allowed Nkrumah the opportunity to link the economic crisis to the political situation. He encouraged the audience to help pass the control of government
into the hands of the people. He
became pointed and told his audience:
A fierce fight against the economic system is raging. It does not matter
whether those who have promoted that economic system are black or
white.
The Convention is against anybody who identifies himself, be he
black or white, with that economi
c system. The present struggle is a
historical one, for down the ages this fight has been raging with unabated intensity and has pointed all along to one goal-complete independence for West Africa. (Nkrumah 1973b, 4–5)
The long applause and response from the youth was inspiring and no doubt
worried the colonial authorities. At this presentation Danquah told that audience that Nkrumah would never fail them. Soon after, the famous ‘Accra rebellion’ mentioned above ensued.
The UGCC was implicated in the upri
sing for two reasons. First, the speech given by Nkrumah was considered proocative. The second factor that implicated the UGCC resulted from their
response to the fracas. Acting quickly, Nkrumah assembled the UGCC Executive Committee and they called the colonial administration to abdicate governance to the chiefs and the people. The UGCC leadership was promptly arrested and deported to Kumasi.
They were later taken further north because of fear from a rumor that the youth of the Ashanti were going to physically break them out of confinement. The rumor was well founded as Nkrumah had reached out to the youth at every opportunity.
They appreciated his militancy and the response in Accra to Nkrumah’s
presentation was probably well known by the colonial authorities. While the
UGCC’s leadership was released after
six weeks of being under arrest, the
pressure of this and other activities prompted them to separate from Nkrumah.
Nkrumah knew that the separation was inevitable and he was not idle. He
continued to travel and speak to the masses. He launched an independent school known as the Ghana National College for students from various colleges and secondary schools who had gone on strike. They were subsequently expelled when the UGCC leadership was arrested. The opening ceremony took place on 20 July 1948 at which Nkrumah explained to the audience that the task of the
college was to liberate the minds of the youth to enable them to tackle the
problems of the time. He further in struct ed them to combine the best of Western culture with the best in
African culture (Nkrumah 1973a).
“The magic story of human achievement gives irrefutable proof that as soon as an awakened intelligentsia emerges among so-called subject people, it becomes the vanguard of the struggle against alien rule” (Nkrumah 1973a, 74). At the end of his
presentation he advised them to use their education to build a united Gold Coast
NKRUMAH AND THE PAN-AFRICAN MOVEMENT 1945–1966 93
and a united West Africa (Nkrumah 1973a, 74). The school thrived and in the following year had 200 students.
Nkrumah formed the Youth Study Group that evolved into the Committee on
Youth Organization (CYO). The CYO was comprised of the Youth Study
Group, the Ashanti Youth Association and the Ghana Youth Association of
Sekondi.
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OYOKOBA 9 years ago
Bravo to Philip Kobina Baidoo. You have done the topic so much justice even a 5th grader can understand it. Socialism basically is for free-riders on the common good whilst lazing about. Kudos.
Bravo to Philip Kobina Baidoo. You have done the topic so much justice even a 5th grader can understand it. Socialism basically is for free-riders on the common good whilst lazing about. Kudos.
Mahmoud 9 years ago
Strong partisanship started in Ghana when Kwame Nkrumah divided the nation into patriots and traitors. Patriots were those who accepted that he should be president for life, practice one party state and communism and indulge ... read full comment
Strong partisanship started in Ghana when Kwame Nkrumah divided the nation into patriots and traitors. Patriots were those who accepted that he should be president for life, practice one party state and communism and indulge in leftist anti-Western propaganda using the small country's meager resources to challenge centuries' old, well-established Western countries. They even accepted that he should act as savior of the Blackman around the world, while tyrannizing his own Black people at home because they had alternative views for development of their country.
Those who wanted him to concentrate more on basic needs of the young nation and tone down his rhetoric against the powerful were called traitors, reactionaries, and agents of imperialism that should be liquidated and imprisoned dead or alive. Could you believe that the opposition members he was tyrannizing were the very people who started the struggle for our independence? They employed Nkrumah and paid for his ticket from the UK to come and work as general secretary of the group, saving him from the tyranny of unemployment in London. The independence struggle vanguards were senior civil servants in the Gold Coast. And as their struggle was gaining momentum and scope of their activities widening, they needed someone to work full-time for the group; free from official work constrains to further spread message of the struggle.
Under their responsibility and protection, Nkrumah used the platform to become public face of the group and his popularity soared. This was because; many of the people in those days could not differentiate between the spokesperson and the leaders, and saw him as the person or the only person that was fighting for our independence. Subsequently, when he heard from the Governor General's female secretary, who was later sacked, that the British were preparing to grant us independence, he increasingly used needless militant tactics to provoke the Whiteman, when it was clear that the wind of change was blowing, and also embarrass his employers in order to outfox them. He then used the opportunity to break away from the group, forming his own party and slapping them from behind to take power.
This explains the strong partisanship in the country and why Nkrumah didn't want the Liberation Vanguards to ever come to power in his life time. Maybe, he was afraid of his own ghost or because of his communist tendencies. Unfortunately, and despite all these plain facts, his supporters still want us to believe that he initiated, spearheaded and single handedly fought for our independence, and name every national project after him as if we were in a kingdom.
francis kwarteng 9 years ago
Hello Mahmoud,
You have not seen anything yet!
Have you read Dr. Kwame Botwe-Asamoah's five-part series "The Fallacies of JB Danquah's Heroic Legacy" and "KA Busia: His Politics of Demagoguery, National Disintegration a ... read full comment
Hello Mahmoud,
You have not seen anything yet!
Have you read Dr. Kwame Botwe-Asamoah's five-part series "The Fallacies of JB Danquah's Heroic Legacy" and "KA Busia: His Politics of Demagoguery, National Disintegration and Autocracy," all published on Ghanaweb?
Explain to me line by line what Dr. Asamoah has said in this three-part series that agrees with yours, even remotely.
This is what some Ghanaweb readers are known for doing, making hollow, vacuous statements and running away with them.
Be more specific. Tell me what your ahistorical remarks have in common with Dr. Asamoah's.
Do you know the difference between communism and socialism? Could you conduct a little research and tell readers what you think communism and socialism are?
Do you have any clue what a "mixed economy" is? Could you give me any authoritative source when Nkrumah said he was a communist!
Any by saying Nkrumah "outfoxed" them, are you saying those he allegedly outfoxed were stupid, dumb, unintelligent, and foolish, or blockheads? What do you mean by that statement, explain!
I don't believe you read Dr. Kwame Botwe-Asamoah's article carefully, and even if you did, you may not have grasped the complexity of his three-part essay.
Let me reproduce it for for your re-reading.
......................................
Kwame Nkrumah: The ONE and ONLY Founding Father of Ghana - Part I ...2014 Independence Day Special..
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Introduction.
That Kwame Nkrumah is the founder of modern Ghana is not debatable; yet, there are still some guilty and misguided individuals among us who would clothe themselves in an oblong missile and blast it from Mars into a fortified round hole. Since the late President Arthur Mills declared Kwame Nkrumah’s birthday as a statutory Founder’s Day in Ghana, certain resentful, misguided and ill-informed individuals have been blowing their shattered trumpets from Mars about their so-called “founding fathers” by way of distorting and turning Ghana’s political history upside down. So far, they have failed to provide any cogent argument/s to underscore their hodgepodge position. By their imprudent logic, all leaders of the anti-European intruders, anti-Gold Coast Crown colony, pro-self-government Fante confederation, anti-AWAM (European merchants), anti-draconian indirect rule, cocoa hold-up, as well as ethnocentric, terrorist and secessionist crusaders, from 1482 to March 6, 1957, are “founding fathers.” But going by the American benchmark, “Founding Fathers,” refers to a group of individuals (men) with shared political philosophy and ideology, vision and socio-economic values, who struggle, revolt, and/or fight together to overthrow their foreign overlord to found a nation based on a constitution. In the case of Ghana, can the so-called “founders fathers” meet this criterion? Aside from their sabotaging and domestic terrorist tactics (including bombing, shooting, and hunting down supporters of the CPP), parochial objectives and secessionist goals, none of the names that often pop up played any role, identified or associated themselves with Kwame Nkrumah and his CPP’s political ideology, Pan-African vision, strategy and tactics, which galvanized the common people and some “chiefs” to rally behind Kwame Nkrumah’s struggle for a unified country from 1949 to the 1954 and 1956 general elections. It was consequent to the victory of Nkrumah and his CPP (the first and only political party in all the four independent territories under the British colonial administration) in the 1956 general election that modern Ghana was founded on March 6, 1957. As the subsequent discourse shows, not only did the champions of barefaced ethnocentrism, parochialism and secessionism ferociously try to sabotage Ghana’s independence, but they also oppose the name, Ghana, when Kwame Nkrumah proposed it. So, why are they “Founding Fathers?”
Origin of the UGCC.
In the aftermath of the so-called World War II and the collapsed of the British economy, the British colonial government limited import and export licenses to the Association of West African (Europeans) Merchants (AWAM). Feeling marginalized, some of the African merchants led by George Paa Grant (a wealthy Sekondi merchant), Awoonor-Williams (a Sekondi-based lawyer) and others formed the Gold Coast League as a pressure group to advance their economic and political interest. Concurrently, the upshot of Dr. J. B. Danquah’s connection with the ritual murder of Odikro of Akyea Mensah of Apedwa brought him (Danquah) into conflict with Governor Allen Burns. As a result, J. B. Danquah, Erick Akufo Addo, Ako Adjei and others in Accra formed the Gold Coast National Party to oppose the Burns Constitution. The irony here is that in Governor Burns’ constitutional reform in the late 1930s, Dr. J. B. Danquah pressed for the creation of an Office of Minister of Home Affairs for himself. As well, Dr. Danquah had wholeheartedly embraced the Burns Constitution by representing the Joint Provincial Council of Chiefs in the Burns Legislative Council in 1946.
Dr. J. B. Danquah’s personal contradictory positions notwithstanding, the economic and political interest of these two pressure groups resulted in a marriage of convenience and became the United Gold Coast Convention in Saltpond in August 1947, under the leadership of George Paa Grant. The main objective of this self-selected “Gentlemen’s Club,” comprising lawyers, merchant, wealthy cocoa farmers, and other similar-minded individuals was to advance their economic and political interest through political power sharing with the Colonial Government. Most critical was their call for the replacement of Chiefs on the Legislative Council with educated persons. The important thing to note here is that the UGCC was a loose, [Gentlemen’s Club] without program of action, funds and bank account.
Because of its self-appointed mandate, the UGCC avoided designating itself as a political party; thus, seeing themselves as “rightful rulers,” its original initiators detested the idea of political parties. Secondly, as bourgeoisies, they took politics to be a leisure activity. Their elitist outlook also prevented them from reconciling themselves with the people. Hence, they needed Nkrumah’s kind of leadership and organizational skills to bring some of the “chiefs” and people into their fold, and turn the UGGC into a popular movement to oppose and upset the Burns Constitution. The big question, however, is, if the UGCC was truly a “movement struggling for independence (as some apologists have claimed), why did its initiators not give up their private business and professional endeavors as Vladimir Lenin, Nelson Mandela, Augustino Neto, Mahatma Gandhi and others did, rather than search for another citizen (Nkrumah) outside the territory with special leadership and organizational skills to become its general secretary?
Kwame Nkrumah as the Antidote to the UGCC Handicaps.
Ako Adjei, who recommended Kwame Nkrumah as the antidote to the UGCC’s inadequacies, knew about Nkrumah’s anti-colonial crusade and Union of West African States agitation in the US, as well as his unique organizational kills and leadership roles during and after the 5th Pan-African Congress in Manchester. To test the waters, Ako Adjei wrote to ask Nkrumah if he would consider returning to the country to become the General Secretary of a newly formed UGCC. Without waiting for his response, Awoonor-Williams wrote a letter, and signed by Paa Grant, to Nkrumah, offering him the job of General Secretary, a monthly salary of one hundred pounds and a car. Dr. J.B. Danquah followed it up his letter urging him to accept the position. So, who was the “opportunist” here, as some functional illiterates and boorish individuals try to impute in their hoaxed writings? Clearly, they wanted to use Nkrumah to attain their selfish goal, namely to replace the “Chiefs” on the Legislative Council with themselves, self-styled elites.
The fact is Nkrumah initially was reluctant to accept the offer as he perceived the UGCC members to be “bourgeois reactionaries” enamored in capitalist ideology and philosophy. Secondly, he, as the General-Secretary of West African National Secretariat, as well as Chairman of “The Circle,” was at the time busy working on a West African National Conference towards a Union of West African Socialist Republics, slated to be held in Lagos in October 1948. Nonetheless, after meeting with his comrades in the West African National Secretariat, it was decided that Nkrumah should accept the offer and return to operationalize the 1945 Manchester Pan-African Congress resolutions. Nkrumah assured them that he would not compromise with the reactionaries and reformists in the UGCC (Smertin) So, right from the beginning, Nkrumah understood his mission as returning to, inter-alia, liberate the Gold Coast from British colonialism, and make Ghana the liberated zone for the total liberation of the African continent.
Prior to Kwame Nkrumah’s acceptance of the invitation to become the General Secretary of the yet-to-be christened UGCC, he had committed himself to serious revolutionary work, which entailed personal sacrifices. THE CIRCLE, under his Chairmanship, had as its motto, “The Three S’s—Service, Sacrifice, Suffering,” to which each member pledged and swore. It was this commitment to “revolutionary suicide,” to borrow Che Guevara’s lexis, that distinguished Kwame Nkrumah from the conformists in the Gentlemen’s Club (UGCC).
The Return of Kwame Nkrumah and the Launching of The UGCC.
The main issues the UGCC had to resolve once Kwame Nkrumah arrived on December 8 1947, were confirmation of his appointment as general secretary, and affirmation of his salary and car, contained in Paa Grant’s letter. But the one hundred pounds monthly salary promised him, Nkrumah soon found out, was a bait. Not perturbed by monetary compensation for revolutionary work, Nkrumah told them that he would work for free, if the compromised twenty five pounds was going to be difficult for the organization. Though the gentlemen looked at each other in astonishment, they prevailed on Nkrumah to accept the compromised monthly remuneration. Thereafter, under Kwame Nkrumah’s capacity as General Secretary, the UGCC was formally launched in Saltpond on December 29, 1947. So, if everything was “cooked” before Kwame Nkrumah’s arrival, as some shame-faced individuals have claimed, why did this self-appointed “gentlemen’s club,” (UGCC) wait for Nkrumah to launch it in his capacity as General Secretary? In fact the idea that everything was “cooked” prior to the return of Nkrumah is totally false, if not hogwash.
The Objective of the UGCC.
The objective of the UGCC was “to ensure by all legitimate and constitutional means the direction and control of government should pass into the hands of the people and chiefs in the shortest possible time.” This is delusional. First of all, who begged the British and other European monarchies to send their coach-managers to nurture the pre-colonial Africans to maturity before allowing them to rule themselves? Second, saying that “by all ‘legitimate’ and ‘constitutional’ means” not only legitimized the evil British colonization of the Gold Coast, but it also gave credence to the so-called “white man’s burden.” In effect, “by all ‘legitimate’ and ‘constitutional’ means” meant that any forceful demand, demonstrations, boycotts, strikes, uprising, rebellions or positive action confrontation with the British colonial government were illegal and illegitimate, as Dr. Danquah would later characterize the Positive Action. Did the subjugated Irish people “ensure by all legitimate and constitutional means” so that “the direction and control of government” be passed on from the Anglo-Norman rulers into their (Celtics’) hands “in the shortest possible time?” If the Irish people would wage a war against the Anglo-Norman occupation of Ireland from 1177 to 1921 (especially the IRA-led ‘Irish War of Independence’ from 1916 to 1921 for a Home Rule), what about a little over 100 year- old British Gold Coast [Black African] colony?
The request for self-government “in the shortest possible time” is connotative and laughable. Colonialists and imperialists are sly, vicious, always buying time and waiting for opportune moments to disintegrate opponents in the colonies. Historical evidence proves that colonial government or foreign settler regimes never “PASS” on the control of government into the hands of the colonized and/or occupied people, “by all legitimate and constitutional means…in the possible shortest time?” Rather European colonial governments employed deliberate policy of brute violence to suppress legitimate protests, uprisings, rebellions in India, Kenya, South Africa, Angola, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Namibia and other places. In the Gold Coast, the Fante Confederacy’s demand for self-government from the British colonial rule led to the arrest of its leaders. Likewise, the peaceful protest march by the Ex-servicemen to the seat of the colonial government in 1948 was met with violence. In the case of the planned CPP-GCTUC’s Positive Action in 1950, the same British colonial government flew war planes into the country with the intention of crushing the non-violent Positive Action. As this paper shows, it was the POSITIVE ACTION, and NOT the feet-dragging strategy, which set in motion the Kwame Nkrumah CPP’s forceful and immediate demand for independence from the illegal British colonial rule in the Gold Coast (e. i. the four territories).
Kwame Nkrumah’s Plan of Action.
After searching and organizing an office, Nkrumah drew up far-reaching plans and placed it before the UGCC Working Committee on January 20, 1948. First among the plans were “Shadow Cabinet” and “Organizational Work.” The latter included direct confrontation with the colonial government through organizing strikes, demonstrations and boycotts, contained in one of the resolutions adopted at the 5th Pan-African Congress in Manchester. Also because the scope of the UGCC was limited to the Colony proper, and to a lesser degree with Ashanti, Nkrumah proposed recommendations for the UGCC to embrace the entire Ashanti Province, the Northern Territories and Trans-Volta/Togoland.
The Kwame Nkrumah Countrywide Tour.
While the other members of the Executive/Working Committee of the UGCC were busy attending to their private endeavors, Kwame Nkrumah decided to travel throughout the four territories—the Colony, Ashanti Province, Northern Territories, and Trans/Volta Togoland—under the British colonial government. Notwithstanding the appalling states of roads in many areas, as well as the poor condition of the old car with which he was traveling, Nkrumah was determined to meet, hear, see and rally the people for the anti-colonial struggle. In doing so, he sometimes walked or got a lift with a passing “mammy” lorry when the car broke down, leaving the car with the driver; sometimes, he either walked to the next village or town and on some occasions slept on the roadside in the bush. The most intriguing phenomenon was that Nkrumah, in many instances, carried his suitcase containing his personal belongings on his head. The question is, which of the so-called “founding fathers” were prepared to undergo these hardships, aside from pleasing their colonial masters by “drinking tea, dining and playing tennis with them?” to borrow Sannie Awudu’s words.
Nonetheless, Nkrumah held endless meetings and rallies, delivering hundreds of speeches while organizing branches of the UGCC by himself. Prior to his arrival, there were thirteen (13) non-functioning branches in the Colony. But within six months, Nkrumah had established over five hundred (500) branches in the Colony alone, issuing membership cards with dues paying. Along side these, he established youth organizations, and later placed them under the umbrella of Council of Youth Organization (CYO). During the tours, Nkrumah found feeling of discontent and unrest among the people. It was by no accident, therefore, that Kwame Nkrumah would soon become the face of the UGCC and, by extension, the icon of the anti-colonial struggle in the four territories.
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Kwame Nkrumah: The ONE and ONLY Founding Father of Ghana - Part II
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The January-28th February Incidence: Kwame Nkrumah’s Role.
Nevertheless, the feeling of the discontent that Nkrumah found would lead to the two major uprisings in the “country” in January and February 1948, fuelling the drive for Ghana’s independence. The two major uprisings coincided with the return of Kwame Nkrumah to the Gold Coast. With the exception of the ex-servicemen’s march, Nkrumah had no knowledge of the plans for the boycott of the Association of West African Merchants (AWAM) and Syrians’ commodities organized by Nii Kwabena Bonne. The end of the Nii Kwabena Boone strike coincided with the ex-servicemen’s peaceful march on February 28 with a petition containing their grievances to the Governor, during which three of its Union members were shot dead with others wounded at Christiansborg Cross-Roads. This incidence subsequently led to the arrest and detention of the six Executive members of the UGCC. Did the UGCC play any role leading to the February 28 uprising leading to their arrest? Earlier, Danquah and Nkrumah had addressed the ex-servicemen on February 20 at Palladium to express solidarity with their concerns. Yet, Danquah’s telegram to the Secretary of State for the Colonies regarding the 28th incidence ended with the words “God Save the King.”
On the other hand, a careful investigation of what appears to be Nkrumah’s calculated statements may possibly shed some light on his complicity in the ex-servicemen’s march. He wrote: “I was certainly aware of the general dissatisfaction of the ex-servicemen and “was acquainted with their Union through my work as general secretary of the UGCC;” “it had been my intention to organize them in due course as an arm of our movement;” and that “I was fully aware that they intended to make peaceful demonstration.” The question is how did he know this? I put this question to the leadership of the Veterans Association of Ghana in my 1990 interview with them at their headquarters in Accra, and the answer I got was revealing. Its Chairman (one of the leaders of the ex-servicemen at the time of the 28 February march) emphatically said it was Kwame Nkrumah who wrote their petition and passed it on to them through Ako Adjei. The Watson Commission also noted that Kwame Nkrumah had circulated the “The Circle” in which he advocated civil disobedience, demonstrations, boycotts, and strikes. So the Watson Commission was right in attributing the two uprisings to Nkrumah’s arrival.
Detention, Watson Commission and The Myth of The Big Six.
The anger of the remaining Ex-servicemen and general public over the death of Sgt Adjetey, Cpl. Attipoe and Private Odartey-Lamptey fueled the violence that erupted leading to massive looting and destruction of public property. Subsequently, Governor Creasy on March 12, 1948, issued Removal Order for the arrest and imprisoned of the six executives of the UGCC, namely Jones William Ofori-Atta, Joseph Danquah, Ako Adjei, Obetsebi Lamptey and Akuffo-Addo and Kwame Nkrumah for being responsible for the riots; hence, they collectively became known as “Big Six.” While in prison, the other five blamed Kwame Nkrumah for the riots and their imprisonment and expressed their regret for inviting Nkrumah to take up the secretary generalship of the UGCC. To this end, they blamed Ako Adjei for his role in recommending Nkrumah to the group. Dr. J. B. Danquah wept saying that he would not have supported the recommendation by Ako Adjei, had he (Danquah) known of Nkrumah’s ideological persuasion.
After their release from prison to appear individually before the Watson Commission of Inquiry regarding the two uprisings, the other five members dissociated themselves from the two uprisings. With the exception of S. E. Ackah, all the Executive members of the UGCC totally disowned Nkrumah’s recommendations, which they had previously approved. But upon cross-examination, several members of them admitted to having received the recommendations from Nkrumah, but went further to clarify that they never associated themselves with it. In other words, Kwame Nkrumah was just and employee of the UGCC, and, as such, they could not entirely be held responsible for his actions. Such acts of betrayal, denial and cowardly behavior are the marks of those pretenders. Certainly, they were traitors worthy of rebuke. “The Big Six” is, thus, a misnomer.
But to acknowledge Kwame Nkrumah as the major driving force in the UGCC at the time, it is worthy of notice to quote the Commission’s observation:
From the internal minutes evidence of the Minute Book of the Working Committee, the Convention did not really get down to business until the arrival of Mr. Kwame Nkrumah on 16th December, 1947, and his assumption of his assumption of the post as Secretary (see the Watson
Commission Report).
So, in essence, the UGCC was an inert organization before Kwame Nkrumah’s arrival to become its General Secretary; thus, it was he who built and breathed life into the UGCC, thereby giving rise to political and national consciousness across the entire country as we know today.
In its inquiry, the Watson Commission also noted that Kwame Nkrumah had circulated the “The Circle” in which he advocated an open defiance to colonialism through civil disobedience, demonstrations, boycotts, and strikes. In effect, this observation and that of the other five members of the UGCC (while in imprison) linked Nkrumah’s activities to the uprisings. Yet, while the two uprisings did not threaten the British colonial government, it caused the replacement of the Burns constitution with the Coussey Constitution in 1951. It also served as a prelude to Kwame Nkrumah-GCTUC Positive Action in 1950 from which the British colonial government never recovered. The Watson Commission was therefore right when it forewarned in its conclusion that KWAME NKRUMAH (and NOT the spineless members of the UGCC) was the “MAN TO BE WATCHED.”
Kwame Nkrumah in a Head-on Collision with the UGCC.
First. After blaming Nkrumah for their imprisonment, as well as denouncing his recommendations during the deliberation of the Watson Commission of Inquiry, the Working Committee of the UGCC opposed everything Nkrumah had to do or say. They brought many charges against Nkrumah based on differences in vision, ideology, philosophy and strategy. One was the word “Comrade” in one of Nkrumah’s letters Obetsebi Lamptey and William Ofori Attah had confiscated from Nkrumah’s office in Saltpond. They quizzed him about the word comrade, since they found it to be synonymous with Communism.
Second. The Working Committee accused Nkrumah of acting outside his authority to set up a school for the dismissed teachers and students on March 28, 1948 for demonstrating against the arrest and detention of the “The Big Six.” The Working Committee objected to the idea when Nkrumah proposed it. In setting up the College, Nkrumah donated half of his monthly salary of twenty five (25) pounds as seed money towards purchasing tins, packing cases and boards as seats and desks for the first batch of ten students. The Ghana College expanded to became the Ghana National College. In fact, they were apprehensive about Nkrumah’s reference to UNITED GOLD COAST and United West Africa in his inaugural speech to the students and teachers of what would become the Ghana National College. “Founding Fathers” indeed!
Third. The Working Committee objected to Nkrumah’s suggestion for the creation of a newspaper as an organ of the movement, because it would get the members of the Committee embroiled in seditious cases. But when Nkrumah went ahead and launched the “Accra Evening News,” they forget about “seditious” cases and founded their own newspaper called the “The Ghana Statesman”
Fourth. Because of the popularity and success of the “Accra Evening News” (in contrast to “The Ghana Statesman”), some members of the Working Committee prevailed on a few civil servants and the Commissioner of Police to bring libel cases against Nkrumah. The libel cases amounted to about ten thousand pounds, which Nkrumah’s supporters raised money to meet the claims of the plaintiffs.
Fifth. J.B. Danquah brought a libel suit against the “Accra Evening News” for publishing an article about the Kyebi ritual murder. Danquah was awarded damages, but not contented with the awards, he went ahead to buy the rights to the paper. In this situation, Kwame Nkrumah outwitted J.B. Danquah. Thus, “The Head Press” which published the “Accra Evening News” was instantly taken over by the “Heal Press” and published the newspaper under a new name, the “Ghana Evening News.”
Sixth. The Working Committee demanded an immediate dismissal of Nkrumah’s private secretary on the grounds that Nkrumah appointed him without their prior approval and was being paid out of the UGCC’s funds.
Seventh. To buttress their suggestion to Nkrumah to resign from his job as Secretary General of the UGCC, they offered him one hundred pounds to return to England.
Eighth. Realizing that Nkrumah was the key figure in the movement with strong following, and fearful that his removal from the UGCC would lead to a complete collapse of the movement, they moved Nkrumah to the post of treasurer.
Ninth. The Working Committee accused Nkrumah of establishing a Youth Study Group at Osu in Accra with Komla Gbedemah as its Chairman. This would later embody a nationalist youth movement with the Ashanti Youth Association and the Ghana Youth Association of Sekondi, and become known as the Committee on Youth Organization (CYO). The CYO, Nkrumah explained to the Working Committee, was to serve as the youth wing of the UGCC, yet they still objected to its formation. They found the CYO’s manifesto, “Self-Government Now” a threat to the program of the UGCC, “Self-Government within the shortest possible time.” As aristocrats, they were nurturing the hope that their gentle approach would be rewarded by new concessions from their colonial masters which would enable them to fulfill their aspirations. Hence, they opposed the CYO as it was composed of the less privileged and radical section of the populace, and who were articulating the economic, social and political aspirations of the rank and file. More importantly, considering themselves as the noblemen, they felt a little uneasy by Nkrumah’s open and simple manner approach to the ordinary people.
All the while, Nkrumah and his Comrades were working on turning the CYO into a political party. In the CPP’s revolutionary program and forceful demand for “Self-Government NOW” that followed, the UGCC became a lame-duck association as the local branches which Nkrumah had set up either converted to the CPP or collapsed. Subsequently, the Working Committee of the UGCC meeting in Saltpond in 1949 passed a vote of NO CONFIDENCE in DR. J. B. DANQUAH’s LEADERSHIP. So why the sudden hullabaloo about one of Ghana’s foremost traitors?
The CPP as the First National Political Party.
The CPP’s Six-Point Program, prior to its launching, included realization of unity of the chiefs and people of the Colony, Ashanti, Northern Territories and Trans-Volta, and the achievement of full “Self-Government Now.” The emphasis on the realization of a United Gold Coast, in particular, was to have a far-reaching impact on the results of the 1956 United Nation’s Plebiscite regarding the fate of the people in the UN trusteeship.
After the formal resignation from the UGCC, Nkrumah launched the CPP on June 12, 1949 in Accra to an audience of about sixty people, with demand for “Self-government Now.” They included people from all the four provinces under the British colonial administration. Nkrumah “declared himself, and his very life blood, if need be to the cause of Ghana.” Remember the three “SSS” (Service, Sacrifice and Suffering) mentioned above? Critical to the successes of the CPP were WOMEN. From the birth of the CPP, they were the topmost field organizers of the CPP. Thus, with women as effective field organizers, the CPP went on to build an unprecedented grass-root campaign by building cells with structures in all towns and villages across the entire country. Consequently, the membership of the CPP by 1950 swelled up to about one million, unknown in the history of the country at the time.
And what did the UGCC aristocrats do? They resulted to name callings, referring to the CPP as a party of “verandah boys, hooligans, and communists.” Prior to the name callings, Obetsebi Lamptey, during the (UGCC) Working Committee’s meeting in Palladium on June 16, 1949, questioned why the majority Ga people in Accra should allow themselves to be led by” a “stranger.” Though the remarks caused the meeting to end in uproar and confusion against him, we must ask if these are the attributes we expect from “founding fathers”?
The Coussey Constitution.
The All African Coussey Committee included “The Big Six,” exclusive of Nkrumah. The new constitution still fell far short of the CPP's call for full self-government. Executive power remained in the hands of the British Governor to appoint three Ex-Officio portfolios for Defense and External Affairs, Finance and Justice, and Attorney General. This, to Nkrumah, meant that the Constitution was not designed for the Africans to take over the Government. It was formulated as an adaptation of the principle of indirect rule, whereby change would come through and with the consent of the traditional authorities.
Enamored in Edmund Burke’s political ideology of rule by the preordained elite, the Committee’s Constitution/Report stipulated that only those citizens with sufficient wages and property would be allowed to vote. In his response, Nkrumah organized “People Representative Assembly” comprising trade unions, farmers, women, youth, unemployed school leavers and others. The Assembly called for a universal suffrage without regard to property qualification, a separate house of chiefs, and demanded a self-government constitution. So when the British colonial government rejected the CPP self-government constitution, Kwame Nkrumah organized the Positive Action with full participation by the Gold Coast Trade Union Congress (GCTUC).
The Positive Action and the Road to Ghana’s Independence.
It was Frederick Douglas who once said that “power concedes nothing without a demand.” With this mind, Nkrumah said that colonialism had never been overthrown without a bitter and vigorous struggle. News of the intended Positive Action caused the Ga State Council to summon Nkrumah to appear before them to explain what he meant. Also present were the Joint-Provincial Council of Chiefs. Surprisingly, J. B. Danquah and other ex-UGCC members were present. The Chiefs, led by Sir Tsibu Darku and Nana Ofori Attah II, expressed their total disapproval of the demands of the Peoples Assembly. Ofori Attah’s speech, in particular was “abusive couched in language in an undignified language,” Nkrumah described. In deploying the Positive Action, the Joint-Provincial Council of Chiefs characterized its organizers as “grasshopper leaders.”
But when Nkrumah avowed that the Positive Action would go on as planned if the request for the People’s Representative Assembly was still rejected, J. B. Danquah responded in undignified and sinister ways. He said: “It is obvious that the law, as far as Kwame Nkrumah is concerned, must go according to him. It is my opinion that those who go against [colonial] constitutional authority MUST EXCPECT TO PAY FOR IT WITH THEIR NECKS.” How and by who? one may ask.
The colonial government on its part, asked for the suspension of the Positive Action. On January 8 1950, Kwame Nkrumah declared “Positive Action,” which called for a general strike, and non-cooperation with the colonial Government. A state of emergency was subsequently declared throughout the whole country, and a curfew imposed.. Thereafter, the office of the “Evening News” was raided, closed down by the police, and banned. Syrian, Lebanese and British nationals were armed as special constables to help the colonial government to restore order. Two African policemen died during a confrontation with an ex-servicemen’s demonstration. Nkrumah and his associates (including women) were arrested, tried and imprisoned for instigating the strike. Nkrumah was sentenced to a three-year sentence for public disorder and sedition.
Predictably, Dr. J. B. Danquah condemned the Positive Action “as an act of treachery.” His instant joy over the arrest of Nkrumah and other leading members of the CPP ended in these words: pataku (wolf) has been driven away.”
To Be Continued!!
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Kwame Nkrumah: The ONE And ONLY Founding Father Of Ghana 2014 Independence Day Special (Part III)
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From Prison to Leader of Government Business
While Nkrumah was being treated as a criminal in prison, crowds gathered daily in front of the James Fort chanting the Party’s songs/anthems, “There is Victory for US” etc. Nkrumah, on the other hand, was busy writing on sheets of toilet paper in darkness outlying the party’s strategies on the next level of the struggle, as well as rewriting the Party’s manifesto. Notwithstanding its opposition to the Coussey Constitution, the CPP changed its mind and contested the first general elections in the history of the Gold Coast on February 8, 1951. Not only did Nkrumah win the Accra Central constituency by obtaining 22, 780 votes out of registered 23, 122 voters, but also the CPP won a sweeping victory by pulling 39 of the 43 popularly elected seats. Subsequently, Nkrumah was released from prison on February 12, 1951 to become Leader of Government Business.
Shortly after the CPP victory in the 1951 election, the UGCC collapsed. So all along, “Kwame Nkrumah was the UGCC and the UGCC was Kwame Nkrumah.”
Nonetheless, on October 14, 1951, Nkrumah, while a Leader of Government Business, invited all the political parties (including J. B. Danquah and Obetsebi Lamptey) to join the CPP in a conference to plan a nation-wide campaign of Positive Action, should the British Government “rejects a motion for self-government now,” but none of them responded. In the meantime, due to pressures from Nkrumah, the Governor, on March 5, 1952 addressed the Legislative Assembly and declared that the Leader of Government Business should disappear from the constitution and be replaced by the office of Prime Minister. Accordingly, Nkrumah was elected by a secret ballot in the Assembly on March 10 to the office of Prime Minister. Not surprisingly, Dr. Danquah characterized it as “window dressing.”
The differences between Kwame Nkrumah political ideology and economic philosophy and those J. B. Danquah manifested during the 1951 Cocoa Marketing Board Amendment debate in the Legislative Assembly. While the CPP, led by Ohene Djan, argued for state control of the Gold Coast Marketing Board to generate revenue from the sale of cocoa to promote the development in the country (like the Adomi Bridge, Volta River project, Tema Harbor and township, Okomfo Anokye Hospital, democratization of education and health services, construction of the University of Ghana campus at Legon, Kumasi College of Technology (now KNUST), Medical School, road construction etc.), the Opposition, led by Dr. Danquah, opposed it saying that the bill was in violation of the full enjoyment of private property; hence, the property-owning political party (UGCC, GCP, NLM, UP, PP, NPP).
The 1954 and 1956 General Elections.
On June 10, 1953, Kwame Nkrumah tabled a motion in the Assembly on constitutional reform, popularly known as the “Motion of Destiny,” in which Nkrumah demanded self-government. This resulted in the 1954 general election on June 15, 1954, which the CPP won 72 out of the 104 parliamentary seats. The Ghana Congress Party (GCP), formed by Prof. Busia in May 1952, only won one out of the 104 seats. Dr. J.B. Danquah (also of the Ghana Congress Party) lost the parliamentary seat in the Central Akyem Abuakwa constituency. (Danquah’s election to the Legislative Assembly in 1951 was through the municipal/and electoral college, and not by popular vote.) Like the UGCC, Ghana Congress Party collapsed.
In 1954, the UN Trusteeship Visiting Team recommended that a plebiscite be held in the Trans-Volta under British rule for the people to decide whether they wanted a union with the imminent Gold Coast’s independence. Due to the 1948 Nkrumah Nation-wide tour, his United Gold Coast agenda, as well as the CPP campaign in the province, majority of the people voted to cast their lot with the new country Ghana. S.G. Antor (conceivably, one of the Founding Fathers) of the Togoland Congress strongly campaigned it.
That notwithstanding, the anticipated independence in 1956 as promised by the Van Lare Constitution was bludgeoned with the birth of the ethnocentric National Liberation Movement (NLM) in the Asante Region. Launched (amidst slaughtering a sheep, the firing of muskets and chanting Asante war songs) by Bafour Osei Akoto with Prof. Kofi Abrefa Busia as its leader, the NLM accused the CPP government of using the cocoa farmers’ money to develop the coastal region or Colony. Thus, the Asante “cocoa farmers would be better off if they would manage their own internal affairs.” But the real reason behind the launching of this anti-political party movement was to provide another opportunity for the opposition parties (NLM, NPP, Togoland Congress etc.) to punctuate the attainment of Ghana’s independence under Kwame Nkrumah and his CPP government that year. In doing so, they (including J. B. Danquah, Obetsebi and other members of the defunct UGCC and GCP) demanded federalism by boycotting all talks, forums, meetings etc. The British government yielded to the intrigues of the Opposition and decided to hold another general election in 1956 for the people to decide whether they wanted a “unitary government” or a “federal form of government.” In spite of the NLM terrorist acts, the CPP, again, won another decisive victory in the July 1956 election.
Prior to the election, Dr. Busia had written to inform the Governor that, “in accordance with the constitutional practice in the United Kingdom, the National Liberation Movement and its allies will expect Your Excellency to call upon Doctor K. A. Busia, their Parliamentary Leader, to form a Government should they win more than 52 seats at the election.” Yet after Nkrumah’s CPP won the 1956 general election, Prof. Busia produced another theory saying that no constitution would be acceptable unless it was “favored by a majority of the people of every region into which the Gold Coast” was divided.
Dr. J. B. Danquah’s Doctrine of Independence from the British Empire
In his March 6, 1944 speech marking the centenary of the infamous Bond of 1844, Danquah expressed his unflinching desire to place a self-governing Ghana under the British empire. He said: “I AM SOMETIMES MUCH SURPRISED WHEN I SEE MANY OF MY COUNTRYMEN TERRIFIED BY THE USE OF THAT WORD, ‘SELF-GOVERNMENT.’ THEY ARE TERRIFIED OF IT BEACUSE THEY THINK IT MEANS THE DESIRE TO BREAK AWAY FROM THE [BRITISH] EMPIRE AND BECOME INDEPENDENT OF THE BRITISH. IF IT COMES TO THAT, IF IT COMES TO A DECION TO BREAK AWAY FROM THE BRITISH CONNECTION, I WOULD BE THE LAST [PERSON] TO EXPRESS SUCH A TERRIFIC WISH” (see the Historic Speeches of J. B. Danquah).
In his July 13, 1959 letter to Mr. Brockway in London, J. B. Danquah said, “I was against any election as premature and favoured Constituent Assembly,” where the pre-ordained rulers would be selected to rule (see Historic Speeches of Danquah). To understand Danquah’s reason for disregarding the electoral process and disrespecting the CPP victories and Nkrumah’s government, we must go to the root of Danquah’s political ideology. Aside from being a “tame student of Kant’s moral philosophy” (Danquah, Vol. 1), Danquah (Busia included) echoed and practiced Edmund Burke’s ideology of rule by the preordained elite. Burke’s political philosophy was developed at Oxford University into an ideology that the elite is born to rule the world. Thus, it does society great harm, Burke reasoned, if the masses (affirming Aristotle’s views that the masses should have been slaves) are allowed to participate in governance by voting. So, since Kwame Nkrumah was a goldsmith’s son with some “NTAFO” (Northerners) in his 1951 government, Dr. Danquah remarked, and since the CPP was voted into power mostly by the “masses,” the Danquah-Busia camp considered the CPP government illegitimate and dangerous to the society; hence, it must be destroyed by violence.
In fact, Danquah’s elitism was manifested in his distaste and contempt for “this thing of masses,” whom he viewed as “only individuals” and dismissed their aspirations as “emotions.”
The Danquah-Busia Camp’s Style of Democracy.
1. On April 5, 1955, the Opposition led by Busia and Modesto Apaloo walked out of the Assembly, just after a Motion on a Select Committee to examine the whole question of the federal system of government had been seconded. In their opinion, the Select Committee, comprising some CPP parliamentarians or the “homeless tramp and jackals” (Liberator, March 1956), was incompetent to deal with national matters.
2. Bafour Osei Akoto and the chiefs in the “National Liberation Movement” did not want their movement to be called “Party,” since “party politics were contrary to the tenets of traditional rule.” Similarly, on March 14, 1956, Danquah and his brother Nana Ofori Atta II told a visiting parliamentarian delegation to Kyebi that “PARTY POLITICS is an alien political form which” had “created civil strife and violent dissension between father and son.” Accordingly, if the British showed no understanding, Akyem Abuakwa would secede from the country “as a sovereign and independent state with the only rival of the Ashanti country.”
3. During the Jackson Commission, Danquah categorically denounced the authority of the Kwame Nkrumah government saying that “the people of Akyem are not subjects to the laws of Ghana (Jackson Commission’s Report, 1958). So, his recourse was to do what?
4. Dr. Busia’s NLM referred to the CPP supporters in Asante as “those who belong to no family or clan, those who are strangers, not properly trained to appreciate the value of the true and noble Akan” (Liberator, December 20, 1955). A Party of “Founding Fathers?”
5. The Opposition led by Dr. Busia, refused to meet with Sir Frederick Bourne in Kumase, sent by the British government to resolve the impasse between the CPP government and Opposition. And when the government issued its constitutional proposal for the country’s independence in the April White Paper of 1956, again, the Opposition boycotted its proceedings. So, how would later-day apologists lump the Opposition leaders together with Nkrumah as “Founding Fathers?”
5. On November 20, 1956, leaders of the NLM and NPP sent a resolution to the Secretary for Colonies in London, demanding a separate independence for Asante and Northern Territories. Yesterday’s Secessionists, today’s Founding Fathers!
Terrorist Acts of the Danquah-Busia Camp.
6. . Dr. K. A. Busia and the NLM warned the British government in August of 1955 of grisly aftereffects, if the country attained independence under the CPP government. Hence, the Danquah-Busia camp resorted to the undemocratic methods and terrorist acts and bomb attacks to overthrow the democratically elected government of Kwame Nkrumah, before and after Ghana’s independence. Yesterday’s Terrorists, Today’s “Founding Fathers”!
7. On November 10, 1955, Nkrumah’s house was bombed while he was resting and working in his house with his secretary and others because of a terrible cold. Danquah-
Busia-Obetsebi Lamptey’s style of democracy!!!
8. On the day that the CPP reopened its regional office in Kumase after fourteen months of closure, Prof. Busia’s NLM drove a jeep past the crowd and fired shots into it and wounded several people; it also killed a pregnant woman. Earlier, Krobo Edusei’s sister had been shot dead as she was preparing food in the backyard for her children; while Edusei’s wife had survived a bomb blast. Yesterday’s Murderous, Today’s “Founding Fathers”!
9. On the eve of Ghana’s Independence on March 6, 1957, the Ewe Unificationists, led by S.G. Antor (Danquah’s buddy), formed themselves into a ragged guerilla army in Alavanyo and prepared for armed insurrection with homemade guns against the CPP government. The Governor-General sent troops to the region to put down the revolt. Yes, S. G. Antor (J. B. Danquah’s loyal buddy, an ally of Prof. Busia, and one of President Kufour’s heroes) by his (Antor’s) terrorist acts also passes to be one of the “Founding Father.”
Sabotaging Ghana’s Independence: Dr. Busia and the NLM.
10. On August 3, 1956, the Opposition leaders boycotted the constitutional debate tabled by the CPP government regarding Ghana’s independence. “Founding Fathers” indeed!
11. Again, when the Parliament formally opened after the 1956 general election to deliberate on Nkrumah’s Motion of Independence, Dr. Busia and the NLM, and NPP’s parliamentarians were absent. Reprehensible Saboteurs and not “Founding Fathers”!
12. When the British Governor, in his opening speech, introduced a Bill declaring that the Gold Coast would be a sovereign and independent State within the Commonwealth, Prof. Busia and the Opposition criticized the proposal saying that it was premature. Saboteurs and not “Founding Fathers”!
13. Before independence, Dr. Busia traveled to London to make a plea to the British Government to deny granting independence to Ghana, “because the country is not ready for parliamentary democracy.” He continued, “We still need you in the Gold Coast. Your experiment there [Gold Coast] is not complete. Sometimes I wonder why you seem such in a hurry to wash you hands off us.” What a Traitor!!!
Opposing and Attacking the Name Ghana and Flag for the New Nation
14. When the British Government conceded to Ghana’s independence on March 6, 1957, and Nkrumah chose for Ghana’s flag, Red for the blood of the martyrs, Gold for wealth, Green for the rich land and the Black Star in the center representing the freedom of Africans on the continent and in the Diaspora, Danquah-Busia camp opposed it.
15. The Danquah-Busia camp had previously associated themselves with the name Ghana, yet when Kwame Nkrumah proposed it (GHANA) as the name for the new nation-state, they not only opposed, but they also attacked it. How can saboteurs become “Founding Fathers?”
Given all that have been discussed above, how on earth can any living sane person lump Kwame Nkrumah together with the fictitiously labeled “Big- Six” and/or ex-UGCC’s Working Committee members etc., (who strongly opposed, condemned, sabotaged and distanced themselves from anything associated with Nkrumah, as well as bitterly decried him, bombed his house, terrorized members of his CPP, attempted secession from the country, and opposed the name, “Ghana” for the new nation-state and its flag, from 1948 to Ghana’s independence on March 1957) as “Founding Fathers?” Where were they on the dais where Kwame Nkrumah stood and declared the Independence of Ghana, followed by the National Anthem as the rising FLAG of Ghana was replacing the downward British flag on the eve of Ghana’s independence? Also, where were they in the banquet hall where all those who mattered assembled to celebrate Ghana’s independence? The answer? They were busy plotting to make the new nation-state ungovernable, and overthrow to the CPP Government by violence.
History, as a social science, is not a conjured tale, but an analysis of observable and verifiable invents. The records of Ghana’s political history are stored in print and electronic media of the time, primary materials and archives for all rational prople to look into. And until new data descends from MARS, KWAME NKRUMAH remains and will remain the ONE and ONLY FOUNDING FATHER of MODERN GHANA.
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Okponglo Guy 9 years ago
He was hired and paid to do the job that he did. He used their resources and abused the trust of the UGCC to advance his selfish ambitions.
Imagine being hired right now by a party in Ghana with a handsome pay and a car a ... read full comment
He was hired and paid to do the job that he did. He used their resources and abused the trust of the UGCC to advance his selfish ambitions.
Imagine being hired right now by a party in Ghana with a handsome pay and a car and then because you do a good job, you decide to appropriate the company. We are still paying for the disunity today. We need to be able to disagree but remain united.
francis kwarteng 9 years ago
lo Guy,
Just give me the evidence, references, etc.
Your emotional statement is not a substitute for facts, historicism.
I have given you some evidence. Give me one that invalidates the references I have given.
... read full comment
lo Guy,
Just give me the evidence, references, etc.
Your emotional statement is not a substitute for facts, historicism.
I have given you some evidence. Give me one that invalidates the references I have given.
We should always learn to argue with facts, not self-serving sentiments.
I look forward to your verifiable evidence.
Thanks.
Okponglo Guy 9 years ago
Eloquently said.
Eloquently said.
Bonso 9 years ago
BRILLIANT...NO MORE...GHANA IS IN THIS POOR STATE BECAUSE OF NKRUMAISM...OUR FATHERS WERE KILLED FOR NOTHING THEN...
BRILLIANT...NO MORE...GHANA IS IN THIS POOR STATE BECAUSE OF NKRUMAISM...OUR FATHERS WERE KILLED FOR NOTHING THEN...
Vodoo Xebieso 9 years ago
You this Mahmoud here again? You can eulogise Danquah and Busia to the highest heavens. The fact remains that Nkrumah towers above all of them in every way.
I can understand your plight because your father or grandfather m ... read full comment
You this Mahmoud here again? You can eulogise Danquah and Busia to the highest heavens. The fact remains that Nkrumah towers above all of them in every way.
I can understand your plight because your father or grandfather must have been among those jailed by Nkrumah who made sure those traitors died in detention. You can not therefore have any kind words about Nkrumah.
LONG LIVE DR. KWAME NKRUMAH.
Neither NDC Nor NPP 9 years ago
Nkrumah was overthrown 48 years ago (1966 -2014) - almost a half century ago. The nation is currently ruled by the NDC, and the concerns of the public have to do with "dumsor-dumsor", high unemployment (even among university ... read full comment
Nkrumah was overthrown 48 years ago (1966 -2014) - almost a half century ago. The nation is currently ruled by the NDC, and the concerns of the public have to do with "dumsor-dumsor", high unemployment (even among university graduates), the breakdown of public services, the high cost of education, the fall of cedi, violent crime and massive corruption. Why then would a known Danquah-Busia operative suddenly launch a tirade against Nkrumah's policies a half century ago? Mahama and the NDC kleptocracy turn to the IMF and World Bank, not Nkrumah's policies!!! So why does Philip Baidoo need to resurrect the worn-out Danquah-Busia attacks on Nkrumah?
It is clear that some quarters in the country are SCARED to death about the recent stellar performance of Greenstreet at the NDC convention. The limelight on CPP and public respectability to Secretary-General Greenstreet's fearless expression of truth to power is sending tremors of fear in those quarters which dream of displacing the NDC looting gang with their almost starved to death looting gang in 2016! Their strategy then is to launch a propaganda offensive against Nkrumah with a view to discrediting the CPP. But the people know better! They will never forget either of the 2 looting brigades NDC and NPP for what they are!
All talk of Nkrumah's ideas not workable are a convenient distraction ploy by the Danquah-Busia aspirants to the looter-in-chief's seat. Nkrumah operated a mixed economy and never banned anybody - Ghanaian or foreign - from having their own business. Nkrumah, on the contrary, established the GNTC wholesale to help local traders. He also established the Ghana Commercial Bank to provide loans to local businesses and individuals. Nkrumah desperately tried to have economic relations and cooperation with the West - as evidenced by the Akosombo / Valco project with the American engineering company, Kaiser. It was the West that decided to economically sabotage Nkrumah through complete withrdrawal, non-investment and non-cooperation. (In addition to manipulating the price of cocoa to deprive Ghana of foreign exchange). Nkrumah praised Edgar Kaiser, even calling him "my friend" when he launched the Akosombo dam! (Nkrumah even wanted Jackie Kennedy to come over to represent her late husband JFK whom Nkrumah loved but Jackie was advised not to come to deprive Nkrumah of glory and also because of the advanced state of plans for the 1966 CIA coup d'etat. Nkrumah never used ideologues to run the economy. He brought in the retired British general-manager of UAC to oversee GNTC's operations. He also appointed J.H. Mensah to the Budget planning committee. (Nkrumah even offered Danquah to the head the Ghana Academy of Arts but Danquah declined).
Neither NDC nor NPP will ever succeed in diminishing the prestige of Nkrumah. And never will they succeed also in preventing the popular interest and admiration gained by CPP from the people. They surely can repeat their old lies ad infinitum!
Neither NDC Nor NPP 9 years ago
Caption should have read:
A PREEMPTIVE DANQUAH-BUSIA OFFENSIVE
Caption should have read:
A PREEMPTIVE DANQUAH-BUSIA OFFENSIVE
Bonso 9 years ago
NOTHING HAS CHANGED...GHANA IS STILL UNDER NKRUMAISM
NOTHING HAS CHANGED...GHANA IS STILL UNDER NKRUMAISM
RAVISHING-07 9 years ago
WHERE WERE YOU EDUCATED. I CAN SEE FROM YOUR PIECE THAT YOU'RE AND EDUCATED ILLITERATE, AND NEED TO BE WELL COOKED AND BAKED TO WRITE INTELLECTUALLY.
IT IS WELL DOCUMENTED & ACKNOWLEDGED THAT HAD IT NOT BEEN THE DEVELOPMEN ... read full comment
WHERE WERE YOU EDUCATED. I CAN SEE FROM YOUR PIECE THAT YOU'RE AND EDUCATED ILLITERATE, AND NEED TO BE WELL COOKED AND BAKED TO WRITE INTELLECTUALLY.
IT IS WELL DOCUMENTED & ACKNOWLEDGED THAT HAD IT NOT BEEN THE DEVELOPMENT AND VISION OF THE GREATEST PRESIDENT GHANA HAD EVER EXPERIENCED, OSAGYEFO DR. KWAME NKRUMAH, THE LIFE OF THE AVERAGE GHANAIAN WOULD HAVE DIPPED DOWN AND LIFE WOULD HAVE BEEN ABSOLUTELY DIFFICULT.
WHAT PROJECTS DO YOU ASCRIBE TO ANY POST-OSAGYEFO PRESIDENTS? THE KUFFOUR GOVERNMENT LIKE THE BASTARD RAWLINGS WASTED 19 YEARS PRODUCED NOTHING CONSTRUCTIVE TO BOAST ABOUT
THE NAME SOCIALISM HAS BECOME VERY OFFENSIVE TO EDUCATED ILLITERATE, LIKE MOST WESTERN LEADERS WHO ARE ON STUPID MISSION TO OVERTHROW SOCIALIST LEADERS FOR THEIR GEOPOLITICAL AND ECONOMIC NEO-IMPERIALIST AND NEO-COLONIALIST AGENDAS. YOU FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!
A REJOINDER TO FOLLOW YOU TWERB!
ALUTA CONINUA !!!!!!!
Tuudah-Daasebreh 9 years ago
If you have any rejoinder bring it up for everybody to read and make up their own judgement and stop spewing insults. Nkrumah's followers do not want anybody to discuss the downside of his political adventurism. Nkrumah got m ... read full comment
If you have any rejoinder bring it up for everybody to read and make up their own judgement and stop spewing insults. Nkrumah's followers do not want anybody to discuss the downside of his political adventurism. Nkrumah got many things wrong and his worshippers must admit to that
PhiIip Kobina Baidoo 9 years ago
My little advice to you, if you want to be taken serious intellectually you don't use foul language.
Thank you.
My little advice to you, if you want to be taken serious intellectually you don't use foul language.
Thank you.
PhiIip Kobina Baidoo 9 years ago
The creative mind needs conducive environment to flourish. Would you say that can happen under dictatorship? What about democracy with unbridled power to silence minority voices, which is literally government by the mob. Wo ... read full comment
The creative mind needs conducive environment to flourish. Would you say that can happen under dictatorship? What about democracy with unbridled power to silence minority voices, which is literally government by the mob. Would you subscribe to that? For your initial question l would say that I have seen some few examples, and I can assure you capitalism works better than all the others.
Thank you.
Mensah, US 9 years ago
Ivory Coast's Félix Houphouet-Boigny was a dictator for more than 20 years. With the help of the French, he created a one party state and his PDCI party ruled for about thirty years. Nkrumah adopted his one party state rule ... read full comment
Ivory Coast's Félix Houphouet-Boigny was a dictator for more than 20 years. With the help of the French, he created a one party state and his PDCI party ruled for about thirty years. Nkrumah adopted his one party state rule for only 2 years (1964-66). However, the French, including many Western nations didn't consider Houphouet-Boigny a dictator. The negative propaganda about Nkrumah was because he refused to play ball with the West duty the Cold War. His issues with the West had nothing to do with ideology. Are Western countries not doing business with China? Is the U.S. not indebted to China? What type of system did President Tolbert of Liberia and President Stevens of Sierra-Leone practice? Compare their country's development to Ghana during Nkrumah's rule. Ghana's infrastructure and educational institutions outnumbered and were far advanced to that of Ivory Coast when Nkrumah was president. Abidjan was an ordinary city and did not have any planned community when Nkrumah built Tema, including the harbor. Ivory Coast's surpassed Ghana after the overthrow of Nkrumah. I think Nkrumah's biggest mistake was his refusal to played ball with the West during the Cold War. Let us not blame his flaws on ideology.
GHANABA 9 years ago
I am glad you have seen the shallowness of Baidoo"s analysis.I know Ivory Coast like the back of my hand.Ivory Coast surpassed Ghana when Acheampong Screwed up.Farmers in BA and western region simply gave some of their cocoa ... read full comment
I am glad you have seen the shallowness of Baidoo"s analysis.I know Ivory Coast like the back of my hand.Ivory Coast surpassed Ghana when Acheampong Screwed up.Farmers in BA and western region simply gave some of their cocoa to their cousins in Ivory Coast to sell it just to get by.
Speedy Gonzalez 9 years ago
Socialism and Capitalism are both important as long as society are creative enough to comprehend wealth creation and its distribution.What Ghana needs is an education system which trains people to be creative and not consume ... read full comment
Socialism and Capitalism are both important as long as society are creative enough to comprehend wealth creation and its distribution.What Ghana needs is an education system which trains people to be creative and not consumers.WE have become consumers of other nations products and lifestyle,only relying only on our natural resources.It is sad to see a Ghanaian living like European consuming European products,watching European football because we lack the creativity to showcase what we have.
KOO 9 years ago
It is quite clear that socialism and communism have failed the masses miserably.All the countries that embraced them have seen the need to throw them into the dustbin of history.The leaders of the socialist/communist stated t ... read full comment
It is quite clear that socialism and communism have failed the masses miserably.All the countries that embraced them have seen the need to throw them into the dustbin of history.The leaders of the socialist/communist stated thought they could keep prices low forgetting that, that is only possible through increased productivity. Cooked up production figures and propaganda drove most of them to near bankruptcy.The Chinese realized this problem long ago and decided to change course resulting in many private companies going into production which was hitherto impossible.No one is now seeing Chinese socialism/communism as a threat but rather its capitalism. The last bastion, Cuba has seen it also and it will not be long before it changes its course.Anyone who still believe in this ideology is simply lost.
Kwadwo 9 years ago
If socialism preached by Nkrumah was that great, why are all his followers living and working in the West? I am just asking, Francis Kwarteng. They should try North Korea. Lol.
If socialism preached by Nkrumah was that great, why are all his followers living and working in the West? I am just asking, Francis Kwarteng. They should try North Korea. Lol.
GHANABA 9 years ago
Kwame Nkrumah never banned anyone from practising capitalism in Ghana.He went to bed with ardent capitalist Kaiser.Felix Houphouet-Boigny was an absolute dictator from 1960-1993.There was only one political party "PDCI".Franc ... read full comment
Kwame Nkrumah never banned anyone from practising capitalism in Ghana.He went to bed with ardent capitalist Kaiser.Felix Houphouet-Boigny was an absolute dictator from 1960-1993.There was only one political party "PDCI".France is still a socialist state.EDF energy is owned by the state that supplies energy to the British.They charge the British more to subsidize their domestic customers.Socialist Britain,built a successful NHS.Kariba Dam was built by the British in the 50s.Why didn"t they build "Akosombo Dam" when they had it planned in 1915? Finland,Denmark,New Zealand,Norway,Canada,Netherlands,Belgium,France are all socialist states.Was the United states right to overthrow regimes they did not like in Africa? It will help if you check the role "Ivory Coast" played in Nkrumah"s overthrow before telling us about their success.Felix H Boigny even had the nerve to turn his village into the capital.He spent $300 million on "Basilica".Nkroful was never turned into a city.Wrekko-Brobbey holds Phd, from Imperial College in solar energy,did he even have the foresight to seek funds to build a modest 50MW of solar farm in Ghana when he was in charge of VRA? No.Well,the European socialists did not have traitors as we had in Ghana/Africa to go to bed with USA.Vidkum Quisling was executed for being a traitor.In Ghana,traitors a labelled "patriotic saints"
Philip Kobina Baidoo 9 years ago
I bet Felix did not form the Young Pioneers to indoctrinate children against their own parents. That is the difference between his dictatorship and that of Nkrumah. But I am not here for this petty point scoring. And it's not ... read full comment
I bet Felix did not form the Young Pioneers to indoctrinate children against their own parents. That is the difference between his dictatorship and that of Nkrumah. But I am not here for this petty point scoring. And it's not about what he achieved. Nobody is disputing what accomplished, besides they are ephemeral. His ideological foundation is what I am questioning. I am talking about the foundation that the nation can stand on to build for the future. You cannot build five storey on a foundation that is supposed to take two storey; it will collapse. Socialism will always work for a while, but the flaws in it will forever expose it for the inevitable. You mentioned the NHS, I bet you live in Britain and you cannot deny the problems it is going through. And if you think everything is honky dory, then I will kindly request that you open your eyes.
Thank you
GHANABA 9 years ago
Kwame Nkrumah never ever declared Ghana as a socialist state.Again,you fail to acknowledge the fact that USA had no right to interfere in our affairs.Your skewed view of socialism and Nkrumah as a whole is risible.None of my ... read full comment
Kwame Nkrumah never ever declared Ghana as a socialist state.Again,you fail to acknowledge the fact that USA had no right to interfere in our affairs.Your skewed view of socialism and Nkrumah as a whole is risible.None of my elder siblings sent our parents to jail because they joined the YOUNG PIONEER.
Philip Kobina Baidoo 9 years ago
They didn't because they were sensible. For the stupid ones they did. The fact that Nkrumah did not declare Ghana a socialist country is immaterial. I will leave you with one quote to chew on. 'Capitalism is too complicated a ... read full comment
They didn't because they were sensible. For the stupid ones they did. The fact that Nkrumah did not declare Ghana a socialist country is immaterial. I will leave you with one quote to chew on. 'Capitalism is too complicated a system for a newly independent nation. Hence the need for a socialist kind.' I did not say that, Nkrumah did.
Thank you
GHANABA 9 years ago
USA, Capitalism built on the backs of African slaves is "unappetizing" to me as a cardboard sandwich.You can fill in the shoes of Sen.Joe Mcarthy.At least we can give him a little credit for building KNUST.Thanks
USA, Capitalism built on the backs of African slaves is "unappetizing" to me as a cardboard sandwich.You can fill in the shoes of Sen.Joe Mcarthy.At least we can give him a little credit for building KNUST.Thanks
Atikopo#1 9 years ago
You have too much time on your hands!!
You have too much time on your hands!!
Philip Kobina Baidoo 9 years ago
It's a very nice way of saying I write rubbish. I like that. I wish a lot of people will be innovative as you are.
It's a very nice way of saying I write rubbish. I like that. I wish a lot of people will be innovative as you are.
Okponglo Guy 9 years ago
Our culture must tolerate divergent views and discourse. If Kwame had pursued that, we would not be having this discussion after 50 years.
That said, Danquah and Co may not be devoid of blame entirely.
Our culture must tolerate divergent views and discourse. If Kwame had pursued that, we would not be having this discussion after 50 years.
That said, Danquah and Co may not be devoid of blame entirely.
KKO 9 years ago
Excellent piece, Kobina, My Namesake.
The irony of our Ghanaian situation is that all those so-called Nkrumahists hid behind their socialist rhetoric to steal Ghana blind, while their coward con man Jerry Rawlings held a gun ... read full comment
Excellent piece, Kobina, My Namesake.
The irony of our Ghanaian situation is that all those so-called Nkrumahists hid behind their socialist rhetoric to steal Ghana blind, while their coward con man Jerry Rawlings held a gun to the heads of the people of Ghana.
Those who came in smelly smocks and Afro Moses are the multi-millionaires of Ghana today, while those young upstarts who are posting insults on this forum are doing so from the comforts offered by Europe and North America. And the evil minds that they are most of them are taking undue advantage of those systems and claiming benefits they do not deserve.
The collapse of Ghana's cocoa industry should have served a useful lesson to us but we never seem to learn as a nation, that is why we vote for the likes of Atta Mills and Mahama, who are not sure whether their governments are led by Almighty God or Ancestral gods!
My grandfather was smart enough to play Leventis and Cardbury against each other when it came to selling his cocoa, until Kwame Nkrumah's corrupt socialist system handed a monopoly to the bunch of clueless rogues that constituted the CMB!
Kwadwo 9 years ago
My illiterate Father, who was a cocoa farmer, hated Nkrumah for creating the CMB. Why should a government create such a monopoly? It was to cheat farmers.
My illiterate Father, who was a cocoa farmer, hated Nkrumah for creating the CMB. Why should a government create such a monopoly? It was to cheat farmers.
Abeeku Mensah 9 years ago
I am calling you out as a closet liar at best but an unprincipled hypocrite Philip Kobina Baidoo Jnr. Be honest, bold and or principled and state unequivocally that you do not have a China made product anywhere in your househ ... read full comment
I am calling you out as a closet liar at best but an unprincipled hypocrite Philip Kobina Baidoo Jnr. Be honest, bold and or principled and state unequivocally that you do not have a China made product anywhere in your household and or has never consumed products from China and other socialist or communist nations.
Your argument falls apart because you and others conveniently confuse failures of leaders who practice ideologies you do not like but give all reverence to the multiple failed governments who pretend to practice your preferred system of ideological governments.
A dare for you to explain just two things succinctly and without fluff:
(1) Why has it been that since the USA improved and modified Western European democratic system of governance, there has never been a more modern nation since that lives under an improved democratic system even as many nations have tried their hands at democratization?
(2) Why has democracy failed to materialized even when money, human and all forms of support materials have been thrown at those nations by the USA and Western allies and remain symbols of old relics of Western European democracies?
Democracies fail just as communism and socialism fail because of the greed, foolishness and incompetence brought on by the very people who pretend to espouse those ideological preferences and understandings. In UK and all across Western Europe, Canada and the Americas, Chinese citizens are modern day preferred tourists. Yet for 50+ years Chinese communism was a source of demonization by these same Western powers and nations. China has not changes its system of government neither have they improved human rights stance on their own people China stuck with their system and today you and everyone else in our democracies love to go visit and worship at their alter. Who is laughing now?
Nkrumah's Ghana failed because so many Ghanaians like you have not seen dedication and sacrifice you are willing to make for the love of country and will not give up free goodies that came by way of promises from other nation even when common sense should dictate to you and your kind that there is nothing for free in this world.
During the height of slavery slave owners made money off the sale of the work of slaves with little to no compensation for their labor. Today you and others accept a free market driven, property seeking society that has turned the mass of people who provide their labor to business interest on the cheap and without equitable compensation because it is a new paradigm that is acceptable and normalized; we’ve seen more people fall into poverty while a tiny fraction in society carry all the money. As long as you get your share of the table crumbs you can sing but remember retirement has a way of sobering most people quickly.
Philip Kobina Baidoo 9 years ago
Abeeku, I will not deny the fact that most of the electronic gadgets I use were manufactured in China. If I want to be a hypocrite I will opt for a higher ideal. However, when Nixon opened China their leaders did not whine th ... read full comment
Abeeku, I will not deny the fact that most of the electronic gadgets I use were manufactured in China. If I want to be a hypocrite I will opt for a higher ideal. However, when Nixon opened China their leaders did not whine that they were exploiting their cheap labour, which a leader like Nyerere will shout from the roof tops.
Anyway my head is about two inches above my shoulder exactly where it should be.
For your two questions I will offer you one single answer. You think that having an election is all about democracy; if that is what you think you are wrong. Democracy comes with a huge baggage, and you cannot just hold election and think that you are practicing democracy.
I bet you are not telling me that you will advocate the sacrifice of some for the many. When I am talk about sacrifice here I am not going to mention America, because you will retort that they sacrificed their slaves for their riches, while the British enslaved the indigenes of their colonies and the benefits from the triangular trade. I will pick West Germany before they united with the East. The country was literally reduced to rubble during the second world. Every benefit they had obtain from elsewhere had been destroyed. Yet, they built their country without sacrificing anyone’s interest. In a capitalist world everyone working hard to better his or her life is what aggregate to the benefit of the whole country and not anyone dedicating or sacrificing his life.
Prof Lungu 9 years ago
You miss history when you rush!
Germany was re-built by the US, practically, through the Marshall Plan!
Can you hear the echoes of Slavery Aggregated?
You miss history when you rush!
Germany was re-built by the US, practically, through the Marshall Plan!
Can you hear the echoes of Slavery Aggregated?
Kofi Ata, Cambridge, UK 9 years ago
Mr Baidoo Jr, the article contains some contradictions and I suspect it's because of you initially believing in communism/socialism and now an ardent servant of capitalism.
I studied in Eastern Europe and from what I witne ... read full comment
Mr Baidoo Jr, the article contains some contradictions and I suspect it's because of you initially believing in communism/socialism and now an ardent servant of capitalism.
I studied in Eastern Europe and from what I witnessed, Ghana never practised communism/socialism but a government that claimed to be socialist oriented. Private ownership of capital was never banned in Ghana and could have worked in Ghana because we had a complex system of land ownership and other means of production that still exists.
Again, you made mention of South Korea as an example of where capitalism has proved supreme but you seem not to be aware of the path of their development. The state played a leading role and in fact, South Korea's development was due to the strong hand of its earlier leaders and the strong role played by the state.
Even in both the US and UK the state played leading roles in their industrial and technological advancement. Both Presidents TR and FDR (Roosvelts) believed in the leading role of the state in national development and that is exactly what they did, despite TR being a Republican President. Despite, Margaret Thatcher's belief in privatisation, she left the certain areas for the state including the the National Health Service, though the present crop of Tories and Labour want to privatise the prisons, education, probation, health service, etc.
The point I am trying to make is that even capitalism cannot exist and trive without a role by state. In other words, development should initially be led by the state to ensure that infrastructure development is there for private capital to make use of it. That is what so called communist/socialist countries failed to recognise and their failure. The role of state diminishes to that of regulator as more private capital is built to be able to take on major infrastructure projects and other industrial and technological advancement. Until that state is reached the state must have a key role to play, especially in developing countries such as Ghana where private capital is very small and unable to take on the big development agenda.
You mention the common agricultural policy in Europe but forgot the same happens in the US, Canada and other developed world. It's subsidy and that is because of the realisation that capital or market forces alone cannot answer all the socio-economic questions. The same applies to the price control in the oil field in the US. It's price guarantee for investors as market forces are not sufficient to address the demand and supply sides.
Be careful how you worship your new found ism because the recent financial melt down was caused by such ism under the false belief that market forces are best when left alone to determine demand and supply. That is, whatever ism you subscribe to, there should some control, intervention and regulation by the state. That is not necessarily socialism. There should no ism that the state or private capital is the sole operator or champion. The two should go hand in hand with the state's role diminishing with development (as in the law of diminishing returns), until the state plays the role of regulator. This is necessary to avoid the greed and ills of market forces such as the banking crisis.
I believe in a development approach with a human face, with the state and private capital as an active participants and partners. Whatever ism you call this approach, that should not be the problem but rather what works best.
Finally, the development or lack of it problems in Ghana and Africa is not due to any ism but the corruption and leadership weakness. You seem also not believe that the developed world sabotage the developing world for their socio-economic and political interests and to gain advantage over the developing world. For example, Kaiser intentionally refused to process Ghana's bauxite on the excuse it was of low quality but the real reason was to use the cheap electricity from VRA to process alumna from outside. In doing so Nkrumah's vision of an integrated aluminium industry was never achieved up to today. Was that because of socialism?
GHANABA 9 years ago
Thanks for your insightful input.Baidoo, has been confused about Nkrunah and socialism for long time.
Thanks for your insightful input.Baidoo, has been confused about Nkrunah and socialism for long time.
OYOKOBA 9 years ago
Did I miss something or not? I have read thoroughly the article by Kobina Baidoo, and I am at a lost as to how anybody reading it dispassionately will come to the conclusion of attaching the label of confusion to it.
Now th ... read full comment
Did I miss something or not? I have read thoroughly the article by Kobina Baidoo, and I am at a lost as to how anybody reading it dispassionately will come to the conclusion of attaching the label of confusion to it.
Now this is what I think we should all take from the article. Baidoo is basically saying that given a choice between the precepts of socialism/communism and capitalism, he will put his bet on capitalism. In nowhere did he professed unbridled and unfettered capitalism, neither did he say capitalism was perfect. He conceived roles for the state. But at the end, given all that he knows about human nature and how it responds to productivity, price, time, labour, supply and demand, etc., capitalism offers the best option to bring out the best in everybody. I do not see how that could be confusing.
I will put it to this. Human behaviour basically is anchored in self-interest and profit motive. Altruism exists but its emphasis and weight in productive forces is either negligible or far outweighed by self-interest. It goes to the heart that the socialist precepts cannot be achieved without top heavy handedness from the state. As soon as you relax the strong arm of the state we go back to our self-interest nature. Throw in corruption, and you have a dysfunctional society where nothing works, and government has to smudge bomb the populace with unrelenting propaganda to keep morale high and keep everybody under police state whilst the higher ups at the politburo cream away the fruits of your labour. Question is socialism/communism frowns on competition, hence reason why all communist countries do not countenance a role for opposition parties.
Socialism and communism go hand in hand with autocracy and dictatorship. They are not the best distributor or allocator of resources. In Ghana, we have seen that the socialist pretenders are the most corrupt and dissipaters of national resources and economic activities. The strongest argument that socialism professes are equality, fairness and justice. But then I say those arguments come up short without taking into account honesty. Only the unseen hands of free market forces can compel business to be competitive and honest and thereby produce and warrant fairness and justice.
In the end utopianism, autocracy and dictatorship are at the heart of socialism whereas democracy, choice and free market are the cardinal principles that underpin capitalism. It rises to hellish drudgery when communism is even bent to become dynastic as it is in the case of the Castro brothers in Cuba and the Kim family in North Korea. Why anybody will want to live under that chokehold is beyond my understanding.
Philip Kobina Baidoo 9 years ago
Thank you OYOKOBA. I have been struggling to respond to all the comments especially those are coming through my inbox. Thank you again for good job done.
Thank you OYOKOBA. I have been struggling to respond to all the comments especially those are coming through my inbox. Thank you again for good job done.
KKO 9 years ago
Kofi,
I have heard that argument elsewhere before.
If Ghana did not practise socialism at independence, what exactly did we have? What were the State Farms, Workers Brigade, Young Pioneers and Kwame Nkrumah Ideological I ... read full comment
Kofi,
I have heard that argument elsewhere before.
If Ghana did not practise socialism at independence, what exactly did we have? What were the State Farms, Workers Brigade, Young Pioneers and Kwame Nkrumah Ideological Institute all about? How about the "Dawn Broadcast on one man one house and all that?"
If the socialism that was practised by the East European countries was so good, why did they all abandon it?
I visited the former East Berlin a little while ago. Even today, you can still see vestiges of the evils that were perpetrated on that other half of Germany.
Why do you think Kwame Nkrumah went along with Kaiser's rather draconian terms, smart as he believed he was? The NHS and Pension systems in the UK are collapsing because those systems are simply unsustainable. The NHS in particular, also breeds the corruption that allows foreigners, including many Africans, to benefit from it illegally without contributing a penny to it.
The failure of the state's unnecessary interference in industry is exemplified by Ghana's cocoa industry which Kobina alluded to and also the abject failure of the state's involvement in timber!
Philip Kobina Baidoo 9 years ago
Namesake, thank you for this one. I am overwhelmed and unsure which ones to rebuttal. Thank you again for reducing my workload.
Namesake, thank you for this one. I am overwhelmed and unsure which ones to rebuttal. Thank you again for reducing my workload.
GHANABA 9 years ago
And is America"s capitalist America health system any better?
And is America"s capitalist America health system any better?
K A S 9 years ago
If you write a lengthy thing for public consumption, it will be good to read through before you click post. Then you can see the missed words in the piece and make the corrections. Don't tell me you were in a hurry. That is n ... read full comment
If you write a lengthy thing for public consumption, it will be good to read through before you click post. Then you can see the missed words in the piece and make the corrections. Don't tell me you were in a hurry. That is no excuse. You were not in a hurry that was why you wrote such a lengthy thing. Moreover, such lapses are common in your articles too. If you don't have time to read through the things you write for others to read, then you shouldn't be writing them in the first place. No one forces you to do so.
Bonso 9 years ago
WHY DONT YOU BUGGER OOFF TO LIVE IN YOUR EAST EUROPE...YOU ARE ONE OF THE MOST CONFUSED RETROGRADES OF OUR TIME...YOU LACK MENTAL CAPACITY TO THINK STRAIGHT AND USE SO MANY WORDS OF NO SENSE...IN SHORT YOU ARE VERY STUPID PER ... read full comment
WHY DONT YOU BUGGER OOFF TO LIVE IN YOUR EAST EUROPE...YOU ARE ONE OF THE MOST CONFUSED RETROGRADES OF OUR TIME...YOU LACK MENTAL CAPACITY TO THINK STRAIGHT AND USE SO MANY WORDS OF NO SENSE...IN SHORT YOU ARE VERY STUPID PERSON, KOFI ATA OR ATA KOFI BOI BOI
C.Y. ANDY-K 9 years ago
Kofi,
Thanks for your input. Too busy to make a contribution earlier in the day. This is just for the record.
I'd have to write a tome to correct the many confusions and distortions Baidoo has presented as historical fa ... read full comment
Kofi,
Thanks for your input. Too busy to make a contribution earlier in the day. This is just for the record.
I'd have to write a tome to correct the many confusions and distortions Baidoo has presented as historical facts, so I'd just make a brief list.
1. Totally false that Ghana under Nkrumah was a socialist country and socialism was practised and it failed. It was a mixed economy with an increasingly robust state participation by way of introducing non-existent industrial sector and commercial agriculture/fishing. It is called by "socialists State capitalism".
2. Most countries of the West developed through active state support for even the private sector. That's why Karl Marx wrote that the modern state was just a committee for managing the whole affairs of the bourgeoisie. Where necessary, the state directly intervene, even in the USA. The TVA project which saw the building of the Hoover Dam and regenerating a most depressed vast area is a case in point.
3. It has been proven that state intervention leads to faster devt and change. Stalin's success in transforming feudal Soviet Union, albeit at great human lives cost, is a fact, A fact which surprised the whole world, including Hitler who seriously underestimated even the tanks the Soviets had built. It had been repeated that were Hitler ware of those facts, he'd never had launched Operation Barbarossa. As it were, the Soviets defeated three quarters of the German Army, and thus were the forces that defeated Hitler, not the Western forces. Of course, Lease-lend helped.
All the Asian Tigers, books have been written to show, developed thanks to very strong state intervention directly in the economy and supporting powerful families, protectionism, etc. Crony capitalism was the rule rather than the exception.
4. Earliest socialists were the Utopian socialists and they were mainly English and German Christians from the C17th. Rousseau wasn't even born then!
5. The rural serfs and landless in England flocked to the towns or went overseas - migrated - not cos of the success of capitalism. It was due to the Enclosure Movt and the Corn Laws that robbed them of any means of sustaining themselves.
6. Text book capitalism died in the C19th with the rise of the Welfare State. Had that not happened there would have communist-inspired revolutions in all capitalist countries.
Enough!
Andy-K
OKOE 9 years ago
HOW DOES CHINA BECOME THE SECOND LARGEST ECONOMY IN THE WORLD. I AM NOT ADVOCATING ABSOLUTE COMMUNISM BUT FOR ECONOMIC PURPOSES, I WOULD PREFER DR. NKRUMAH'S IDEALS ANYTIME. YOU KILLED HIM AND STILL WRITE ABOUT HIS IDEALS BEC ... read full comment
HOW DOES CHINA BECOME THE SECOND LARGEST ECONOMY IN THE WORLD. I AM NOT ADVOCATING ABSOLUTE COMMUNISM BUT FOR ECONOMIC PURPOSES, I WOULD PREFER DR. NKRUMAH'S IDEALS ANYTIME. YOU KILLED HIM AND STILL WRITE ABOUT HIS IDEALS BECAUSE YOU ARE BOTHERED BY ITS SUCCESS. HE WHO FIGHTS AND RUNS AWAY LIVES TO FIGHT ANOTHER DAY. YOU ARE STILL REMINDED OF NKRUMAH, HENCE WRITING ABOUT HIS IDEALS OVER FIFTY YEARS ON.
.
Okponglo Guy 9 years ago
While I agree with you to a large extent, effective regulation of capitalism and the promotion of social entrepreneurship is key to the survival of private ownership.
Yes, we take better care of what we own. However, the ... read full comment
While I agree with you to a large extent, effective regulation of capitalism and the promotion of social entrepreneurship is key to the survival of private ownership.
Yes, we take better care of what we own. However, the barriers to capital must be eliminated and regulated to ensure a vibrant private sector.
WTF? 9 years ago
Nkrumah's policies "failed" indeed! That's why the public wealth created by the Osagyefo for all the people is still being looted today!!! That's why many of the looters got free education up to university level, and that's w ... read full comment
Nkrumah's policies "failed" indeed! That's why the public wealth created by the Osagyefo for all the people is still being looted today!!! That's why many of the looters got free education up to university level, and that's why all the anti-Nkrumah ideologues and plunderers are still employed by the STATE almost half a century after the Osagyefo's removal!
Ghana has not had a socialist-oriented government since the overthrow of Nkrumah in 1966 so show me the progress all the governments we've had since Nkrumah have brought? Show me the efficiency with which the non-Nkrumaist state of Ghana has been run since 1966. Where is the evidence of how the non-Nkrumaist approach "works" in Ghana - and for the last 50 years?
It truly is pathetic that Baidoo chooses to imbibe Western and Danquah-Busia propaganda and is incapable of exercising rational thought with all the evidence right in front of him!!!
Patriot 9 years ago
Nkrumah touted himself as an avowed socialist but he wasn't. He allowed for a mixed economy and that was one of the reasons for the Akosombo Dam. He understood that to industrialize we needed energy but even more so we had to ... read full comment
Nkrumah touted himself as an avowed socialist but he wasn't. He allowed for a mixed economy and that was one of the reasons for the Akosombo Dam. He understood that to industrialize we needed energy but even more so we had to invite investors from the West. What was wrong with Nkrumah was his using socialism to garner votes and peddle his untruths about his opponents. That is why people like Kwesi Pratt fell for.
KOMLA TULASI 9 years ago
Uncle Kobina, sorry to say that you ramble without making any sense of the subject. As the saying goes, "the sweetness of the pudding is in the eating". Nkrumah's socialism, was not remote from what I will state in my own w ... read full comment
Uncle Kobina, sorry to say that you ramble without making any sense of the subject. As the saying goes, "the sweetness of the pudding is in the eating". Nkrumah's socialism, was not remote from what I will state in my own words as the Ghananess of ourselves - our natural resources, education, social structure, the need for patriotism, etc., etcs. Thus his ideals were based on own resources from wholistic viewpoint and having all hands on deck with the understanding the unity decides everything which was his slogan. The developments he started - the Aboso Glass factory from our nown local resources, the Abontiakoon Gold Refinery which became defunct before being operative, the envisaged motor plant in Takoradi, The GIHOC, subsidiaries, the envisaged iron ore with bauxite and manganese from Awaso and Nsuta which and his 7 year development plan - the youth development training (African Personality/Ghana Young Pioneers) including in them the sense of patriotism as future leaders of the country, fee free/compulsory education for the northern region, and many more including road networks and the ports are all evidence of Nkrumah's ideals which would have made Ghana a paradise had it not been the 1966 coup detat.
So what are you talking about that "will fall flat on its face".
Among others Nkrumah's claim on Ghana's foreign positive is what he described as "positive neutralism" ie. free with all states with whom our trade association/involvement will be to our benefit.
Stop blabbing and go back to learn if you would!!!
Philip Kobina Baidoo 9 years ago
What are you talking about; the coffers was empty before he was overthrown.
What are you talking about; the coffers was empty before he was overthrown.
Kwaku Atta-krufi( Attakay) 9 years ago
Congratulations! Only few of us who witnessed the infantile political path Nkrumah constructed for us will be bold to denounce the path. The rest who praise and continue to hold Nkrumah aloft are those who benefited from his ... read full comment
Congratulations! Only few of us who witnessed the infantile political path Nkrumah constructed for us will be bold to denounce the path. The rest who praise and continue to hold Nkrumah aloft are those who benefited from his utopian ideas. Do not be despaired. Truth will always guide and guard you. May Nananom bless you with love.
Francis 9 years ago
Atta-Krufi is in a dreamland.He has rather taken an infantile and ridiculous position.He did not find any thing wrong in receiving Nkrumah's free education and his parents were also very appreciative of Nkrumah's free medical ... read full comment
Atta-Krufi is in a dreamland.He has rather taken an infantile and ridiculous position.He did not find any thing wrong in receiving Nkrumah's free education and his parents were also very appreciative of Nkrumah's free medical care.
Whatever 9 years ago
The vital electricity from the Akosombao Dam, Tema Township, Ghana Telecom and Airways which Kufour criminally sold, the farms, the factories, schools, ethnic unity, industries, the prestige, self belief and dignity Ghana is ... read full comment
The vital electricity from the Akosombao Dam, Tema Township, Ghana Telecom and Airways which Kufour criminally sold, the farms, the factories, schools, ethnic unity, industries, the prestige, self belief and dignity Ghana is enjoy etc which has become the foundation of this country more or less, all came out of Nkrumah's socialist ideals
Philip Kobina Baidoo 9 years ago
Tema township is a shadow of itself. Ghana Telecom had to be sold to survive. Airways was destroyed by government meddling and the people who worked there due to his socialist policies that brought those institutions to life. ... read full comment
Tema township is a shadow of itself. Ghana Telecom had to be sold to survive. Airways was destroyed by government meddling and the people who worked there due to his socialist policies that brought those institutions to life. None of them would have been in this sorry state if they were in private hands. Besides, what happens to the electricity produced at Akosombo? The government uses it without paying; a mentality that is produced by socialism.
Azumah Nelson 9 years ago
Fifty years of Capitalism.Can you tell me what have been achieve uder capitalism?
Fifty years of Capitalism.Can you tell me what have been achieve uder capitalism?
Paul 9 years ago
But I am sure you will also agree that whatever system of government a country chooses, none is perfect and they all have their flaws.
It might also surprise you to know that from reading what I believe is an excellent art ... read full comment
But I am sure you will also agree that whatever system of government a country chooses, none is perfect and they all have their flaws.
It might also surprise you to know that from reading what I believe is an excellent article from you, it actually has nothing to do with Nkrumah or Nkrumahism but your own attempt to sell capitalism as "THE SOLUTION" to "ALL" our problems, a view I personally do not share and one that is as flawed as socialism or communism being forced down our throats as even the Chinese and Russians have come to discover.
As a social democrat with Nkrumahist leanings, I like to separate the 'theory' from real life 'practice' and I believe there were huge missed opportunities in Nkrumah's 'failed attempt' to 'sell' his brand of socialism to Ghanaians and Africans as you are trying to do with capitalism here.
What I find most intriguing reading Adam smith is that his philosophy was perhaps more based on self-preservation for the capitalists, the majority of whom had no social conscience at the time, more than merely it being the 'best model' of our human existence. If the social democratic models that have governed the majority of the Scandinavian countries is anything to go by, you will agree with me that it is more about fair, equitable distribution in environments where there is honesty, accountability, good governance, the rule of law and meritocracy. If not, why do those countries, which by the way have the highest rates of tax but provide some of the best social and heath services for their people, boast the lowest maternal and infant mortality rates, and consistently perform in the top ten of the most satisfied and the global human happiness index?
Surely national development success depends far more on socialism or capitalism but rather more on national organization, good governance and the fair and transparent distribution of wealth and ensuring a social contract which promotes personal wealth creation (within reason) whilst ensuring that the lowest and most vulnerable in society do not fall through the cracks without proper social protection and an opportunity to develop their full human potential so, they can also contribute their fair share to the system and future generations?
Just as I do not believe in "isms" and partisanship for the sake of it, similarly I have never believed in, and will never believe in the "one size fits all" philosophy, nor that we can simply translate the theories of one type of economic system universally without proper context and the proper adjustments, especially when there is so much disparity especially in education and access to the tools that make us wealthy and healthy.
Paul 9 years ago
national development success depends NOT on socialism or capitalism but rather more on national organization, good governance and the fair and transparent distribution of wealth and ensuring a social conract which promotes pe ... read full comment
national development success depends NOT on socialism or capitalism but rather more on national organization, good governance and the fair and transparent distribution of wealth and ensuring a social conract which promotes personal wealth creation (within reason) whilst ensuring that the lowest and most vulnerable in society do not fall through the cracks without proper social protection.
Incidentally it is this social democratic model which countries like the UK have been busy working to dismantle within what by all intents and purposes was a system allowing for capitalism to flourish alongside building a healthy human capital across the social classes and spectrum. Whatever the arguments, Britain's recent economic and social history over the last half century provides a rather confused and messed up picture and it seems to me the wider the disaprity in wealth, the worst are the social services and health and the more people are pushed into poverty with more 'soup kitchens' even for otherwise 'middle class citizens. How would you assess how Adam Smith's theory is working in that environment?
PhiIip Kobina Baidoo 9 years ago
The thrust of my piece is about wealth creation. The distribution is a topic for another discussion.
The thrust of my piece is about wealth creation. The distribution is a topic for another discussion.
gideon 9 years ago
Capitalism is designed by its puppet masters to dupe the majority to benefit the few.It has brought unneccessary competion and destruction among the people in the society,steal what you can once you have the means to.
Huge ... read full comment
Capitalism is designed by its puppet masters to dupe the majority to benefit the few.It has brought unneccessary competion and destruction among the people in the society,steal what you can once you have the means to.
Huge disparity among the the rich and the poor eg. let say you are on the race track with somebody for a trophy,instead of starting together at the starting line other person buys his way to the finish line because he has the money and the influence,the race starts and he finishes before you and wins the trophy but the crowd cheers him up and hoot at you telling you that next time run faster and win even your friends and family members.
will this be fair?
Meritocracy(based on merit) is what we need not capitalism.
J .Thompson 9 years ago
It is rather shocking this Baidoo guy who was a beneficiary of Nkrumah's free education policy and free Health care did not appreciate all these advantages under Nkrumah's Socialism.This narrow-minded guy does not know that ... read full comment
It is rather shocking this Baidoo guy who was a beneficiary of Nkrumah's free education policy and free Health care did not appreciate all these advantages under Nkrumah's Socialism.This narrow-minded guy does not know that even Americans covertly practice Socialism and don't talk about it.He should find out why education from Kindergaten through High School in United States is free with free meals,and yet Americans refuse to call it Socialism.Apparently, WHITEMAN'S hypocrisy has made this Baidoo guy a short-sighted scholar.
francis kwarteng 9 years ago
Okponglo Guy,
Just give me the evidence, references, etc.
Your emotional statement is not a substitute for facts, historicism.
I have given you some evidence. Give me one that invalidates the references I have give ... read full comment
Okponglo Guy,
Just give me the evidence, references, etc.
Your emotional statement is not a substitute for facts, historicism.
I have given you some evidence. Give me one that invalidates the references I have given.
We should always learn to argue with facts, not self-serving sentiments.
I look forward to youe verifiable evidence.
Thanks.
Prof Lungu 9 years ago
"It Doesn't Work"?
Of course!
Nkrumah has been gone more than two generations ago, and you got to England later!
Perhaps, it might have been more helpful if you had taken time to properly define socialism, capitali ... read full comment
"It Doesn't Work"?
Of course!
Nkrumah has been gone more than two generations ago, and you got to England later!
Perhaps, it might have been more helpful if you had taken time to properly define socialism, capitalism, and the one you totally forget about ---- democracy!
Ivory Coast performed well?
Did you bother to find out how much that "well" was subsidized by France for that "Francophone" state?
You appear to be under the impression that a Nation is only a market?
That goes to your total neglect of "democracy" in your polemic.
Finally, using your Pluto analogy, can we conclude that direct Athenian democracy didn't work as well?
ITEM: There are significant elements of socialism wherever you see "success" in capitalism, attenuated by a sacred respect for democracy. The serious student need to understand the power dimensions, including who wins, who losses, who pays for what at what price, etc.
Consider that Great/Prosperous Civilizations of Millions of Peoples existed in many places before your "modern" capitalist calendar began.
Therefore, let's be more critically-balance, and not simply attempt to make up for our unreflective thoughts, mimicking Anthony Fisher, among others, and making "minced meant" of ourselves. After all, capitalism as well breeds "wastage and corruption".
Kwame Attakora 9 years ago
Who are all these goons posting these goonery in support of socialism? Why don't they go and live in North Korea or Cuba.
Who are all these goons posting these goonery in support of socialism? Why don't they go and live in North Korea or Cuba.
Do you know what works? Our issue is not about ideology but stupidity and lack of creative intelligence. What are we practicing now? Even Nkrumah didn't practice socialism. Although he always thought that we Africans have to ...
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I have been challenged by Kwarten Francis to explain line by line what Dr. Kwame Botwe-Asamoah said in his three-part series that confirms our claim, even remotely, that Nkrumah was a communist that cunningly used the UGCC pl ...
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Mahmoud,
See Dr. Zizwe Poe's book "Kwame Nkrumah's Contributions to Pan-Africanism: An Afrocentric Analysis," pages 91-94. It reads:
........................................................................................ ...
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Bravo to Philip Kobina Baidoo. You have done the topic so much justice even a 5th grader can understand it. Socialism basically is for free-riders on the common good whilst lazing about. Kudos.
Strong partisanship started in Ghana when Kwame Nkrumah divided the nation into patriots and traitors. Patriots were those who accepted that he should be president for life, practice one party state and communism and indulge ...
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Hello Mahmoud,
You have not seen anything yet!
Have you read Dr. Kwame Botwe-Asamoah's five-part series "The Fallacies of JB Danquah's Heroic Legacy" and "KA Busia: His Politics of Demagoguery, National Disintegration a ...
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He was hired and paid to do the job that he did. He used their resources and abused the trust of the UGCC to advance his selfish ambitions.
Imagine being hired right now by a party in Ghana with a handsome pay and a car a ...
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lo Guy,
Just give me the evidence, references, etc.
Your emotional statement is not a substitute for facts, historicism.
I have given you some evidence. Give me one that invalidates the references I have given.
...
read full comment
Eloquently said.
BRILLIANT...NO MORE...GHANA IS IN THIS POOR STATE BECAUSE OF NKRUMAISM...OUR FATHERS WERE KILLED FOR NOTHING THEN...
You this Mahmoud here again? You can eulogise Danquah and Busia to the highest heavens. The fact remains that Nkrumah towers above all of them in every way.
I can understand your plight because your father or grandfather m ...
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Nkrumah was overthrown 48 years ago (1966 -2014) - almost a half century ago. The nation is currently ruled by the NDC, and the concerns of the public have to do with "dumsor-dumsor", high unemployment (even among university ...
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Caption should have read:
A PREEMPTIVE DANQUAH-BUSIA OFFENSIVE
NOTHING HAS CHANGED...GHANA IS STILL UNDER NKRUMAISM
WHERE WERE YOU EDUCATED. I CAN SEE FROM YOUR PIECE THAT YOU'RE AND EDUCATED ILLITERATE, AND NEED TO BE WELL COOKED AND BAKED TO WRITE INTELLECTUALLY.
IT IS WELL DOCUMENTED & ACKNOWLEDGED THAT HAD IT NOT BEEN THE DEVELOPMEN ...
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If you have any rejoinder bring it up for everybody to read and make up their own judgement and stop spewing insults. Nkrumah's followers do not want anybody to discuss the downside of his political adventurism. Nkrumah got m ...
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My little advice to you, if you want to be taken serious intellectually you don't use foul language.
Thank you.
The creative mind needs conducive environment to flourish. Would you say that can happen under dictatorship? What about democracy with unbridled power to silence minority voices, which is literally government by the mob. Wo ...
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Ivory Coast's Félix Houphouet-Boigny was a dictator for more than 20 years. With the help of the French, he created a one party state and his PDCI party ruled for about thirty years. Nkrumah adopted his one party state rule ...
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I am glad you have seen the shallowness of Baidoo"s analysis.I know Ivory Coast like the back of my hand.Ivory Coast surpassed Ghana when Acheampong Screwed up.Farmers in BA and western region simply gave some of their cocoa ...
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Socialism and Capitalism are both important as long as society are creative enough to comprehend wealth creation and its distribution.What Ghana needs is an education system which trains people to be creative and not consume ...
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It is quite clear that socialism and communism have failed the masses miserably.All the countries that embraced them have seen the need to throw them into the dustbin of history.The leaders of the socialist/communist stated t ...
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If socialism preached by Nkrumah was that great, why are all his followers living and working in the West? I am just asking, Francis Kwarteng. They should try North Korea. Lol.
Kwame Nkrumah never banned anyone from practising capitalism in Ghana.He went to bed with ardent capitalist Kaiser.Felix Houphouet-Boigny was an absolute dictator from 1960-1993.There was only one political party "PDCI".Franc ...
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I bet Felix did not form the Young Pioneers to indoctrinate children against their own parents. That is the difference between his dictatorship and that of Nkrumah. But I am not here for this petty point scoring. And it's not ...
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Kwame Nkrumah never ever declared Ghana as a socialist state.Again,you fail to acknowledge the fact that USA had no right to interfere in our affairs.Your skewed view of socialism and Nkrumah as a whole is risible.None of my ...
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They didn't because they were sensible. For the stupid ones they did. The fact that Nkrumah did not declare Ghana a socialist country is immaterial. I will leave you with one quote to chew on. 'Capitalism is too complicated a ...
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USA, Capitalism built on the backs of African slaves is "unappetizing" to me as a cardboard sandwich.You can fill in the shoes of Sen.Joe Mcarthy.At least we can give him a little credit for building KNUST.Thanks
You have too much time on your hands!!
It's a very nice way of saying I write rubbish. I like that. I wish a lot of people will be innovative as you are.
Our culture must tolerate divergent views and discourse. If Kwame had pursued that, we would not be having this discussion after 50 years.
That said, Danquah and Co may not be devoid of blame entirely.
Excellent piece, Kobina, My Namesake.
The irony of our Ghanaian situation is that all those so-called Nkrumahists hid behind their socialist rhetoric to steal Ghana blind, while their coward con man Jerry Rawlings held a gun ...
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My illiterate Father, who was a cocoa farmer, hated Nkrumah for creating the CMB. Why should a government create such a monopoly? It was to cheat farmers.
I am calling you out as a closet liar at best but an unprincipled hypocrite Philip Kobina Baidoo Jnr. Be honest, bold and or principled and state unequivocally that you do not have a China made product anywhere in your househ ...
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Abeeku, I will not deny the fact that most of the electronic gadgets I use were manufactured in China. If I want to be a hypocrite I will opt for a higher ideal. However, when Nixon opened China their leaders did not whine th ...
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You miss history when you rush!
Germany was re-built by the US, practically, through the Marshall Plan!
Can you hear the echoes of Slavery Aggregated?
Mr Baidoo Jr, the article contains some contradictions and I suspect it's because of you initially believing in communism/socialism and now an ardent servant of capitalism.
I studied in Eastern Europe and from what I witne ...
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Thanks for your insightful input.Baidoo, has been confused about Nkrunah and socialism for long time.
Did I miss something or not? I have read thoroughly the article by Kobina Baidoo, and I am at a lost as to how anybody reading it dispassionately will come to the conclusion of attaching the label of confusion to it.
Now th ...
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Thank you OYOKOBA. I have been struggling to respond to all the comments especially those are coming through my inbox. Thank you again for good job done.
Kofi,
I have heard that argument elsewhere before.
If Ghana did not practise socialism at independence, what exactly did we have? What were the State Farms, Workers Brigade, Young Pioneers and Kwame Nkrumah Ideological I ...
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Namesake, thank you for this one. I am overwhelmed and unsure which ones to rebuttal. Thank you again for reducing my workload.
And is America"s capitalist America health system any better?
If you write a lengthy thing for public consumption, it will be good to read through before you click post. Then you can see the missed words in the piece and make the corrections. Don't tell me you were in a hurry. That is n ...
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WHY DONT YOU BUGGER OOFF TO LIVE IN YOUR EAST EUROPE...YOU ARE ONE OF THE MOST CONFUSED RETROGRADES OF OUR TIME...YOU LACK MENTAL CAPACITY TO THINK STRAIGHT AND USE SO MANY WORDS OF NO SENSE...IN SHORT YOU ARE VERY STUPID PER ...
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Kofi,
Thanks for your input. Too busy to make a contribution earlier in the day. This is just for the record.
I'd have to write a tome to correct the many confusions and distortions Baidoo has presented as historical fa ...
read full comment
HOW DOES CHINA BECOME THE SECOND LARGEST ECONOMY IN THE WORLD. I AM NOT ADVOCATING ABSOLUTE COMMUNISM BUT FOR ECONOMIC PURPOSES, I WOULD PREFER DR. NKRUMAH'S IDEALS ANYTIME. YOU KILLED HIM AND STILL WRITE ABOUT HIS IDEALS BEC ...
read full comment
While I agree with you to a large extent, effective regulation of capitalism and the promotion of social entrepreneurship is key to the survival of private ownership.
Yes, we take better care of what we own. However, the ...
read full comment
Nkrumah's policies "failed" indeed! That's why the public wealth created by the Osagyefo for all the people is still being looted today!!! That's why many of the looters got free education up to university level, and that's w ...
read full comment
Nkrumah touted himself as an avowed socialist but he wasn't. He allowed for a mixed economy and that was one of the reasons for the Akosombo Dam. He understood that to industrialize we needed energy but even more so we had to ...
read full comment
Uncle Kobina, sorry to say that you ramble without making any sense of the subject. As the saying goes, "the sweetness of the pudding is in the eating". Nkrumah's socialism, was not remote from what I will state in my own w ...
read full comment
What are you talking about; the coffers was empty before he was overthrown.
Congratulations! Only few of us who witnessed the infantile political path Nkrumah constructed for us will be bold to denounce the path. The rest who praise and continue to hold Nkrumah aloft are those who benefited from his ...
read full comment
Atta-Krufi is in a dreamland.He has rather taken an infantile and ridiculous position.He did not find any thing wrong in receiving Nkrumah's free education and his parents were also very appreciative of Nkrumah's free medical ...
read full comment
The vital electricity from the Akosombao Dam, Tema Township, Ghana Telecom and Airways which Kufour criminally sold, the farms, the factories, schools, ethnic unity, industries, the prestige, self belief and dignity Ghana is ...
read full comment
Tema township is a shadow of itself. Ghana Telecom had to be sold to survive. Airways was destroyed by government meddling and the people who worked there due to his socialist policies that brought those institutions to life. ...
read full comment
Fifty years of Capitalism.Can you tell me what have been achieve uder capitalism?
But I am sure you will also agree that whatever system of government a country chooses, none is perfect and they all have their flaws.
It might also surprise you to know that from reading what I believe is an excellent art ...
read full comment
national development success depends NOT on socialism or capitalism but rather more on national organization, good governance and the fair and transparent distribution of wealth and ensuring a social conract which promotes pe ...
read full comment
The thrust of my piece is about wealth creation. The distribution is a topic for another discussion.
Capitalism is designed by its puppet masters to dupe the majority to benefit the few.It has brought unneccessary competion and destruction among the people in the society,steal what you can once you have the means to.
Huge ...
read full comment
It is rather shocking this Baidoo guy who was a beneficiary of Nkrumah's free education policy and free Health care did not appreciate all these advantages under Nkrumah's Socialism.This narrow-minded guy does not know that ...
read full comment
Okponglo Guy,
Just give me the evidence, references, etc.
Your emotional statement is not a substitute for facts, historicism.
I have given you some evidence. Give me one that invalidates the references I have give ...
read full comment
"It Doesn't Work"?
Of course!
Nkrumah has been gone more than two generations ago, and you got to England later!
Perhaps, it might have been more helpful if you had taken time to properly define socialism, capitali ...
read full comment
Who are all these goons posting these goonery in support of socialism? Why don't they go and live in North Korea or Cuba.
Great piece