Reminiscing about those Nkrumah days

Read Comments Comments (17)

• Mahmoud 10 years ago

  "Aspirations for African and World Leadership
  
  Nkrumah, who is driven by ambition to be far more than Ghana's leader, aspires to be recognized not only as the predominant African political personality but as a man to be rec ...
  read full comment

  "Aspirations for African and World Leadership
  
  Nkrumah, who is driven by ambition to be far more than Ghana's leader, aspires to be recognized not only as the predominant African political personality but as a man to be reckoned with on the international stage. His dreams of grandeur have led to a number of attempts to make Ghana the focal point of wider African political entities -- the abortive Ghana Guinea-Mali union, the defunct Joint African High Command, and his current project of a united Africa -- all of which have foundered in the face of reality and because of the refusal of other African leaders to accord Nkrumah the position of predominance implicit in all of his schemes. Instead, Ghana has become increasingly isolated, and Nkrumah has •earned the distrust of most African leaders and has even alienated his erstwhile radical cronies in Guinea, Mali, and the UAR.
  
  On the international scene, Nkrumah's conception of himself as a world leader has led him to make contacts with other leaders whose real or fancied friendship he values highly. His self-created role has also resulted in frequent offers of gratuitous advice in resolving non-African problems, the details and complexities of which he is largely ignorant. He has thus attempted to insert himself in the Cuban missile crisis, the Sino-Indian border conflict, the Arab-Israeli dispute, the nuclear-disarmament question, and the Vietnamese situation. Nothing has come of any of these efforts.
  
  Although he has succeeded in projecting himself into the African and international scene to a greater extent than most African leaders, Nkrumah is considered by most world leaders to be more of a nuisance and a figure of ridicule than a statesman. These rebuffs, and Nkrumah's consequent sense of extreme frustration, are in part responsible for his policy of encouraging and abetting subversion in Africa, activity which he also rationalizes on the grounds that many African nations -- including all of his close neighbors-- do not support the radical policies which he advocates and are followed by his government."

  reply
• Joe Mensah 10 years ago

  Oh poor Mahmoud! An apostle of eccentric Dr SAS,are you still ranting? All your attempts to re-write history and denigrate the greatest AFRICAN with DR SAS are fruitless.Why can't you find something better to do.

  Oh poor Mahmoud! An apostle of eccentric Dr SAS,are you still ranting? All your attempts to re-write history and denigrate the greatest AFRICAN with DR SAS are fruitless.Why can't you find something better to do.

  reply
• Joe Mensah 10 years ago

  Oh poor Mahmoud! An apostle of eccentric Dr SAS,are you still ranting? All your attempts to re-write history and denigrate the greatest AFRICAN with DR SAS are fruitless.Why can't you find something better to do.

  Oh poor Mahmoud! An apostle of eccentric Dr SAS,are you still ranting? All your attempts to re-write history and denigrate the greatest AFRICAN with DR SAS are fruitless.Why can't you find something better to do.

  reply
• Joe Mensah 10 years ago

  Oh poor Mahmoud! An apostle of eccentric Dr SAS,are you still ranting? All your attempts to re-write history and denigrate the greatest AFRICAN with DR SAS are fruitless.Why can't you find something better to do.

  Oh poor Mahmoud! An apostle of eccentric Dr SAS,are you still ranting? All your attempts to re-write history and denigrate the greatest AFRICAN with DR SAS are fruitless.Why can't you find something better to do.

  reply
• Joe Mensah 10 years ago

  Oh poor Mahmoud! An apostle of eccentric Dr SAS,are you still ranting? All your attempts to re-write history and denigrate the greatest AFRICAN with DR SAS are fruitless.Why can't you find something better to do.

  Oh poor Mahmoud! An apostle of eccentric Dr SAS,are you still ranting? All your attempts to re-write history and denigrate the greatest AFRICAN with DR SAS are fruitless.Why can't you find something better to do.

  reply
• Joe Mensah 10 years ago

  Oh poor Mahmoud! An apostle of eccentric Dr SAS,are you still ranting? All your attempts to re-write history and denigrate the greatest AFRICAN with DR SAS are fruitless.Why can't you find something better to do.

  Oh poor Mahmoud! An apostle of eccentric Dr SAS,are you still ranting? All your attempts to re-write history and denigrate the greatest AFRICAN with DR SAS are fruitless.Why can't you find something better to do.

  reply
• Joe Mensah 10 years ago

  Oh poor Mahmoud! An apostle of eccentric Dr SAS,are you still ranting? All your attempts to re-write history and denigrate the greatest AFRICAN with DR SAS are fruitless.Why can't you find something better to do.

  Oh poor Mahmoud! An apostle of eccentric Dr SAS,are you still ranting? All your attempts to re-write history and denigrate the greatest AFRICAN with DR SAS are fruitless.Why can't you find something better to do.

  reply
• Joe Mensah 10 years ago

  Oh poor Mahmoud! An apostle of eccentric Dr SAS,are you still ranting? All your attempts to re-write history and denigrate the greatest AFRICAN with DR SAS are fruitless.Why can't you find something better to do.

  Oh poor Mahmoud! An apostle of eccentric Dr SAS,are you still ranting? All your attempts to re-write history and denigrate the greatest AFRICAN with DR SAS are fruitless.Why can't you find something better to do.

  reply
• Gold Coast Ghanaian 10 years ago

  I also was born before independence and dabbled a bit in the Young Pioneers. While it's true the uniforms were free at the outset, around 1960 1pound was being charged for it in Kumasi. I also remember being taught to stand a ...
  read full comment

  I also was born before independence and dabbled a bit in the Young Pioneers. While it's true the uniforms were free at the outset, around 1960 1pound was being charged for it in Kumasi. I also remember being taught to stand at attention whenever the National Anthem was heard, even while in the middle of a busy street or with a snake wagging its tongue around your slip-shod ankles. This was to demonstrate one's patriotism which would be reciprocated by the State bearing your hospital expenses (but government hospitals were free then). And boy, didn't I always pray I hear the Anthem while crossing the street at Kejetia and get hit by a car! I guess I hadn't learnt my lesson from being hit by the car of an United Party operative by name Ossei Assibey in 1955. Though that instruction in patriotism from the Young Pioneers has made me have considerable love for our country, maturity has taught me the corrupt politicians won't honour that pledge. So I won't halt now if I heard the Anthem in the middle of the street at Kejetia. I still stand up to attention, though, whenever it's safe to do so.
  Living right in the City center of Kumasi, I laid eyes on many dignitaries who visited: I saw Prez Nkrumah from several feet away as he rode in a limousine with Emperor Haile Selassie on 1 occasion, and with Marshall Tito on another; I held onto the arm of Muhammad Ali at Hotel D' Kingsway;I also saw the Duke of Edingburgh during his visit.
  I recall differently though that by 1966, we had started queueing for "essential commodities".
  To date, those have been by far, the best times I've experienced in Ghana.
  Though I lived the Nkrumah era, I don't want to die yet in a few years as you promise

  reply
• J0eY LOnD0N 10 years ago

  Visual was a wicked foolish man,case close!

  Visual was a wicked foolish man,case close!

  reply
• Prof Lungu 10 years ago

  RE: "...Emperor Haile Selassie...Marshall Tito...Muhammad Ali...the Duke of Edingburgh..."
  
  
  SOURCE: The governmentattic.org web site (“the site”) is noncommercial and free to the public.
  
  
  PRIMARY SOURCE:
  "...Des ...
  read full comment

  RE: "...Emperor Haile Selassie...Marshall Tito...Muhammad Ali...the Duke of Edingburgh..."
  
  
  SOURCE: The governmentattic.org web site (“the site”) is noncommercial and free to the public.
  
  
  PRIMARY SOURCE:
  "...Description of document:
  One of a series of Defense Intelligence Agency analyses of key government leaders around the world whose demise or ouster could have farreaching implications for US military plans and policies:
  
  Kwame Nkrumah, President of Ghana,
  12 Jan 1966
  
  Requested date: 28-February-2005
  
  Released date: 06-November-2007
  
  Posted date: 21-December-2007
  
  Title of Document Supplement, Kwame Nkrumah, President of Ghana
  
  Date/date range of document: (Published) 12-January-1966
  
  Source of document: Defense Intelligence Agency
  FOIA Requester Service Center
  Building 6000
  ATTN: DIAC, DAN-1A (FOIA)
  Washington, DC 20340-5100,
  Email: FOIA@dia.mil
  
  
  Ghana's President Kwame Nkrumah is the undisputed ruler of that country; which he in effect created
  and which he has pushed to a position on the world scene far out of proportion to its size, population, or strategic importance. No real challenge to his leadership is now apparent and he seems likely to continue in office indefinitely. Nevertheless, his dictatorial rule, his suppression of political opposition, his disastrous financial policies, and his pro-Communist sympathies and policies have inevitably led to dissatisfaction among various elements in Ghana
  and could eventually force a change.
  
  
  OUR COMMENT: Grand vision, grand stature, Ghana. Development of Ghana was on pace, and many believe the "" queueing for "essential commodities"" circa 1966 was exactly part of the plot the overthrow Nkrumah using elements in the Ghana military.
  
  
  THEN CONTINUING: "...There is some resentment of Nkrumah's pro-Communist policies within the military and several coup plots have been under consideration in the past two years, but the armed
  forces have so far been unwilling to take ~ step which is not in character with their apolitical position. Popular dissatisfaction is on the rise, however, due to the growing impact of Ghana's disastrous financial policies, and the greatest potential threat to Nkrumah's
  continued rule lies in the country's deteriorating economy.
  
  WE SAY: There's the key ("several coup plots have been under consideration in the past two years..(beginning in 1964)"! Work on destabilizing the economy and provide the elements in the military "a reason to say"!

  reply
• BOY KOFI 10 years ago

  I was only 12 years old when Nkrumah was ousted on the 24th Feb.1966.In my hometown,where I used to stay.The name of the place is ofcourse Sekondi.Down there,we had a good time together.Elementary school was free,health care ...
  read full comment

  I was only 12 years old when Nkrumah was ousted on the 24th Feb.1966.In my hometown,where I used to stay.The name of the place is ofcourse Sekondi.Down there,we had a good time together.Elementary school was free,health care was free and I did see lot of transformation.As a boy,the most significant change that I withness under Nkrumah was the Akosombo Hydroelectric because it brought night beauty with lot of diamond street lights compared to the few dim lights provided the colonial government.The next remarkable change was the introduction of the blue trains for Ghana Railways to replace the colonial steam engines.The blue train were made of double diesel v engines by the Germans.It was not only the blue train that fascinated me but it made rail travel very rapid and punctual.Besides,lot of railway workers were sent to Germany every year to Germany to study diesel engineering and management.I have a special interest in the development of railway because my father worked there and my mother was also selling at the Sekondi railway station.Many of my elder brothers also worked there and my grand father was the first Gold Coast Station Master,Mr York.The Ghana Railway had the most effective Workers' Union who helped Nkrumah to succeed by leading massive strikes against the British because they were operating in all the 3 important urban areas,Sekondi/Takoradi,Accra and Kumasi.It had the Harbour also incoperated so the work force was very strong and played a vital role in the economy.The Railway Workers Union led by one brave man called Pobee Biney was so much instrumental in the struggle for independence.For this reason,Nkrumah built a very beautiful monument,a symbol called the Independence Arc in Sekondi.The Arc is situated in a round about and had colourful fountain that cannot escape the memory of any kid.Nkrumah was grateful to the contribution of the Railway Workers Union and put up another symbol,big Lion Statue at the place where Mr Pobee Biney lived,Essikadu.The Lion is also situated in a round about with the inscrption,Positive Action.The brainchild of Positive Action came from Essikadu through the Omanhen Nana Kobina Nkestia 1V.Nkrumah had a change of heart along the line and started chasing the very people who helped him to succeed.I know Mr Pobee Biney very well because one of his sons Alfred Kojo Pobee Biney was my classmate and a very good friend.Mr Pobee Biney became a Prison Graduate because of number of times he was arrested for leading workers' strikes.He was also a good friend of Nkrumah and sometimes slept at his home.The man Pobee Biney helped Nkrumah in many ways,both in campaigns and in strategy.If my memory is right,he became a member of parliament but was quick to criticise Nkrumah and lost his position.I happened to see Nkrumah in 2 occasions when he visited Sekondi.The first one was a heretic experience,where school children stood in the hot sun with Ghana flags in our hands for hours along the street.I was the in class 3 just about 7 or 8 years old.The second one was the newly built Regional Office in Sekondi when he landed there with a helicopter.This must be the reason why I did not enroll in the Young Pioneers.The waiting hours,marching and training were all too much for a kid to bear.At every Independence Anniversary,you will hear the number of people who collapsed during parade and so on but it was a sacred moment to catch glimpse of the great leader.Independence Anniversary is approaching and we shall forever remember him.Thank you.

  reply
• BOY KOFI 10 years ago

  I made a mistake for hectic experience.

  I made a mistake for hectic experience.

  reply
• Prof Lungu 10 years ago

  We could tell you meant "hectic", but without the correction, it might have confused some readers.
  
  All this to say, your comments, as always, are choke-full with bits and pieces of history, and are a pleasure to read, alwa ...
  read full comment

  We could tell you meant "hectic", but without the correction, it might have confused some readers.
  
  All this to say, your comments, as always, are choke-full with bits and pieces of history, and are a pleasure to read, always.
  
  We want to urge to you go back and collect such significant pieces as this one, today; and compile them.
  
  You could publish them on Ghanaweb with very little edits for preservation of "the record", or for distribution in your neck of Ghana's woods, hopefully broader.
  
  Say, "SAILOR MAN'S WALK ON KWAME NKRUMAH'S PATH" --- as the crow flew below the Black Star Line!

  reply
• Prof. alculus 10 years ago

  Good article, I enjoyed reading it.

  Good article, I enjoyed reading it.

  reply
• Patriot 10 years ago

  Kwame Nkrumah's ouster was necessary but Busia's was irresponsible. I witnessed the campaigns and can say categorically that Busia's campaign was no more tribal than Mahama's in 2012. Facts must always remain sacred.

  Kwame Nkrumah's ouster was necessary but Busia's was irresponsible. I witnessed the campaigns and can say categorically that Busia's campaign was no more tribal than Mahama's in 2012. Facts must always remain sacred.

  reply
• Prof Lungu 10 years ago

  Patriot,
  
  So, in essence:
  
  1. The military junta with connivance (and assistance, possibly) of foreign governments overthrew Nkrumah (a democratically elected government that was not "tribal")
  
  2. That military junta e ...
  read full comment

  Patriot,
  
  So, in essence:
  
  1. The military junta with connivance (and assistance, possibly) of foreign governments overthrew Nkrumah (a democratically elected government that was not "tribal")
  
  2. That military junta established a military dictatorship that was "responsible"
  
  3. But the democratically elected government after same military dictatorship was "tribal"
  
  4. Therefore, the overthrown of that "tribal" government by a military junta was "irresponsible".

  reply