RE: Lessons from Nkrumah’s fallout with his economic adviser

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UNMISGUIDED AFRICAN CHILD. 9 years ago

To love,understand and respect Kwame(today) in 2016 one must try and find an answer to the perennial questions that he(Kwame )left for us to graple with
"Why are we (Africans)so
impoverished?

"why are ...
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To love,understand and respect Kwame(today) in 2016 one must try and find an answer to the perennial questions that he(Kwame )left for us to graple with
"Why are we (Africans)so
impoverished?

"why are we so far behind as a
Race"?
"why do we(Black people) still
live in the "ghettos" of the
world"?
These are the questions that Nkrumah's ardent enemies must try and answer first before they call him a dictator.

nana-yaw
In-the-struggle
Prof Lungu 9 years ago

Yes, quite a number of questions "Nkrumah's ardent enemies must try and answer."

And that also goes for Professor Tignor and others, as we note.

ITEM: Vietnam...and how many died after Nkrumah's mission was aborted by ...
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Yes, quite a number of questions "Nkrumah's ardent enemies must try and answer."

And that also goes for Professor Tignor and others, as we note.

ITEM: Vietnam...and how many died after Nkrumah's mission was aborted by the CIA overthrow....!

We reckon that is also a question of "history", for historians who are serious about "explaining" the lived experiences of others.

Our sense is, many students in the US, would be interested to know, from "historyphiles".

'Nuff respect!
Abeeku Mensah 9 years ago

The issue is not Professor Tignor and his writings but with Ghanaians and or Africans in general; we accept anything written about us from anywhere in the world but from our own. We tend to forget that communist and socialis ...
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The issue is not Professor Tignor and his writings but with Ghanaians and or Africans in general; we accept anything written about us from anywhere in the world but from our own. We tend to forget that communist and socialist nations believe their system of governance is better while democratic nations believe otherwise. So it should not come as an enlightenment to Ghanaians when people write negatively, biased and with contempt about the one man and one country in the world they could not control in a sea of nations controlled and dictated to by outside governments;Nkrumah and his CPP. In the end, the ideal assessment of professor Tignor's article on Nkrumah's Ghana should be if Ghana has achieved the status it should some 40+ years after Nkrumah. This should be followed by why citizens in those nations whose governments engineered the fall of Nkrumah continue to complain about their own governments and economic woes? Professor Tignor's articles was based on baseless presuppositions particularly in light of the global economic meltdown in late 2007 or early 2008 at the hands of the economic gurus and underlying principles that professor Tignor used to measure Nkrumah era economic activities in Ghana.
Yaw 9 years ago

Keep deceiving yourself but the fact remains that the predicament and appalling conditions Ghana finds itself in are as a result of Nkrumah's poor foresight coupled with his over ambitious idea to rule the whole of Africa by ...
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Keep deceiving yourself but the fact remains that the predicament and appalling conditions Ghana finds itself in are as a result of Nkrumah's poor foresight coupled with his over ambitious idea to rule the whole of Africa by throwing Ghana's money around recklessly instead of focusing on developing the country at a time when the population of the country was less than six million with low cost of living.
This stupid obsession of Nkrumah of people like the writer of this article and some others who fail to think through to face reality but keep misleading people about a tyrant and nation wrecker like Kwame Nkrumah who caused most problems the people and the country are going through,is so irritating and nonsense.
Please allow us to move on after the damaging legacy left behind this power drank dictator and oppressor.
ndc is out! 9 years ago

I concur. I was in secondary school. He was a big dictator. He wouldn't name anything after Gbddemah or anybody else. Selfish dictator

I concur. I was in secondary school. He was a big dictator. He wouldn't name anything after Gbddemah or anybody else. Selfish dictator
Yaw Yeboah 9 years ago

Yaw, are you seriously arguing that the economic & social problems faced by Ghana today are the fault of President Nkrumah? Despite the fact that his CPP Government has been out of power for 50 years?
The CPP Government le ...
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Yaw, are you seriously arguing that the economic & social problems faced by Ghana today are the fault of President Nkrumah? Despite the fact that his CPP Government has been out of power for 50 years?
The CPP Government led by President Nkrumah was far from perfect and made many mistakes but you name me a better Government than the CPP and highlight their achievements. To blame a Government that has not been in power for 50 years for being the cause of current problems faced by Ghana is just plain silly.
C.Y. ANDY-K 9 years ago

The whole crap is irrelevant, baseless and pointless. Nkrumah started, and where is Mahama heading us to? That's what the people of Ghana wants to know now and no thah garbage you are spewing there.

The whole crap is irrelevant, baseless and pointless. Nkrumah started, and where is Mahama heading us to? That's what the people of Ghana wants to know now and no thah garbage you are spewing there.
samson 9 years ago

Oh come on you ignoramus, why Mahama in this discourse. We are making serious intellectual discussions here so don't bring in your block headed stupid and cheap politics into the discourse.

Oh come on you ignoramus, why Mahama in this discourse. We are making serious intellectual discussions here so don't bring in your block headed stupid and cheap politics into the discourse.
Prof Lungu 9 years ago

samson,
Ignore those comments. They are not from the real C.Y. ANDY-K. It is merely another case of theft of a moniker by that "ignoramus".

Greetings!

samson,
Ignore those comments. They are not from the real C.Y. ANDY-K. It is merely another case of theft of a moniker by that "ignoramus".

Greetings!
Mumuni 9 years ago

Compare the Populltion of Ghana and that of today,if you write there was no Dumsor in the days of Nkrumah.The Population of Ghana has increased.

Compare the Populltion of Ghana and that of today,if you write there was no Dumsor in the days of Nkrumah.The Population of Ghana has increased.

RINGO 9 years ago

Ghana had a smaller population in the days of Nkrumah but Ghana didn't have oil.We are now producing oil and making billions of dollars in oil revenue and we have DUMSOR.The problem is gross mismanagement of the Mahama admini ...
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Ghana had a smaller population in the days of Nkrumah but Ghana didn't have oil.We are now producing oil and making billions of dollars in oil revenue and we have DUMSOR.The problem is gross mismanagement of the Mahama administration.Stop spewing NONSENSE !
KKO 9 years ago

If your father is still alive, ask him why he jubilated in the streets or else denounced Nkrumah on 24th February 1966.
Kweku Baako may be of help!

If your father is still alive, ask him why he jubilated in the streets or else denounced Nkrumah on 24th February 1966.
Kweku Baako may be of help!
Frank Agyena-Karikari 9 years ago

You are damn right. People poured on the streets of Ghana on 24th Feb 1966 because of Nkrumah's oppressive and arbitrary rule. I very much remember that day when people from many walks in life composed funny songs about Nkrum ...
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You are damn right. People poured on the streets of Ghana on 24th Feb 1966 because of Nkrumah's oppressive and arbitrary rule. I very much remember that day when people from many walks in life composed funny songs about Nkrumah and Fathia.
Nkrumah was so dictatorial that his own appointees like Gbedemah were even afraid of his shadow. Which of them was not afraid of the 1PM news? Nkrumah, system of administration caused his own downfall. Those who are a little aged wolud attest to the fact that in 1964, Ghanaians had started to queue for basic necessities like even bathing soap, sugar and milk.
Yes, The CIA financed his overthrow but he had no business standing between two fighting elements. Why did he stand against the West during the Cold War?
Straight Talk 9 years ago

The problem with people like President Mills and Prof Lungu etc. who were indoctrinated as Nkrumah's young pioneers, is that they lost their objectivity and sense of reasoning. It is also a historical fact that Ghana's econom ...
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The problem with people like President Mills and Prof Lungu etc. who were indoctrinated as Nkrumah's young pioneers, is that they lost their objectivity and sense of reasoning. It is also a historical fact that Ghana's economy and socialist/communist ideology collapsed prior to Nkrumah's overthrow. Go and research govt newspapers like Ghanaian Times and Evening News, a few years prior to the everthrow, and you will see references to "One Party State", "President for Life", "Tighten Your Belt". Isn't it ironic that all the countries (Guinea, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe etc) that followed Nkrumah's ideology failed !.
Yaw Yeboah 9 years ago

Straight Talk, I think that you have made some good points with your criticisms. However, please also provide me with examples of successful African Economies that have followed a Capitalist Economic System? I do not think th ...
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Straight Talk, I think that you have made some good points with your criticisms. However, please also provide me with examples of successful African Economies that have followed a Capitalist Economic System? I do not think there are that many of them
Do you?
KKO 9 years ago

Botswana, Cote d'Ivoire, Kenya and Nigeria, but for state corruption!

Botswana, Cote d'Ivoire, Kenya and Nigeria, but for state corruption!
Prof Lungu 9 years ago

Yaw Yeboah,
Thanks for your comment.

Tell us, though, what is that about "some good points with your criticisms", by Straight Talk.

What evidence/data does Straight Talk offer, except references to newspaper headlines. ...
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Yaw Yeboah,
Thanks for your comment.

Tell us, though, what is that about "some good points with your criticisms", by Straight Talk.

What evidence/data does Straight Talk offer, except references to newspaper headlines.

Really!

We are thinking our Straight Talk did not even read the essay, with all that talk about someone being indoctrinated as Young Pioneers. How do you know that is a fact?

As such, the points we've elucidated still stand!

So, between you and Straight Talk, please provide some data, not newspaper headlines, such as children 5-year-olds standing on desecrated national cultural artifacts and symbols.

Again, as we say in the paper, if Ghanaians had known that Ankrah-Afrifa-Harlley were merely agents of the CIA, the response by Ghanaians and Africans, it is fair to state, would have been totally different.

Chuck all of that under "Reckoning"!

More coming!

Greetings.
Frank Agyena-Karikari 9 years ago

You are right. He was president for life, had no Vice President, and never trusted people from his own party. How many political opponents did he imprison? Even parents were afraid of their own children who belonged to the Yo ...
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You are right. He was president for life, had no Vice President, and never trusted people from his own party. How many political opponents did he imprison? Even parents were afraid of their own children who belonged to the Young Pioneer.
Dr. Otto 9 years ago

Lungu is not a professor, he holds no single degree. He is an Asante boy, in USA who has hidden his identity because he licks the Ass of Ewes and the NDC Party.

Lungu is not a professor, he holds no single degree. He is an Asante boy, in USA who has hidden his identity because he licks the Ass of Ewes and the NDC Party.
Kwabena Yeboah 9 years ago

You wrote: "In fact, we will posit that Kwame Nkrumah was a well-rounded critical rationalist who was always ready to adjust to conditions and demand signals, if usefully and effectively communicated, except his beliefs in th ...
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You wrote: "In fact, we will posit that Kwame Nkrumah was a well-rounded critical rationalist who was always ready to adjust to conditions and demand signals, if usefully and effectively communicated, except his beliefs in the independence of Ghana and control of African resources by Africans."

First of all, I am a firm believer of Dr. Nkrumah and his accomplishments for our country and believe he is in a league of his own in projecting the African Personality - no African, present or past, has been able to match this attribute, not even Mandela.

But to say Nkrumah was rationalist begs the question, and betrays your knowledge of the philosophy of rationalism. Rationalism is not endogenous as per your explanation above, rather rationalism is an attribution of ones character - a reliance on reason as the best guide for belief and action. It is a doctrine that knowledge about reality can be obtained by reason alone without recourse to experience.

If we say Dr. Nkrumah was a visionary, then we cannot say in the same breath he was a rationalist, because no one can be both. I would rather say, Lee Kwan Yew of Singapore was more rationalist than our own Nkrumah with regard to their policies: Nkrumah's policy was to unite all Africa. This is a visionary policy, not a rationalist policy. During the cold war, Nkrumah had affinity to socialist/communist block - it was not a rationalist approach. Nkrumah's propensity to share Ghana's wealth with other ungrateful Africans was not a rationalist approach. Lee Kwan Yew did exactly opposite of Nkrumah, and we know what he was able to do for his country. Think of how Lee Kwan Yew treated his political enemies vis-a-vis Nkrumah during the cold war era, and only one conclusion looms out that our own Nkrumah was not astute as compared with his compatriot in Singapore

Read Rene Descartes, the French philosopher and you will get a better understanding of a true rationalist.

Kwabena Yeboah 9 years ago

Pardon the error!

Pardon the error!
Prof Lungu 9 years ago

Kwabena Yeboah,
Thanks for your comments.

We are no philosophers, or full of "knowledge of the philosophy of rationalism."

Seems to us you neglected an important artifact to our statement. It is the qualifying word, "c ...
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Kwabena Yeboah,
Thanks for your comments.

We are no philosophers, or full of "knowledge of the philosophy of rationalism."

Seems to us you neglected an important artifact to our statement. It is the qualifying word, "critical", in the language.

Also, we never provided and "explanation...(about)...rationalism".

Rather, we merely provided an insight into one character given what's contained in Professor Tignor's "extract" about another character, and Prof. Tignor's conclusions with respect to Dr. Nkrumah.

In fact, we speak in much simpler/earthly terms.

As such, we beg to disagree that a visionary can never be guided by reason to achieve the object of their vision.

When, over a 20-year period, Thurgood Marshall of Baltimore, Maryland (Dr. Nkrumah's classmate at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, Maryland), and his colleagues fought to end segregation in American schools, and achieved their vision in 1954 in Brown vs. Board of Education, after 2 decades, were we supposed to say that they were not guided by a "vision", or that they did not need "reason" to achieve the vision of equal education opportunity for all children in America (white, black, brown, "yellow")?

Nkrumah's vision/TRUTH for Ghana was an endless quest - and we believe he, Nkrumah, understood that, the intellectual that he was.

And if we may further break it down, as far as philosophy goes that is useful to our common man, there is dogmatism, there is pessimism, and there is critical rationalism.

Under those terms, the technician/economist of the era covered by our two essays, was mostly dogmatists/rationalists. In our mind, there is a difference between the later and critical-rationalists.

Nkrumah was no dogmatist, or pessimist, in street language!

Finally, your comparison of Nkrumah to Singapore's Yew, is interesting looking at all its 4 corners. You seem to be arguing that if Ghana had remained as the Gold Coast, or that, if the Gold Coast had remained under British-American tutelage, the Johnson government would not have engineered Nkrumah's overthrow. That, we submit, takes a little more shine off Ghana's Kwame Nkrumah, of the African as a Human Being, a little more than is comfortable for us. (But, that is for another essay, really).

Greetings, and again, thanks for your comments!
Francis kwarteng 9 years ago

Dear Prof Lungu/Kwabena Yeboah,

I think I will have to agree with Prof Lungu's response here.

But I think will have to take up parts of Prof Lungu's response in an essay in the coming days.

Thanks to you both.

Dear Prof Lungu/Kwabena Yeboah,

I think I will have to agree with Prof Lungu's response here.

But I think will have to take up parts of Prof Lungu's response in an essay in the coming days.

Thanks to you both.
Kwabena Yeboah 9 years ago

You are right, let's not bore our readers with philosophical exposition, rather let's focus our attention on the issues before us.

First, the Thurgood Marshall example in Brown vs. Board of Education was exposition of rat ...
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You are right, let's not bore our readers with philosophical exposition, rather let's focus our attention on the issues before us.

First, the Thurgood Marshall example in Brown vs. Board of Education was exposition of rationalism (reason), not visionary. It was borne out of the antecedent of the American constitution; all men are created equal... Thurgood Marshall and his colleagues had etymological and legal grounding in the American constitution, and with certainty (reason) before heading to the supreme court.

Contrast Thurgood Marshall example with Nkrumah's African Unity concept, which was a powerful imagination albeit based on blind optimism. Money spent needlessly to fund liberation movements on the continent could have been used to advance Ghana's development.

This brings into focus the comparison between Dr. Nkrumah and his contemporary Lee Kwan Yew of Singapore. Lee Kwan Yew was a classic rationalist in every sense of the phrase. While Nkrumah and Yew studied in Britain, and more so Nkrumah in the US, Yew through cognition knew instantly where the wind was blowing. Yew branded all his political opponents as communists and got the American support to throw them in jail. Yew was a dictator and practiced authoritarianism, but was hailed as defender of western ideals. If Dr. Nkrumah was smart and not altruistic idealist, JB Danquah, KA Busia, and the rest of them would have languished in Nsawam prison with support from the Americans.

The second point is that, Lee Kwan Yew was not interested in regional associations, confabulations and continental ambition. His preoccupation was to turn his country's marshy land and model it after British entrepot economic hub. All resources, time and money was toward a single goal and objective, i.e., to make Singapore a first world nation. While Nkrumah spent precious time in peace-keeping, OAU, and Ghana, Guinea, Mali escapades and flying around the globe, Yew led nondescript political life away from the limelight, but specifically in his home country strategizing and attending to the business at hand. That is why today, income per capita in Singapore is $33,000 and Ghana is $1,500.

Let us be realistic in our assessment of Dr. Nkrumah as a leader and learn from his mistakes, because being the first leader of post colonial Ghana, he made mistakes and some of his mistakes are the reason for the struggles we find ourselves. Until we accept the fact that Dr. Nkrumah was fallible and his political philosophy has contributed to our present economic malaise, we can never reach our economic goals. There is always a better way.
Prof Lungu 9 years ago

Sure, there is always a better way!

As such, we will now leave this matter alone.

It has little to do with the thesis of our paper about Professor Tignor's "fallout."

For instance, we gave the increase in per capi ...
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Sure, there is always a better way!

As such, we will now leave this matter alone.

It has little to do with the thesis of our paper about Professor Tignor's "fallout."

For instance, we gave the increase in per capita GDP for the period (1960s). In previous papers, we've also touched on percentage of debt to GDP - then, and now.

So now, what you do is provide "per capita in Singapore is $33,000 and Ghana is $1,500...today", then apportion blame to Nkrumah.

You are making what we would characterize as a Tignorian statement.

There is no rhyme as far as our current paper is concerned, as far as we can see.

Thanks!
ghananiba 9 years ago

I WEEP FOR GHANA: A COUNTRY OF STOMACH POLITICS.

I WEEP FOR GHANA: A COUNTRY OF STOMACH POLITICS.
samson 9 years ago

Thank you very much prof Lungu for enlightening us once again. These neo-colonialist agents and imperialists have learnt nothing over the years. Their lies will be exposed always by the forces of light.

Thank you very much prof Lungu for enlightening us once again. These neo-colonialist agents and imperialists have learnt nothing over the years. Their lies will be exposed always by the forces of light.

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RE: Lessons from Nkrumah’s fallout with his economic adviser

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