Whom do we love: Kotoka or Nkrumah?

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Kojo T 9 years ago

On this continent Nkrumah simply has no pier.Even Mandela did not achieve what Nkrumah achieved.The West loves Mandela for preserving them and South Africa has marketed him well .The paradox of Nkru ...
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On this continent Nkrumah simply has no pier.Even Mandela did not achieve what Nkrumah achieved.The West loves Mandela for preserving them and South Africa has marketed him well .The paradox of Nkrumah and Kotoka is like the Jews who murdered Christ and now milk him not Christians
Prof Lungu 9 years ago

Kotoka-Ankrah-Oto-Harlley were Puppets and Traitors!

Kotoka must go!

Kotoka-Ankrah-Oto-Harlley were Puppets and Traitors!

Kotoka must go!
BOY KOFI 9 years ago

On the 18th April,1967 this is how Ghanaian Times published his assasination,"General Kotoka died by wounds".
I was only 13 years old by then but I quiet remember that it was Lt.Moses Yeboah who killed Kotoka near the Airpor ...
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On the 18th April,1967 this is how Ghanaian Times published his assasination,"General Kotoka died by wounds".
I was only 13 years old by then but I quiet remember that it was Lt.Moses Yeboah who killed Kotoka near the Airport.I think he deserves to be named after the Airport as a brave soldier.Thank you.
mashall 9 years ago

Hahahs yes boy Kofi u said it all

Hahahs yes boy Kofi u said it all
G. K. Berko 9 years ago

The Love-Hate relationship between some of the Ewes and Ashantis, in particular, could be traced to the same Kotoka and Afrifah alliance that facilitated the Coup that toppled Nkrumah.

Meanwhile, the involvement of 2nd Li ...
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The Love-Hate relationship between some of the Ewes and Ashantis, in particular, could be traced to the same Kotoka and Afrifah alliance that facilitated the Coup that toppled Nkrumah.

Meanwhile, the involvement of 2nd Lieutenant E. Osei-Poku in the failed Coup that resulted in Kotoka's demise sparked a widely rumored suspicion that Afrifah was behind that Coup to get rid of Kotoka. Whatever the link was between Afrifah and Osei Poku, whose life was the only one spared in the eventual firing Squad execution of the Coup leaders, was muted forever.

This brings me to encourage all re-read a Sept. 27, 2012 Article by Nii Lantey Okunka Bannerman: "The Real and Forgotten Heroes: Arthur, Yeboah & Poku".

Long Live Ghana!!!
Frank AGYENA-KARIKARI 9 years ago

Nkrumah needed to go because he had becomes dictator president without a vice. Even his own surrogates were afraid of him. He did not trust his own shadow. How could he try to make Ghana a one party state and president for l ...
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Nkrumah needed to go because he had becomes dictator president without a vice. Even his own surrogates were afraid of him. He did not trust his own shadow. How could he try to make Ghana a one party state and president for life? Well that is the hallmark of many African leaders like Ghaddafi, Mugabe. Look at how their countries have been turned into.Nkrumah would have made Ghana worse than North Korea.
People who are a little grown up would remember mass jubilation in the whole of Ghana after his overthrow. I know a number of people who were wrongly sent to Nsawam prison to die. Did Nkrumah never even hunt for Gbedemah?
Kotoka, wwho is my idol should have the airport still named after him for he, Afrifa, Ankrah and Harley liberated us from the clutches of Nkrumah tyrannical rule.
By 1964, Ghana was broke because of Nkrumahs bad economic policies as no Western country will give Ghana loans. Did Nkrumah had any business into the Cold War? He dug his own grave because of greed and power drunk. Kotoka would not have been that power drunk.
BERNARD 9 years ago

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KA 9 years ago

In the first place, the reaction to Kotoka is not mainly for tribal reasons. There is a tribal aspect but that is not the major driver of discussions about Kotoka. There are many Anlos, die hard CPP members, who detest Kotoka ...
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In the first place, the reaction to Kotoka is not mainly for tribal reasons. There is a tribal aspect but that is not the major driver of discussions about Kotoka. There are many Anlos, die hard CPP members, who detest Kotoka. They do not say because the man is their tribesman, they like him. One example is Kojo T... And most of the people who hail Kotoka are Akan matemeho folk who do not say they will not hail him because he is Ewe. Reactions to Kotoka run more on ideological lines than on tribal considerations. Even the fact that the two architects of the coup were Ewe and Ashanti makes it difficult to put a tribal angle on the matter. There are no monuments to Afrifa.

You write as if Ghanaians put both Nkrumah and Kotoka on the same pedestal. They don't at all. In the balance of things, Nkrumah has weighed far heavier than Kotoka for Ghanaians. And this has been shown in the monuments we have built to each. How many does Kotoka have? Only the airport!!! And the fact that he was gunned down at that very spot played a big role in naming the place after him.

How many monuments does Nkrumah have today? Uncountable. And very heavy ones too. The history books also reflect this imbalance their legacies.

So your question is badly posed. The generality of Ghanaians have shown that they love Nkrumah much more than they do Kotoka. It is only that they have not quite forgotten Kotoka. And they don't have to. Villain or hero, there is no need to forget him. He is part of our history to be discussed and analysed.

There is a certain lethargy in removing his name from the airport. It may open old wounds that are better left uncovered. Perhaps if we build a better, bigger and more modern international airport that serves our nation's capital, we may decide to call it something else. Then the old airport will be there - only in name...
DEAR 9 years ago

Kotoka was used by the Aante-Akyem clique led by Afrifa and their foreign collaborators; he was predictably dumped when the Asane-Akyem clique achieved their objective of looting and taking bribes from their foreign collabora ...
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Kotoka was used by the Aante-Akyem clique led by Afrifa and their foreign collaborators; he was predictably dumped when the Asane-Akyem clique achieved their objective of looting and taking bribes from their foreign collaborators.
Sylvester 9 years ago

Dictaorship, killing of political opponents in Nsawam Prison, President for life without Vice, young pioneers, tyranny and no freedom of speech.

Nkrumah was like Iddi Amin, Maumar Gadafi and Adolf Hitler. Nkrumah was evil

Dictaorship, killing of political opponents in Nsawam Prison, President for life without Vice, young pioneers, tyranny and no freedom of speech.

Nkrumah was like Iddi Amin, Maumar Gadafi and Adolf Hitler. Nkrumah was evil

$aint Ghfuo: Black Excellence !!! 9 years ago

WAT WAS NKRUMAH'S LEVEL OF EDUCATION COMPARED TO THOSE U HAVE LISTED HERE? IF NKRUMAH WAS EVIL. WAT ABOUT THOSE WHO WANTED TO BOMB HIM TO BITS? INCLUDING THE TRAITORS IN HIS CIRCLE AND THE CIA? IDIOT...I HOPE U ARE ABLE TO SE ...
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WAT WAS NKRUMAH'S LEVEL OF EDUCATION COMPARED TO THOSE U HAVE LISTED HERE? IF NKRUMAH WAS EVIL. WAT ABOUT THOSE WHO WANTED TO BOMB HIM TO BITS? INCLUDING THE TRAITORS IN HIS CIRCLE AND THE CIA? IDIOT...I HOPE U ARE ABLE TO SEE UR ENEMIES COMING AFTER U AFTER THEY HAVE SMILED IN UR FACE....
DusTY-FooT-pHiloSophER 9 years ago

How did Nkrumah become some of the above mentioning of yours? Well, the same songs of yesteryear Mate-meho traitors is being echoed all around today.

How did Nkrumah become some of the above mentioning of yours? Well, the same songs of yesteryear Mate-meho traitors is being echoed all around today.
DEAR 9 years ago

NKRUMAH WAS NOT A DICTATOR. UP NOW CALLED NPP AND THEIR FOREIGN COLLABORATORS EMBARKED ON PROPAGANDA SPREE TO JUSTIFY THE COUP. SOME OF US WERE IN GHANA AND WE NEVER SAW PEOPLE BEING DETAINED WITHOUT REASON.

WE REMEMBER JB ...
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NKRUMAH WAS NOT A DICTATOR. UP NOW CALLED NPP AND THEIR FOREIGN COLLABORATORS EMBARKED ON PROPAGANDA SPREE TO JUSTIFY THE COUP. SOME OF US WERE IN GHANA AND WE NEVER SAW PEOPLE BEING DETAINED WITHOUT REASON.

WE REMEMBER JB DANQUAH WAS DETAINED FOR ENGAGING IN SUBVERSIVE ACTIVITIES; IN OCTOBER 1958, THERE WAS AN ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT ON NKRUMAH AT THE FLAGSTAFF HOUSE AND SECURITY OPERATIVES CAUGHT JB DANQUAH RED-HANDED WITH PREPARED SPEECH TO TAKE OVER AND SPEAK TO THE NATION.

THE TRUTH IS JB DANQUAH ALLOWED THE CIA TO USE HIM TO CAUSE TROUBLE IN GHANA IN AN EFFORT TO ABORT OUR INDEPENDENCE.

NKRUMAH MIGHT HAVE SEEN THAT JB DANQUAH WAS IN BED WITH AN A FOREIGN POWER HENE HE BROKE AWAY FROM UGCC AND FORMED CPP.

THE CIA ANOTHER POWERS HAVE REALIZED THEIR OBJECTIVE OF MAKING GHANA A "COLONY" WHERE THEY COULD DUMP THE GOODS FROM THE WEST IN EFFORT TO GROW THEIR ECONOMIES.
Ndlovu 9 years ago

So, after the coup, what did Kotoka add to the nation's development?

So, after the coup, what did Kotoka add to the nation's development?
Abra Kuma 9 years ago

Nkrumah every time!

Nkrumah every time!
Fiwisintin 9 years ago

Nkrumah and no other!!!!!

Nkrumah and no other!!!!!
DusTY-FooT-pHiloSophER 9 years ago

Good one there, senior. I don't even know why somebody would egg-on or entertain such a discourse between the two aforementioned statesmen in the first place.

Good one there, senior. I don't even know why somebody would egg-on or entertain such a discourse between the two aforementioned statesmen in the first place.
G. K. Berko 9 years ago

I agree with you on the tribal thread you wove very lightly into this. Yes, even the Ewes were split between Nkrumah and his political enemies.

But we must not forget that it all started with the S. G. Antoh's Togoland Co ...
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I agree with you on the tribal thread you wove very lightly into this. Yes, even the Ewes were split between Nkrumah and his political enemies.

But we must not forget that it all started with the S. G. Antoh's Togoland Congress in opposition to Nkrumah's invitation to West Togoland to join Gold Coast for a new country called Ghana.

The Anlos and their other Ewe brethren massively voted to join Nkrumah. And Gbedemah, for example, was no small player in that alliance.
But Antoh joined the UP opposition to Nkrumah from that time on.

It was only after Nkrumah came down heavily on Gbedemah for the latter's involvement in some corruption, and on Halley, for his role in the 'lost Diamonds' case, that bound the Ewes together ever more tightly against Nkrumah's Regime.

And as the saying goes that: 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend', the new Anlo enemies of Nkrumah found a convenient home among the S. G. Antoh's berth in the UP Opposition. That is how the leaders of the 1966 Coup that toppled Nkrumah came to include Kotoka, (a longtime sympathizer of Antoh's cause), Haley (Vengeful enemy of Nkrumah's), Denu (A persuaded tribal colleague of Halley's) and Afrifah (A natural UP activist Officer).

Yet, since the abortive Coup that took Kotoka's life, there has been a suspicion among the Anlos that Afrifah was behind that Coup through 2nd Lieut. E. Osei Poku, who, incidentally was the only one whose life was spared in the Firing Squad Execution of the Coup leaders.

Long Live Ghana!!!
$aint Ghfuo: Black Excellence !!! 9 years ago

THEY DISLIKE AND ENVY SUCCESS AND WISH SUCESSFUL PPL HARM. THE ENVIOUS SUPPORT KOTOKA

THEY DISLIKE AND ENVY SUCCESS AND WISH SUCESSFUL PPL HARM. THE ENVIOUS SUPPORT KOTOKA
Kankan Nyame 9 years ago

Selfish and arrogant just like the present EC.Nkrumah was a dictator!

Selfish and arrogant just like the present EC.Nkrumah was a dictator!

Ataajoh 9 years ago

You and your beach-shitters are all the products of a Ghana without the DICTATOR!

Go and do your number-2 @ the sea-shore, you stinking, silly goat!

You and your beach-shitters are all the products of a Ghana without the DICTATOR!

Go and do your number-2 @ the sea-shore, you stinking, silly goat!
Odiyifo Kwajo 9 years ago

Ghanaians are still playing the UNCLE TOMS role of their big MASTER UNCLE SAM. Who has the WHIP now?

Ghanaians are still playing the UNCLE TOMS role of their big MASTER UNCLE SAM. Who has the WHIP now?
abc 9 years ago

we should change the name of the airport from that useless kotoka to Kwame Nkrumah international airport or Accra International airport!

we should change the name of the airport from that useless kotoka to Kwame Nkrumah international airport or Accra International airport!
joe lartey 9 years ago

Nkrumah was Selfish,and that caused his own downfall,he was already a Crown Prince in the Big 6 ,he should have let his mentors guard him,he forcibly crowned himself as a king,they will forcibly dethrone you,and that is what ...
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Nkrumah was Selfish,and that caused his own downfall,he was already a Crown Prince in the Big 6 ,he should have let his mentors guard him,he forcibly crowned himself as a king,they will forcibly dethrone you,and that is what exactly happened to him," Independence Now" vrs "Independence Now but with Care" that's Knowledge vrs Wisdom , in the end,they all lost
BOY KOFI 9 years ago

Big brother Emil,I'm sorry to say that your question is misplaced.Emil was my senoir at Catholic school in Sekondi.I remember his student days especially when he comes on holidays in Sherwood,Sekondi.We used to get together i ...
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Big brother Emil,I'm sorry to say that your question is misplaced.Emil was my senoir at Catholic school in Sekondi.I remember his student days especially when he comes on holidays in Sherwood,Sekondi.We used to get together in the evenings.Emil was very vocal when debating with his peers and I sometimes engaged them with foreign news from a different angle to cool tempers.Although I was very young by then and not a student but have been to Europe before.It didn't come to me as surprise when Emil got a job at Ghanaian Times later.Coming back to the issue,I want to state it clear that Nkrumah is a greater stateman than Kotoka but when it to military affair Kotoka is also a hero.Don't forget,you become a hero when you kill a hero.Thank you.
Joe Lopez 9 years ago

I also attended Catholic Boys School at Ketan / Sekondi & passed my Form 4 there in 1964 before entering PolyTech at EffiaKuma,
I would like to meet you downtown,
first reach me: 1248kj/at/gmail.com,
(my keyboard is not re ...
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I also attended Catholic Boys School at Ketan / Sekondi & passed my Form 4 there in 1964 before entering PolyTech at EffiaKuma,
I would like to meet you downtown,
first reach me: 1248kj/at/gmail.com,
(my keyboard is not responding well at this moment so do the insertion for my email address)
thanks
Sokoli 9 years ago

To your question, how can Dr Nkrumah and Col Kotoka be immortalized in the same breath, I have an answer: Heaven and Hell are juxtaposed.

To your question, how can Dr Nkrumah and Col Kotoka be immortalized in the same breath, I have an answer: Heaven and Hell are juxtaposed.
G. K. Berko 9 years ago

We may need both Memorials to remind ourselves of our vulnerabilities as mere mortals. The one we might have worshiped as a (benevolent?) dictatorial patriotic leader and the other we deemed a hero for his daredevil overthro ...
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We may need both Memorials to remind ourselves of our vulnerabilities as mere mortals. The one we might have worshiped as a (benevolent?) dictatorial patriotic leader and the other we deemed a hero for his daredevil overthrow of the former, both succumbed to death by the design of others. The next lesson for us on the two national icons is the imperative for us to put their deeds and faults into their proper historical contexts.

I will always have ample reasons to forgive Nkrumah for any of his perceived excesses, and concede our collective fault for not allowing him the desired room to take Ghana to the next level of development. Yes, he imprisoned his political foes, something he might not have done. But did his opponents give him any room to rule in peace? Tens of assassination attempts on his life, including bomb-throwing that took the lives of innocent Citizens must never be overlooked as so trivial that the organizations behind did not deserve any punitive repercussions. Therefore, we must concede the brutal unprovoked vicious violence the opposition resorted to as much as we concede his dictatorial excesses. The violent attacks preceded Nkrumah's dictatorship. The dictatorship was a graduated process fueled by the behavior of the uncompromising opposition. And needing more protection from abroad, Nkrumah found closer drift into Socialism as a lure for the help of the Soviets to that end. Yet, Ghana never reached that level of Socialist entrenchment that notable countries of that system were known for. Israel of all Nations, was contemporaneously knee-deep in Socialism as well. We did not see the West use that to antagonize the Zionist State in any shape or form. Ben Gurion's Administration kept on doing great. Poetically, Ben Gurion was also Nkrumah's close ally who even donated a whole Plane to Nkrumah to facilitate his international travels.

We were probably too quickly driven to become impatient to get rid of Nkrumah. But we also have to consider how we might have failed to push for the freedom of those he had held as political prisoners. Finding our way between the two, we must not shy away from asking the most pertinent questions including the likelihood of his enemies being ever willing to entertain some truce for mutual co-existence in a truly democratic environment, whatever ideology both groups touted and advocated for.

With regards to his achievements, Nkrumah was right on course to achieve what Lee Kwan Yew achieved, or even more. As Lee, himself, revealed later on in one of his interviews, Nkrumah was his friend with whom he shared ideas for developing their respective countries. What Nkrumah achieved for Ghana under 9 years of his leadership Lee took much longer to accomplish. But both had their fundamentals laid down right. Lee's program was gleefully allowed to continue and expand while Nkrumah's was progressively undermined. The building-blocks for such a developmental growth were almost the same for both countries. It was the way of ensuring their continuity that was very different, and manipulated from outside.

If it were not for the interference of the West which undeniably included economic sabotage of Ghana's Economy under Nkrumah, he wouldn't have incurred the economic hardship that the West and his local foes used to partly justify his overthrow.

Lee Kwan Yew categorically admitted that he could not have achieved all he did if he did not rule dictatorially. When he was asked in a well publicized interview after his resignation, whether he regretted being as tyrannical as the Youths of his Nation alleged against him, Lee replied with a question to the Youths. He, in effect, asked whether the Youths would rather prefer living in abject poverty, illiteracy and underdevelopment like most of the other Developing Nations, amidst a more democratic political environment, to living in the Singapore that he had helped built for them, being among the Worlds wealthiest and most progressive Nations.

Lee said ORDER and PEACE was imperative for his accomplishments, and he could not allow his opposition to interfere with his programs and progress.

So, it is most disingenuous for all those so-called political and economic experts who often compare Ghana's developmental trajectory to Singapore's to emphasize our failures but fail to acknowledge the main cause of our failures which principally was the sabotaging machination of the West. The West always sought for some justification for their complicity in Nkrumah's overthrow but never acknowledged their deliberate orchestration to cause his economic failures and even his political difficulties at home.

They wanted us to believe they did us a favor by helping us get rid of an evil leader, Nkrumah. But the real TRUTH is that the West had always seen Nkrumah as a threat to their domination of our part of the World. Their Economies were preponderantly dependent on African raw materials that they got for almost nothing, and they feared a drastic economic downturn among them, if they lost the Colonies that fast. They hated his commitment to helping other African countries to gain freedom from their Colonial Masters. Nkrumah's continued progress in bringing Ghana to the par of the West in developments would be their greatest nightmare, knowing that such was a strong attractive element to inspire the other Colonies to strive for freedom. It threatened their economies immensely.

Ironically, the man the West wanted us to believe was the worst abuser of our human rights was en route to Vietnam to help negotiate a lasting Peace between that country and the invading West in a War which had taken the lives of hundreds of thousands, when he was overthrown by the same West via local stooges.

We should not let the outsiders write our History for us. We know it firsrt-hand, and must be bold enough to write and tell it ourselves, conceding our faults along the way and learning the lessons to ensure a better future for us.

Long Live Ghana!!!

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Whom do we love: Kotoka or Nkrumah?

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