The debate as to whether Nkrumah alone is the Founder of Ghana or others should share that acclaim would persist since individuals and certain groups who matter in our public political discourse present various perspectives. Without taking sides the DAILY HERITAGE brings to the public two articles by two men whose political knowledge cannot be discounted. These are Dr Kingsley Nyarko, Executive Director, Danquah Institute (DI), and Senior Lecturer, University of Ghana; and By Prof. Agyeman Badu Akosa,
BY DR KINGSLEY NYARKO, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR,
DI, SENIOR LECTURER, UG
THE INDEPENDENCE of Ghana appeared to be a mirage until the United Gold Coast Convention was birthed on August 4, 1947 at Saltpond; thankfully, its formation became the springboard towards our attainment of Statehood. The independence of Ghana was not realized on a silver platter. As a matter of fact, it took years of struggle, pain, disappointment, betrayal, and even deaths before we were able to gain freedom from our colonial overlords—the British. The patriots who sacrificed their energy, resources, and lives deserve commendation, and must be celebrated.
Long before the attainment of independence, some of our patriotic forefathers in the Gold Coast decided to take a keen interest in the affairs of the country by ensuring that the interests and property of the people are protected. For instance, in 1897, the Aborigines Rights’ Protection Society (ARPS) was formed to protect the indigenes’ land right. Thus, when the colonial government introduced a Forest Ordinance in 1911, the Aborigines’ Society led the agitation to stop the foreign interference in the affairs of the people, which they considered to be the indivisible right of the indigenes. The Society was able to prevent the colonial administration from passing the ordinance until 1926. Although, the ARPS was not a political party, but a pressure group, its activities, especially the resistance to the passage of the Forest Ordinance, were very important in the fight for self-determination.
In fact, before the First World War, it was hard to find any African in the British Colonial Empire thinking or even dreaming of independence from their colonial masters. It was during and after the First World War that the consciousness of emancipation became alive among the people. The people had realized, though sadly, that their relationship with the British was one of servitude and not of dignity, and it was time they fought for their own destiny—one that will make them own their country and not ruled by aliens. According to Ofosu-Appiah (1974, p.23), the indigenes “began to realize very vividly that the relationship was a slave-master one which had replaced chattel slavery, and that, far from being British subjects, they were what I would call British objects! For the Britons were grade one citizens who, in emergencies,were called upon to exercise arbitrary authority over the natives.”
Another major determinant of the journey to freedom was the formation of the West African Conference in 1917, which later became the West African Congress in 1920. It was formed by J. E. Casely-Hayford, who hitherto, had accepted the certainty of colonial domination. The aim of the congress was to invite the West African colonies under the British to demand “self-determination” and “no taxation without representation.” Three of their most significant demands are that: self-government should be implemented to enable peoples of African descent to participate in the government of their own country, elective franchise should be granted, and the system of nomination to the Legislative Council should be abolished because it is undemocratic (Ofosu-Appiah, 1974). Although, the congress disintegrated eventually, it should be stated emphatically that its formation and aims were very critical in the geopolitics at that time and contributed to the fight for freedom.
Again, the vibrancy of the media in the 1930s was a crucial landmark towards our attainment of independence. Upon returning from Britain after obtaining his B. A. Honours in Philosophy, LL. B, and Ph. D in Law and the Philosophy of the Mind, Dr. J. B. Danquah, established the first daily paper in the country in the 1900s. The paper was established in 1931 and was called the Times of West Africa. Due to the quality content of the paper, it was widely read across the colony, especially in Nigeria and Sierra Leone. By 1933, there were three papers in the country—The Times, The Spectator and The Gold Coast Independent. These papers provided the platform for intellectual discussions in the colony, and contributed to national consciousness or awakening among the people, especially the intelligentsia.
The vibrancy of the media within the period led to K. A. B. Jones Quartey referring to that era as “The stormy Thirties of Gold Coast Journalism.” It must be noted that it was through the efforts of the journalists that enabled the people to demand that a delegation of chiefs and the people be sent to protest at the colonial office in London over the Criminal Code (Amendment) Ordinance, popularly referred to as the Sedition Bill, and the Water Works Ordinance of 1934. Dr. J. B. Danquah led the delegation as the secretary, and apart from the two demands stated above, they also, among others, wanted an increase in the number of Africans on the Legislative Council, the election of the provincial council members for the Eastern Province by the Whole Provincial Council, and non-chiefs becoming provincial members. Sadly, only the last request was granted.
The Idea to form a political party was conceived by J. B. Danquah and Mr. George Alfred Grant, who was a wealthy businessman living in Sekondi. In February 1947, J. B. Danquah visited him to pay his respects whilst attending High Court. Mr. Grant was not happy about the socio-economic problems at the time. This interaction led to a meeting among Dr. Danquah, Mr. F. Awoonor-Williams, Mr. R. S. Blay, and Mr. Grant. It was at this meeting that Mr. Grant revealed that he had had discussions with the leadership of the Aborigines Rights Protection Society—Mr. W. E. G. Sekyi, Mr. George Moore, and Mr. R. S. Wood, about the formation of a national movement. At the meeting held at Saltpond in April 1947, it was agreed that the Gold Coast People’s Party would be formed at Saltpond in August 1947.
However, on August 4, 1947, the United Gold Coast Convention was finally adopted as the name of the party. This day, unarguably, represents the most important step towards the attainment of independence in the Gold Coast. At the inauguration, Mr. Grant was elected the chairman for the occasion, and Dr. J. B. Danquah delivered the inaugural address. The address was so potent to the extent that it was able to create a national awareness, and a soul, yearning for freedom. After the speech, which was greeted with applause, Mrs. J. B. Eyeson mounted the podium and indicated, “Dr. Danquah, we had in the past given enthusiastic support to the cause of the Church. Today it is the cause of the nation. Women of the country are behind you.” (Ofosu-Appiah, 1974, p.52, 53).
It must be said without any equivocation that the advent of the UGCC prepared the grounds for our independence. As the first political party in the country, their intentions and subsequent activities brought the attainment of independence within reach. It was the executive committee of the UGCC, upon the recommendation of Mr. Arko-Adjei, that invitated Kwame Nkrumah to become the secretary of the convention. He arrived in the country on 10th December, 1947.
After the 1948 riots—that led to the death of Sergeant Adjetey, Corporal Atipoe, and Private Odartey Lamptey, J. B. Danquah, a member of the executive committee of the UGCC, wrote a long telegraph message to the Secretary of State for the colonies in the United Kingdom demanding the recall of Governor Creasy, the dispatch of a special Commissioner, the establishment of an interim government to be run by the UGCC, and a Constituent Assembly. Although, the objective of the Convention was the attainment of self-rule in the shortest possible time, it was steadily moving in that direction until Kwame Nkrumah broke away to form the Convention People’s Party — which formed the government when independence was attained on 6th March, 1957.
From the above, it is clear that the independence struggle was both a process and struggle; it took patriotic Ghanaians to fight to win us the battle of freedom from colonial domination. Those persons who led the charge, especially the leadership of the UGCC deserve our commendation and respect. But for patriots like Mr. Alfred Grant and Dr. J. B. Danquah, who came together to form a political movement to salvage the country from economic quagmire, and push for her eventual independence, and their invitation of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah to be part of the preparation towards independence, probably, 6th March 6, 1957 wouldn’t have become a reality.
The birth of UGCC is significant in our lives even today. It offers us the opportunity to live their dream—a dream of selflessness, patriotism, respect for the rule of law and personal liberties, freedom of speech and association, self-determination, and love for our country.
On the occasion of the 70th year anniversary of the UGCC, I join the numerous patriots of our time to applaud their memories, and never dying souls. God bless Ghana!
Source: Dr Kingsley Nyarko, Executive Director, Danquah Institute (DI), Senior Lecturer, University of Ghana
REHABILITATION OF OSAGYEFO DR KWAME NKRUMAH IS INCOMPLETE
BY PROF. AGYEMAN BADU AKOSA,
AVOWED NKRUMAIST
GHANA’S DAY of shame, February 24, 1966, was followed by an avalanche of well-orchestrated falsehoods to attempt to justify the dastardly deed and demean the independence of the nation. The struggle was pivoted on the declaration of positive action which gave Ghanaians the opportunity to show their abhorrence for the system of colonialism.
That was the point of separation between those who were prepared to stand up to be counted and those whose brief was incremental participation in the governance by the Governor and his cohort of collaborators and compradors.
Falsehoods
The falsehoods included Nkrumah taking gold bars to Egypt for Madam Fathia, looting the nation’s coffers, consulting ‘Kankan Nyame’ and the practice of occultism, killing Ghanaians and throwing them to the lions in the Flagstaff House zoo and so many others.
The reality of the situation was that there were no gold bars in Egypt and poor Madam Fathia struggled beyond recognition in her life thereafter. It is public knowledge now that Nkrumah died with not even a plot of land to his name. It is worth mentioning that the land on which the Peduase Lodge is built was a gift to him and members of the Convention People’s Party contributed to the start of the building for him but he characteristically was to give the building to the state as Ghana’s Camp David.
The fertile figment of his detractors’ imagination conjured many images of Nkrumah that was to make many Ghanaians form a damaging impression of the man who liberated them. The Ghanatta cartoon series were to cast a very critical and psychologically damaging picture of Nkrumah and yet he was a disciple of theology and a practising human-centered individual who cared for Ghanaians beyond measure.
His government’s chief pride was the welfare of the people and at every turn he told Ghanaians he would work hard to abolish poverty, ignorance and disease. ‘Kankan Nyame’ existed as a fetish shrine in Guinea but Nkrumah did not consult it.
It is, however, a shame that Ghanatta has died not apologising to the country for misleading Ghanaians.
Recognition and rehabilitation
In 2007, when Ghana hosted the AU and chose not to have any campaign for the position of continental unity, His Excellency Alpha Konare, Chairman of the AU, clearly stated that Africa had not begun to honour Dr Kwame Nkrumah.
The establishment of the Founder’s Day holiday in Ghana and the continent-wide recognition has been heartwarming and a good redeeming start.
Nkrumah staked his leadership on achieving the unity of Africa and everything on achieving the unity of Africa and everything he predicted would happen if we failed to unite has come to pass. Africa, with 60 per cent of the world’s natural resources, controls only about one per cent of the world’ money.
The Statistics continue to be gloomy and yet the rich nations continue to exploit our lack of unity to plunder our resources under the guise of the latter day neo-colonialism and imperialism agenda called globalization. The celebration of the centenary of his birth was cleverly divided into three by the Centenary Planning Committee made up of upright Nkrumaist eminent men and women who believed in the ideals of Nkrumah.
The birthday cluster in September 2009, the independence cluster in March 2010 and the African Union (AU) cluster in May 2010. The divisions recognised the man and his achievements.
The high level participation of the African Union in the AU cluster in May 2010 was commendable. The celebrations have gone a long way to correct a great wrong and rehabilitate Nkrumah in the public domain. Many who did not know him or of him have now heard about the man. Many who knew him but had forgotten have been reminded and even those who knew and had heard but did not wish to acknowledge have been re-educated. The colloquium organized as part of the AU cluster with speakers from Ghana, the rest of Africa and Ghana’s eleventh region, the Diaspora, demonstrated the man as an academic, philosopher par excellence, original thinker, emancipator of the black race and a man who could be bound by the history of time.
His ideas are even more relevant in Ghana and Africa today than probably during the period under his leadership. The re-naming of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) must also be commended. It is interesting to note that the old students of Nsein Secondary School want the school name to revert to Kwame Nkrumah Secondary School.
The University of Cape Coast has instituted Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Lectures, which straddles his birth date. The 2010 lectures began from Monday, September 20, for three days ending on Wednesday, September 22, 2010. KNUST unveiled Dr Nkrumah’s statues to his everlasting memory. The University of Ghana has invested the Kwame Nkrumah Chair of African Studies and the Academy of Arts and Science organizers an annual Founder’s Day week, which includes the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Lecture and the author delivered the centenary year lecture on ‘Ghana the house Nkrumah built’. Incidentally, for those who do not know, the Academy was founded by Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. What does the University of Education, Winneba, University of Development Studies, Tamale and the University of Mines and Technology, Tarkwa intend to do for the memory of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, since all their antecedent institutions were established by him. What has the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration done or intend to do?
This institute was also established by Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. Then there are the many other organizations such as Bank of Ghana, which has created the new Ghana two Cedis to immortalize him but what about State Insurance Company. Social Security and National Insurance Trust, Ghana Commercial Bank, Agricultural Development Bank, National Investment Bank, Telecom. Ghana Post, COCOBOD, Produce Buying Agency, Cocoa Processing Company, Ghana Ports and Harbour authority, Dry Docks, GOIL, BOST and all the many organisations he founded which have provided many jobs for people some of whom do not even believe he is worth the recognition.
All these organisations must come together to set up the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Fund that can support the many needy but brilliant children through junior high and senior high schools and also through university. It can be done and we look forward to hearing the announcement.
President John Evans Atta Mills demonstrated his Nkrumaist credentials by the bold decision to create the Founder’s Day and also celebrate the centenary of his birth.
However, the continued glorification of the man paid by the Central Intelligence Agency of United States of America and M16 of Britain to overthrow the democratically elected Government of Ghana and halt Ghana and Africa’s forward match leaves a lot to be desired and cannot be condoned. Why on earth have successive governments of this country shied away from taking the bold decision to change the name of the international airport?
There was no way the Busia government was going to do anything about it. As accomplices to the coup d’etat and political advisor to the Military government of the National Liberation Council, they were at home.
Surprisingly the Acheampong military government, who, we are told, were sympathetic to Nkrumah, did not do it either. Maybe their military instinct took the better part of them. The part that baffles me more than any other is why the Limann government did not change the name of the main entry into Ghana.. I do not think they needed more than twenty four hours to effect that change.
Twenty seven months later, the soldiers were out of government but the name of Ghana’s only international airport continues to bear the name of the usurper Kotoka. It did not surprise me that the Kufuor government did not do anything about it. It was, however, represented by the Deputy Attorney General at the unveiling of the statue of Kotoka at Atimpoku to add further insult to Ghana’s already festering injury.
They [those opposed to Nkrumah] revel in it and unashamedly as a tradition that demonstrates their generational hatred for Dr Kwame Nkrumah in so many ways. Our democracy has come to stay and our democratic credentials are enviable. The smooth transition from one political party to another has very well been received by the world at large.
We therefore cannot continue to revere people who took the people of this country to ransom and brought an end to self-determination, self-reliance and pan-Africanism and the fight for continental unity but deepened our dependency. The rehabilitation of Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah is surely incomplete with our airport remaining Kotoka International Airport .
Even if Ghana chooses not to name the airport after Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, it must be named Accra International Airport. The country must not give any comfort to those who, through the barrel of the gun, have held this country and all in it hostage; promised liberation, redemption and revolutionary heroics all to no avail. We must march forward recognizing those who genuinely sacrificed to get us free. Freedom!
