Veteran journalist Kwesi Pratt
Veteran journalist Kwesi Pratt has hit back at Dr Kwame Nkrumah’s critics, describing their false narratives as a shallow reading of Ghana’s political history.
Speaking on Metro TV’s Good Morning Ghana monitored by MyNewsGh, Pratt argued that the decision to adopt a one-party state under Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah has been repeatedly misrepresented.
“There was a referendum,” he stressed. “The people of Ghana overwhelmingly voted for the one-party state. It was not a decision that Nkrumah made by himself.”
For Pratt, the idea that Nkrumah woke up and declared himself the supreme ruler is inaccurate. He insists the move followed a national vote, not a personal decree.
He also dismissed claims that Nkrumah made himself life president under the 1960 Constitution. According to Pratt, a careful reading of that document shows a fixed five-year presidential term.
“There’s nothing in the 1960 Constitution which makes Nkrumah life president,” he said.
“Please, they should stop. They should go and read the Constitution again, get their facts right, get their analysis right, and come back for the debate.”
Pratt broadened the discussion beyond Ghana, noting that many newly independent African, Asian and Latin American countries adopted one-party systems during that era.
“Virtually all of them were one-party states,” he argued. “So how is that a Nkrumah problem alone?”
To him, the political climate of the time, shaped by post-independence pressures and nation-building challenges, must be considered before assigning blame.