Ghana’s first President, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah had wanted to industrialize the nation within a generation and everything was on course until the British colonial regime along with some disgruntled and self-serving Ghanaian soldiers staged a coup on February 24, 1966 to oust him.
In what would be a major setback, not only for Ghana but for Africans as a whole, workers throughout the country staged massive demonstrations to mark the first week of the new regime after the overthrow of Kwame Nkrumah.
In an over one-minute long footage which was sighted by GhanaWeb, workers, students, children and citizens in Accra are captured in the early hours of the morning in a big procession from the Hall of Trade Unions through the capital's principal streets dancing, singing and jubilating over Nkrumah’s overthrow.
As the demonstrations erupted, men, women and children are seen with placards on the streets with inscriptions such as “No more hero worship’, Ghanaians are now free’, ‘Nkrumah is a wicked man’, ‘No more Nkrumaism’ and many more.
An eye-catching moment in the footage is one with a bizarre drawing of President Nkrumah with the inscription on it ‘Sasabonsam’, a popular term now described as ‘Devil’.
Earlier, before Nkrumah’s overthrow, he had received a rousing hero’s welcome after he was released from prison on February 12, 1951 following a win for his party, the Convention People's Party (CPP) in the general elections.
This followed his arrest in 1950 after he was accused of leading a ‘disturbing positive action’ campaign against the British colonial rule in the then Gold Coast.
The footage was posted via Twitter by @GhanaianMuseum on February 29 with the caption; “Footage of Workers throughout the country staged massive demonstrations to mark the first week of the new regime after the Overthrow of Nkrumah. Workers in Accra rose early for the big procession from the Hall of Trade Unions through the capital's principal streets.
