Dr Kwame Nkrumah
(Memo: 24 Mar 62)
Respectively, here is one operating principle worth considering!
Don't suffer anyone, including people who claim to have advanced degree, Ph.Ds, most of all.
Include among them those who, in over 10 years of churning out one hyper-partisan essay after another, have never bothered to offer 10 data points even, to support any of their wild, coup-plotter claims against the leader who spearheaded the realization of Ghana's independence in 1966, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.
Fact is, many times, these same individuals were enthused by the achievements of Kwame Nkrumah for Ghanaians, such as his success in laying a solid education and industrial infrastructure for Ghana. The problem for these people is, there are records of copious essays bearing their names - records penned in homage, respect, and love for those achievements under the leadership of none other than Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. Naturally, this leaves the critical mind to the conclusion that such "intellectuals" were indeed for Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah before they were against Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, as the foundations laid by Nkrumah began to rot under their feet beginning with the overthrow, and especially during the years the NPP government controlled the government, and thereafter in recent memory.
By their writings and public statements, they are merely latter day inventors of a convenient enemy and a system totally responsible for their own successes that their forebears ridiculed as extravagant while channeling the propaganda voices of the Johnson CIA that planned and executed the overthrow.
Dr. Kwame Okoampa Ahoofe is one such case, and his recent story on Ghanaweb titled, "Nkrumah destooled chiefs, not Busia, Mr. Mahama", is one such example of a latter-day Nkrumah-bashing record. (Note: This essay has nothing to do with Mr. Mahama).
So, to deal directly with that wacky Rascal-Busia analogy ("rascal" is Okoampa Ahoofe's own pet name for Busia), to get this one right out of the way, it is helpful to note that Kofi Abrefa Busia was in office just 14 months (1 Oct 69 – 13 Jan 72), before he was overthrown by the same military he lay in bed with.
Even so, 14 months would have been enough time for Busia to enstool every chief destooled by Kwame Nkrumah, channeling Dr. Kwame Okoampa Ahoofe.
So, tell us dokita, if Nkrumah destooled chiefs, not Busia, how many of those chiefs were re-enstooled by rascal Busia the "progressive democrat", during the years Busia controlled the government?
FACT: Before his government was overthrown by the Johnson CIA and the Nonentities, Liars, and Crooks (NLC) in Ghana's military, with Rascal-Busia's support of course, Kwame Nkrumah normalized Ghana's independence as a Unitary Ghanaian state. During the same time, without a single blueprint, Nkrumah led Ghana's economy and society practically up to the industrial lift-off stage. Even today, the fruits of those 2 feats are directly responsible for most of the progress Ghana has made in all sectors of Ghanaian public life since 1966. (See our "Kwame Nkrumah Sika Duro" series).
Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, at Ghana's independence, had never trained to be a politician, except for his self-sponsorship of his own education and life. Nor, had Kwame Nkrumah run for elections and failed to win even once, unlike Busia, in his own Wenchi, in 1951 (and unlike J. B. Danquah).
Kwame Nkrumah knew and understood that there is public policy, there is partisan policy, and there are matters that are personal. The latter, he understood, are best settled at home and in whatever church, mosque, synagogue, religious cabal, one cares to indulge in. As all defenders of Kwame Nkrumah's legacy for Ghana recognize, Kwame Nkrumah understood perfectly that one cannot have a modern state ruled by a confederation of a thousand chiefs inter-linked by political party hacks, and still expect the good life in a Unitary Ghana.
Fact: Long-declassified official US records show that merely 9 months after Ghana’s independence, on 4 December 1957 in fact, Rascal-Busia was actually dispatching secret telegrams to Washington from the US Embassy in Accra. In addition to demanding sponsorship for travel to the US, Busia was demanding $25,000, “(not 10)”, for his NLM party, and as well complaining to Republicans in the US Congress that Nkrumah and the CPP were exploring relations with other countries, including the USSR.
While this essay has nothing to do with Akuffo-Addo, we will be negligent if we fail to note that in the coming weeks and months, everyone will have an opportunity to decide for themselves to what extent Akuffo-Addo's essay in Newsweek this week, this looming Donald Trump era, mirrors the Busia record. After all, it was Akuffo Addo's NPP that engineered on behalf of Ghana the predatory oil contract system for the benefit of foreign oil companies merely a decade ago. Therefore, Akuffo-Addo cannot now turn around to complain in Newsweek that his hope that "...Ghana was ready to leave the ranks of the perennially poor countries...", has not materialized in 2016 even with oil now being produced in "commercial quantities", as he now chases his dream, one more time.
So much for independence and self-respect for Africans, Rascal-Busia-Style (RBS)!
Now, to the present matter, the same "official records" from 1962, this time from Ghana, show that under authority of the Unitary state, Kwame Nkrumah's government addressed the question of members of the national Council who were perpetually absent from meetings in Accra and continued to neglect their duties to the people who elected them.
To be continued...
NOTES/SOURCES: 1. Prof Lungu. Nonentities, liars, and crooks (NLC) destroyed Nkrumah's Ghana, 6 Oct 15, (https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/features/Nonentities-liars-and-crooks-NLC-destroyed-Nkrumah-s-Ghana-386072).
2. Danquah-Busia-Dumbo confederates should apologize for plunging Ghana in chaos, Nkrumah Was Not Prepared To Govern For Dummies: The Essentials! A 2015 Founder's Day, 25 Sep 15. (https://www.newsghana.com.gh/danquah-busia-dumbo-confederates-should-apologize-for-plunging-ghana-in-chaos/).
3. Exclusive: Nana Akufo-Addo on Ghana's New Beginning - Opinion, 18 Nov 16, Newsweek, (http://www.newsweek.com/ghana-decides-nana-akufo-addo-fresh-beginning-awaiting-ghana-521291).
SUBJ: 1962 Memo --- Kwame Nkrumah destooled chiefs in his own immortal words, by Prof. Lungu. Support Fair-Trade Oil Share Ghana (FTOS-Gh) Campaign/Petition: https://www.change.org/p/ghana-fair-trade-oil-share-psa-campaign-ftos-gh-psa/ Brought to you courtesy www.GhanaHero.com©19 Nov 16. (Powered by: www.GhanaHero.Com).