What happened on 24th February 1966 Coup d’etat?

Fifty-six years ago, an unretrievable catastrophe befell Ghana, precisely on 24th February 1966. Local collaborators, from the privileged classes of landed property and individuals affiliated with the feudal establishment and the top echelons of the army and police, corroborated with foreign imperialist interests (teleguided by American and British Intelligence agencies) and overthrew the progressive government of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah and the Convention Peoples Party (CPP).

They were determined to destroy and prevent Ghana from emerging as a beacon of hope for the African continent.

The policies of CPP of industrialization through import and export substitution industries that created employment and provided goods and services for Ghanaians were aborted. Viable state enterprises were sold out to foreign interests. Those that were considered not viable were abandoned. The state control of some of our extractive sectors such as the gold mines was sold out to foreign capitalist interests.

Ghana was firmly returned to the stranglehold of neo-colonial domination. The Pan-Africanist goal of bringing Africa together was stopped. The liberation of Africa was not of concern to the new military rulers Lt. Generals Akwasi Amankwa Afrifa and Emmanuel Kwasi Kotoka. The foreign press hailed the coup as a return to democracy in Ghana. The capitalist countries led by the United Kingdom and the United States rejoiced on the return of Ghana to neo-colonial domination and their sphere of influence.

On the occasion of the coup, which destroyed anything progressive in Ghana, it is the duty of progressive forces to reflect on this day and work together to revive and continue with the progressive programme of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. Over the years, progressive forces have agonized but not acted to salvage Ghana from the neo-colonial calamity that befell Ghana on the 24th of February 1966.

Ghana is a pale shadow of what it was emerging to become shortly after independence. Those who have led Ghana since the 24th of February 1966 coup and the current two competing parties (NPP and NDC) have nothing to offer to the Ghanaian populace. Despite the claim that one is liberal democratic, and the other is social-democratic, they have both pursued very similar policies. They have continued to follow and implement the policies laid down by the foreign capitalist interests that organized the overthrow of the CPP government led by Nkrumah.

They compete in who is more greedy in looting the wealth of the country and this has brought untold hardship to the Ghanaian population. Millions of young people are without jobs and the few jobs that are available are sold to the highest bidders invariably people connected to the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) depending on who is in power. And when they are in power, they invent ways to take money away from the poor as the E-levy seeks to do or rush to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank who will prescribe policies that leave the majority poor in the name of economic growth. There is therefore little to choose from when deciding whether to vote NPP or NDC.

It is incumbent on progressive forces to understand and come to the realization that our inability to offer an alternative to the decadent economic and social system will sustain and deepen the downward slide into poverty and immiseration of the mass of our people.

We, in the SJMG have recognized that no single progressive party or organization can provide an alternative to the dyarchy of the NPP/NDC. As a result, we have entered into an alliance with a number of progressive organizations and formed the Progressive Alliance of Ghana (PAG). PAG shall be a part of a new type where integrity, transparency, and genuine internal democracy rather than who is the biggest financier to the party will determine party policy and practice.

The PAG is almost at the stage of registering as a full-fledged progressive and socialist party with a clear agenda on how to get Ghana out of the stagnation of colonial domination and exploitation. We call on mass organizations and other progressive groups to join us in this noble task to free our country from continued neo-colonial control, domination, and exploitation.

The only way we can avert the damage that has befallen Ghana and destroyed the socio-economic fabric of the country is to come together and complete the task that Kwame Nkrumah started. The struggle must be supported by all of us. We must eschew all forms of sectarianism and realize that the agenda for social transformation can never happen if we remain in our small enclaves and struggle to access resources from the two dominant parties or remain largely in social media (rather than in the villages and towns where the people are) and spend endless hours talking to ourselves instead of mobilizing the mass of the people.

The population is crying for change. The people want a genuine socialist organization that can transform this country for us all. It is by working together honestly, transparently and with integrity that we can achieve this collective agenda for social change and avenge the crime of the 24th of February 1966.

Onwards with the struggle for social justice and social transformation in Ghana now. The struggle continues.