Recently the son of former president of Ghana, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Sekou Nkrumah formally announced his joining of the NDC, at a press conference in Accra.
I do not know what influenced Sekou to join the NDC. But I can say this for a fact. The NDC in no way, not even remotely tows the ideological line of the CPP. The NDC which appeared on Ghana’s political scene as the PNDC, claiming to have a socialist ideology, eventually, turned out to be the most intensive private property- owning party. This is a party which lashed at countries like the USA and Britain for exploiting poor Ghana in their selfish interest. Yet when ex-president Rawlings, after several efforts was finally able to travel to the USA, Ghanaians remember the huge NDC crowd that came to meet him at the airport. Ghanaians (including Sekou Nkrumah) still remember the huge resources that were expended on ex-president Bill Clinton’s visit to Ghana, which anyway turned out to be a stop-over(special textiles with the pictures of Clinton and Rawlings were rolled out to celebrate the US President’ visit). Ghanaians also remember the huge monies that were spent on the queen’s visit to Ghana? Ghanaians have also not forgotten Ex- President Rawlings’s appeal, to the Queen to assist Ghana fight corruption. Ghanaians remember very well the murder of the three heads of state, senior military officers, the three high court judges and the over 200 people whose names were published in the Insight newspaper, a paper edited by Kwesi Pratt, an Nkrumahist. Ghanaians remember vividly the ruthless flogging of our mothers and sisters between their legs for selling commodities above ‘control price’. We certainly have not forgotten how Flt. Lt. Rawlings supervised the elections which brought Dr. Limann to power, only to turn around like a thief, to steal power from Ghana on the night of December 31, 1981. Why, is Sekou Nkrumah saying he prefers to associate with a Party which was born of a bloody coup?
I will understand Sekou Nkrumah if he is fed-up with the CPP and other so-called Nkrumahist political parties as they wrangle over petty issues like palm-nut, palm trees chicken, and coconut in their bid to come together (They might as well choose a bowl of chicken soup as their symbol). I may even understand Sekou Nkrumah for being offended at these Nkrumahist parties as they continue to issue non-constructive statements on very important issues, instead of concentrating on joining forces to wrestle power from the NPP in 2008. I have heard Sekou Nkrumah say on air that he has been trying for the past fifteen (15) years without success to bring the various Nkrumahist parties together but has concluded that leaders of these various ‘satellite parties’ are only interested in serving their selfish interests.
However, being the son of the founder of the CPP, and in his intense desire to continue the works of his late father along the Nkrumah ideology, I would have thought the best thing for Sekou to do is to continue working tirelessly to bring all the true Nkrumahist parties together, to form a formidable political force, to contest the 2008 elections. After all, where there is a will, there is always a way.
But for him to have joined the NDC, of all the political parties, a party which has worked and continues to work tirelessly to create division among the Nkrumahist Parties is one action way beyond my comprehension, and I believe many discerning politically conscious Ghanaians. Probably Sekou knows something that we all don’t.
OTHERWISE, I ASK AGAIN; WHY WOULD SEKOU NKRUMAH JOIN THE NDC, WHY?
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