Was Dr. Kwame Nkrumah a Kusaa?

The question posed above as a title to this article may look awkward at first sight, but in reality, it is penetrating. It may look awkward because ethnically, the first Prime Minister/President of modern Ghana, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah (born as Mbeah Kofi Mboloma), was an Nzema man born to parents in Nkroful in the Western Region of the country. Kusaas never contributed to his upbringing and education, but he turned out in his lifetime to love them affectionately and grew to abundantly loathe their bitterest enemies - the Mamprusis. Dr. Nkrumah stood for justice, fairness and equality for the Kusaug Kingdom in nine years of his rule of Ghana and the rest of his life while in exile in Guinea, where he kept a seamless personal link with Messrs Imoru Ayarna and Asumda Ayebo, the doyens of Kusaug politics. In 1986, Mr. Ayarna told me about the late John Ndebugre in Accra of how he maintained a constant relationship with Dr. Nkrumah in Guinea. While in exile in Guinea, he never forgot of Bawku, and in particular, his miraculous escape from death at the Kulungungu abortive bombing.

The question is particularly penetrating because it seeks to explore and discuss what Nkrumah stood for with regard to the Kusaug Kingdom and the Kingdom's neocolonialist struggles. It will also discuss the development efforts Dr. Nkrumah invested in Kusaug during his Administration. Today, being Dr. Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Day (his birthday set aside to celebrate him and his achievements), there are many reasons why Ghanaians, and Kusaas in particular, should eulogize him at the micro-levels.

He built the giant Akosombo dam and hydropower generating plant to provide Ghanaians with reliable and affordable electricity. Though he didn't live to see the extension of electricity to Kusaug during his reign, its source of generation taped to transmit electric power by President J. J. Rawlings to the North, including 72% of Kusaug.

Though the Mamprusis hated him and continuously and erroneously said it was he who took the chieftaincy from them and gave it to Kusaas, the historical facts available looked different. By ignoring the findings of the three-man Opoku Afari Committee of Inquiry and White paper assented to by the Acting Governor-General of Gold Coast, Lord Listowell, the Mamprusi continued to peddle false information and took part in, at least, twice of the six attempts to assassinate Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. These two instances were the Kulungungu bombing on August 01, 1962 and the Accra Stadium bombing attempt on May 06, 1964. It was believed that the Kulungungu bombing, in which he received many shrapnels at his back finally killed Dr. Nkrumah. The biochemical effect of the shrapnel biomagnified and turned into a malignant, carcinogenic condition that eventually killed him while still undergoing treatment in Bulgaria.

Dr. Kwame Nkrumah's achievements for Kusaug were immense. Apart from the general rapid economic and social development that the country (Ghana) experienced during his Administration, Dr. Nkrumah singled out Kusaug as a community development model in Ghana. Being a global captain in liberation struggles, Dr. Nkrumah made sure he religiously implemented the remits of Lord Listowell's White Paper, arising out of the 1957 Opoku Afari Committee's Report. Through his personal actions, Kusaas consolidated the double independence and self-determination they had simultaneously gained from the colonial masters and the Mamprusis. Working through the then Upper Regional Commissioner, Mr. Asumda Ayebo (himself a Kusaa), infrastructural and institutional development in the Kusaug Area was vigorously pursued. Roads and bridges were constructed in the entire Kusasi District to enhance movement. The Bawku Groundnut Factory was established at Kpalwega to process the huge groundnuts that were produced in the Area. At the Regional level, Kusaas benefitted from the rapid industrialization drive that took place in Bolgatanga. The Zuaruangu Meat Factory, Bolgatanga Rice Mills and the Pwalugu Tomato Factory were industrial establishments Dr. Nkrumah designed and was implemented by Mr. Asumda Ayebo for which Kusaas also benefitted in terms of commerce and employment.

The Local Governance systems in Kusaug Area was well structured and government services to communities tickled dawn to the remotest of villages. Agriculture in Kusaug was gradually modernized at the local level while emphasizing on organic agricultural husbandry. Simple implements such as draught animal hoes and carts were introduced in the crop production cycle at the peasants level, in addition to the elaborate State farms concepts. Consequently, food was in abundance in the Area and poverty among households was minimal. Local economies and traditional enterprises were vibrant and became sustainable that bolstered livelihoods of Kusaas. The chieftaincy institution in Kusaug was restructured and the power of traditional administration was vested in the hands of the indigenous Kusaas. Peace and equity prevailed in the Area. The Kusaas' cultures were made rich, admired and revered by many other tribes.

In the educational sector, every Electoral Area had a Middle School and, at least, four Primary Schools built for them to recruit children in the local areas. The Azoka Secondary School and Pusiga Training College were established in the Kusaug Area as second-cycle institutions for students in the area to attend at minimal cost. Kusaug was the only area in Ghana that simultaneously received three model boarding schools to prepare pupils for boarding life in second-cycle institutions. These institutions were: Bawku Middle Boarding School, Tempane Middle Boarding School an Kusanaba Girls Vocational Boarding School. In fact, most Kusaas would have remained in the shadows of darkness, but for Dr. Nkrumah's expansive educational drive in the Kusaug Area.

It must be stated that four major reasons might have accounted for Dr. Kwame Nkrumah's love for Kusaas and Kusaug. First, his intrinsic love for justice, equity, fairness, and human rights issues possibly compelled him to come to the aid of the Kusaas who, at the time, were just emerging from absolute suppression and oppression meted out to Kusaas by the uprooted colonial white masters and the arrogant Mamprusis. Second, Kusaas were extremely loyal to Dr. Kwame Nkrumah and the Convention People's Party (CPP). Dr. Nkrumah recognized and appreciated that sense of loyalty by the Kusaas to him and his government. Third, Mr. Asumda Ayebo ever saved Dr. Nkrumah's life. While in Bolgatanga in1963 on an official visit, a huge bone from the meat of ruminant he was eating as lunch mysteriously got lodged in the upper section of his oeseophagous, thus strangulating him inconveniently. Like a typical Kusaa, Mr. Asumda went behind the President and hit him hard at upper part of his back. The impact of his blow relaxed muscles of the throat and involuntarily expelled the renegade bone from Dr. Nkrumah's throat, thus preventing him from dying from asphyxiation. Dr. Nkrumah never forgot to appreciate other people's efforts, assistances and contributions towards his life and rule. Fourth, the Mamprusis' unending hate for him, naturally pushed him to align himself with the majority Kusaas. Indeed, Dr. Nkrumah was full of foresight and wisdom. In 1964, Dr. Nkrumah decided to resettle all the settler Mamprusis in Bawku at Damongo at State expense and use the landmass at their enclave to develop official buildings. However, Asumda Ayebo, the then Regional Commissioner, advised against the resettlement scheme. But for that intervention by Mr. Asumda, they would have been whisked away by Dr. Nkrumah and ultimately saved Kusaas from later experiencing this quagmire.

From the many elliptical view points posted above, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah was a Kusaa, not by any form of pathological twitch, but by his actions and deeds towards Kusaug. Dr. Nkrumah symbolized the sum of resistance to how Kusaas were exploited to keep Mamprugu surviving; he smothered the Mamprusis' horrors, the Kusasi bloodshed and the Kusaug demean that kept oiling the hegemony and dominance of the Mamprusis over Kusaas.

The relationships between Dr. Kwame Nkrumah and Kusaug were symbiotic. He traded intrinsic justice, equality and fairness to Kusaas for loyalty and respect from Kusaas. Dr. Nkrumah was bombed several times because, as part, he stood for Kusaug and Kusaas. The Kusaug Kingdom adored him and stayed loyal to him. That was why when he was overthrown, Kusaas never sung along the dirty and insinuating song: "Kwame Nkrumah _sheggie;_ Kwame Nkrumah _wawa;_ Kwame Nkrumah _danduri wa;_ Kwame Nkrumah _yaa mutu"._ The Hausa song could be loosely translated as: "Kwame Nkrumah, a bastard (rogue); Kwame Nkrumah, a fool; and Kwame Nkrumah is dead". Later periods proved that Kusaas were right in abstaining from the tirades against Dr. Nkrumah. "Nkrumah never dies" is a resurrected mantra now. Ghanaians, and particular, Kusaas are now saddened that he was overthrown.

On this commemorative day, let us celebrate Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, a mutant of a Kusaa that was 'cloned' by Imoru Ayarna, Asumda Ayebo, Amadu Seidu, Hebi Dukmus Dougouyalle, Abugrago Azoka I, and many forthright Kusaas.

Long live Dr. Kwame Nkrumah,
Long live Ghana,
Long Live Kusaug.
_THE END_

   Comments0