Nkrumah had no Role in the Prevailing Freedom and Independence of Modern Ghana

The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo was right in stating that Ghana had several founders, and that he rejected completely the notion that Ghana had a single founder. The only mistake he made is that to pacify Nkrumah’s acolytes, he fell far short of the truth: He erroneously recognized that Nkrumah had some role in achieving Ghana’s independence and freedom. But Nkrumah had no role in achieving any freedom and independence for Ghana. What he achieved is his own self-glorification and aggrandizement characterized by his own freedom from his poverty and useless life lived abroad.

Those parading the notion that Ghana had independence and freedom under Nkrumah should reflect on the affairs in the country before Nkrumah appeared on the scene. At that time, due process was already established by the colonial administration, and nobody went to jail without trial. People could assemble to demand that the right actions were done by their government. So there existed within the body polity a quantum of democracy overseen by the colonial government.

By the treaty of 1844 which required the colonial government to relinquish power, the UGCC was formed to agitate for independence for the country, whereupon Arko Adjei invited Nkrumah to help with the struggle. Nkrumah devised his own contretemps and outwitted those that invited him, forming his own CPP less than a year after he was invited to join in the struggle for independence. By dint of some agitations that occurred over the fate of some Ghanaian veterans of the second world war, Nkrumah emerged as a popular figure of the independence movement, and by the prior arrangement of the British government to grant independence to Ghana as per the treaty of 1844, Nkrumah was permitted to run for elections from his prison cell, while Kobla Agbeli Gbedemah rallied support for him. Thus, he benefitted from the democracy in place at that time. But in reality, he fought for nothing, and had the power handed to him on a silver platter by Gbedemah. The organization and the campaigning for Nkrumah to win the Ododdiodio seat was actualized by Gbedemah, while Nkrumah languished in prison for some prior agitations for which he was incarcerated. So the question is, where was Nkrumah when the people were fighting for him? What role did he play in bringing about the vote which saw him released from prison to form a government to become leader of government business? And when did he found the country which agreed to let him stand in an election from prison?

Indeed, all these questions would be frivolous if Nkrumah’s leadership was characterized by any serene form of democracy and the pluralism of opinion in government. Because nobody here can explain to us what type of independence and freedom Nkrumah procured for Ghana. He himself cannot explain from his grave what he achieved for Ghana by way of freedom and independence.

So those clamoring for the glorification of his name should simply and cogently tell us how the people enjoyed freedom and justice under Nkrumah. How was our independence expressed within the context of the dictatorship and authoritarianism under the fiat of Nkrumah? Somebody may want to explain to me the meaning of” independence” and “freedom” and “justice” as these phrases apply to Nkrumah’s odious dictatorship.

In Nkrumah’s time, people were incarcerated willy nilly under the Preventive Detention Act which Nkrumah caused parliament to promulgate. The right to the franchise which Nkrumah enjoyed from prison was abolished, substituted with one-party state and a life presidency. Laws were made to vest the presidency with the power to dismiss High Court and Supreme Court judges for any cause which Nkrumah deemed sufficient. There was a one-party parliament which vested all trifecta departments of power in Nkrumah’s person. Traditional chiefs were destooled by Nkrumah and replaced by CPP chiefs. There was also the Young Pioneer reporting system wherein children snitched on their parents for incarceration without trial. In the end, all Nkrumah’s cronies who helped him to power, Arko Adjei, Nii Adamafio, Kobla Agbeli Gbedemah, and the rest of those independence fighters ended up in prison or exile. Danquah who invited him to Ghana was incarcerated until his death in a narrow cell.

Nkrumah’s indecent outrage in Ghana led to his eventual overthrow and exile until his early death.

So instead of including this evil genie in the record of our independence, we should be asking questions as to what independence and freedom Nkrumah proffered for the Ghanaian people. In all certainty, we were all duped. But the problem is that The UP tradition has been shy to excommunicate Nkrumah from the record of the country’s independence. This is ostensibly done to pacify the CPP propagandists still stuck with the myth of Nkrumah’s independence.

But I am issuing a strong warning to the present government to call a spade a spade, and to narrate with full force Nkrumah’s dictatorship and authoritarianism that led to his glorious overthrow. We should also cogently honor the long list of fighters who fought against the Nkrumah dictatorship to restore democracy for the people. We cannot be bashful or mince words with Nkrumah’s evil deeds. There is a reason why Nkrumah’s party remains in the shadows, and his children remain in limbo in Ghana’s politics. Nkrumah was a very bad person, and he founded nothing in Ghana except political demagogy, propaganda and mistrust and chicanery.

Therefore, our work as true scholars and patriots is to obliterate Nkrumah’s name from the records. And we have succeeded in erasing the holiday in his honor. He remains a man without any traceable legacy to his name. His party is kaput.

We do recognize however that we are fighting wayward citizens wearing the knickerbockers of leprous indoctrination spurned by Nkrumah’s brain-washing entity called Young Pioneers.

But we should be plain-speaking in our effort and indefatigable in our mission. Nkrumah had no role in Ghana’s present freedom and independence. Whatever he achieved for Ghana had nothing to do with freedom or independence. Period.

By Dr. Samuel Adjei Sarfo, Esq.