Must 'Trading' Organs Of The Unborn For Gold, Be Rewarded With Golden Statues? Kwame Nkrumah's Statue Versus Nana Akuffo Addo's Statue

History has taught us and continues to teach us that things do not happen without motives or reason. Over the years, statues of some leaders have suffered some degree of damages.

Ranging from acts of vandalism, peaceful removal backed by law, during wars, and in many cases to mark the end of regimes. How these statues get mutilated, defaced, complete removals and in many instances destroyed or decapitated, seem not to see any end.

It appears there are many common reasons across the world that led to the destruction and vandalism of statues, especially of former leaders. Some of which have been penned in many history books and discussed in public discourse. Some of the reasons being the expression of injustices, including racial injustice, rejection of colonialism, oppressive governance, eradication of some legacies of certain leaders, and protest matches to reject some ideas or implementation of some unpopular laws, rules or regulations.

Notable statues vandalized, defaced, mutilated and toppled includes,The statue of King George III which was removed after the declarations of independence in New York, USA. The statues of Christopher Collumbus suffered a similar fate when they were brought down in some cities in the US, including Miami, Boston and Virginia. Still in the United States during George Floyed protests, some statues of Confederate Leaders like Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee was also destroyed.

In Europe, the statue of Leopold was removed from a public square in the city of Antwerp Belgium, after a signed petition by tens of thousand people, is another. King Leopold the II of Belgium statue was removed on June 9, 2020 after it suffered burns from fire during a protest against the King's rule in the Congo.

In Russia, after the fall of the Iron Curtain, the statues of Leninopod and Joseph Stalin were brought down and destroyed. Stalin's statue was toppled on October 23, 1956 in Budapest. This was a statue gifted to him on his 70th Birthday by the Hungarians. It was demolished by anti Soviet protest during the October Revolution of Hungary. Subsequently, the ones in Prague and Gori were also vandalized in 1962 and 2010 respectively. The fall of the Soviet Union equally saw the statue of Lenin becoming a taboo and dismantled. The one Kharkiv will eventually be dismantled on September 28, 2014.

Former Iraqi leader, Sadam Hussein's statues were destroyed after the US took over the City of Baghdad. The US took over Baghdad on April 24, 2003 following the US invasion of Iraq on March 20, 2003.

CNN August 20, 2017, BBC June 11, 2020, The New York Times September 12, 2020 and many other Media outlets reported the toppling, torn down, spray painting or beheading of notable statues around the world.

As to whether the events, reasons or circumstances that led to the vandalization, mutilation, dismantling, defaming or removal of many of these statues of past leaders and what they stood for, mirrors into what Ghanaians have experienced in the past, and whether some can be termed as desecration of some of these statues, it depend on the angle you look at it, and may be the political ideology you believe in, or a political party you belong to, or sympathize with.

Just after the 1966 coup in Ghana when Ghanaians woke up to be greeted with something they never thought will happen to a great leader who was a discussion on the lips of many leaders, citizens, and organizations, domestically and foreign, it will dorne on them quickly as a reality before noon of February 24, 1966. Kwame Nkrumah! The founder and first President of Ghana has been overthrown.

Anything even sounding like the name Nkrumah miles away related to him became a taboo in Ghana. Note that it was not the majority of the people in agreement with the incident that befell the black shining star of Africa, Ghana, it was a select few, even in the military.

Beheading of a statue has never been New to Ghana and Nana Akuffo Addo's statue beheading and destruction is not a phenomenon never seen before, as some sections of party enthusiasts want Ghanaians and many to believe.

When Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah's statue was beheaded and went missing for about 43 years to leave the neck yawning and praying in the scorching sun in front of the Parliament House to later surface and be reunited with the body in 2009. Nana Akuffo Addo was probably sitting in the comfort of their home as a young man probably admiring his father, the then Chief Justice of Ghana's contribution to the anger and hate meted out to Dr. Kwame Nkrumah that may have led to the mutilation of his statue.

Nana Akuffo Addo's father, His Lordship the Late Edward Akuffo Addo, was then on the same seat Her Lordship Chief Justice Gertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey Torkonoo sits on today. I am tempted to believe to believe that when the news of Nkrumah's head beheading in front of the Parliament House where he, then the Chief Justice of Ghana frequents periodically, he publicly did not utter a word against the 'uncivilized' act as it is being described by some today, when his beloved son will suffer similar fate. Was it the usual 'to hell with him' being Nkrumah?

I am yet to hear from Her Ladyship, Justice Getrude Torkonoo on the destruction of the former president's statue. May be a loud silence on this occasion will be golden, and I believe will not injure the ambitions of her son or daughter to suffer the same fate should they become president of the Republic of Ghana, or even Chief Justice of the Republic, for genetics is not immune to dispensing of Justice or the interpretation of the Constitution of the Land.

Must we be sad and perturbed today? Glued to the Justice seat for good four years spanning from 1966 when Nkrumah was overthrown through 1970, did the Chief Justice then ever utter a word about that uncivilized act that we are currently being made to believe? What about when he had the opportunity to briefly hop from the Chief Justice seat to a seat Dr. Kwame Nkrumah once sat on, between 1970 and 1972? Did he bother to make it a grievous issue or offence, especially considering where it was situated or positioned to suffer that beheading, in front of Parliament House and not an uncompleted dusty roundabout? May be a word from him as a Chief Justice or President would have softened the hearts of those who destroyed his son's most cherished gold plated statue not to harm it.

Little did Nana Addo as a young man know that his statue in the future will first suffer a calf injury leading to his mighty 'head' eventually tasting the dusty unfinished roundabout of Effia Nkwanta Hospital helplessly. The calf injury was given a concrete surgery using the techniques of plastic surgery that reassured the former president its longevity even after he had exited power.

It is not clear till date if the height contributed to attracting the finishers of the golden statue of "The President Ghana Never Had", Manasseh Azure Awuni must pardon me for borrowing his words to mourn the demise of the statue of a beloved president who will never be missed, as Honourable Atto Forson, the former Minority leader in Parliament and current Finance Minister designate once put it to the former president after one of his State of The Nation addresses in Parliament of Ghana.

I stand corrected, for posterity can be a cony creature virtually known to exist to judge the statue Ghana never had. A statue that may have healed all patients in the Effia Nkwanta Hospital upon their beaming at it in the sun.

Must I believe the whispers I am hearing from the waves of the Sekondi oceans trying to communicate to me in a manner suggesting their Galamsey equipments confiscation and distribution to party loyalists informed their decision to embark on an 'In-The-Air' and height-oriented Galamsey that led to the golden statue of the former president becoming a victim? What then happened to the mantra, 'all that glitters is not gold?

Or, I must believe it is because of the recent citizens arrest that made news of a van loaded with gold bars intercepted on its way to the Kotoka International Airport (where another known senior Akuffo Addo bust suffered some punches with the big six packs), to further freeze in the clouds and be ultimately melted in the UAE? That is if only the gold bars were not meant to be fed to the busts of the BIG SIX since they are also positioned at a roundabout to enjoy the sounds of aeroplanes and cars continuously being Freedom Fighters. Unlike the statue at Effia Nkwanta that only briefly enjoyed the noise of cars and trailers being a Freedom Taker.

Did the spirit of President John Mahama's Operation Recover All Loot (ORAL), coupled with the gold bars episode embolden the 'In-The-Air' galamseyers to think assume that the Effia Nkwanta positioned Nana Akuffo Addo statue was indeed made of real gold, knowing Nana and the former Jubilee compound house occupants love gold?

They love gold to the extent they chose to gold plate almost everything around them, including some well known historic water bodies like the Lake Bosomtwe, River Pra and River Ankobra. The love for, and obsession with gold like the descendants of King Midas, at the expense of the citizenry's health, especially children who are being born without some body parts, and the unborn children buffles the minds of many.

Leaders who will trade the limbs, kidneys, hearts, lungs, and eyes of innocent unborn children for GOLD, do NOT in the slightest imagination in time, deserve to have gold plated statues of them reminding these children and humanity of the faces of those who robbed them of the creator's abundant free gift of healthy life. Especially in front of a Hospital.

I rest my PEN.
Mustapha Alhassan.
Pennsylvania, USA.