Dr Kwaku Danso: I Do Scholarship, Not Sentiments!

I don't know what Dr. Kwaku A. Danso is trying to achieve with his article titled “On Fathia and Nkrumah: Distorting Facts or Disgracing Our Past – Is that All Helpful” (Some brownie points, perhaps?) (Ghanaweb.com 6/14/07), except to shamelessly bring yours truly's attention to the fact that the critic has written a book titled “Leadership and the Role of Government in Africa: The Case of Ghana.”
If so, then I heartily congratulate Dr. Danso for his remarkable achievement. But whether, as he seems to be suggesting, I actually get to read his book or not, pretty much depends on whether yours truly has adequate time on his hands: you see, I receive close to 100 books from reputable publishers and some private publisher-authors for review and editing every year. Couple the preceding with the fact of my having to conduct extensive research on postcolonial Ghanaian history and politics, my most recent epistemic interest, as well as having to compose at least three to five volumes of poetry and reader-friendly essays and articles – non-academic ones, such as I often do for this forum and a slew of others, for example – and there is pretty little time for me to do anything else. So, I am sorry, Dr. Danso, but I have to politely pass up your book. For knowledge on leadership in Africa and elsewhere, I prefer to read Drs. Danquah and Busia and, oh yes, even Mr. Kwame Nkrumah, too, among others, of course!
Interestingly, in presuming to morally impugn my apposite sense of culture or my lack thereof, Dr. Danso writes: “What did Fathia do to you and your people? At lest[sic] in the kind of culture you claim to come from, we respect foreigners, especially if they have not offended us.”
Perhaps the Fremont, California and East Legon, Accra, engineer could have done better to explain to his readers just what kind of culture it is that yours truly “claims” to come from. Cast so presumptuously and contemptuously as it is, it is rather inexpedient for me to offer the critic any kind of response that may be deemed satisfactory or contextually logical. And then also, when Dr. Danso demands to know exactly “What did Fathia do to you and your people?” I simply cannot pin down exactly what the aim or objective of the critic is, in determining to use such ideologically loaded term as “you and your people.”
In brief, other than the patently invidious tone of his question, it is not quite clear just what the critic, who just recently described Mrs. Nkrumah as “Mother Africa,” the “patented” sobriquet of Mrs. Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, means. And just what makes Dr. Danso attempt to hoodwink his readers by cynically claiming that he is no Nkrumaist? Does the critic, perhaps, believe that his readers have not read his effusively pro-Nkrumaist comments in the Ghanaweb.com chat-room? Or does the “silver-haired” Ghanaian “Engineer” (and you know, I have real engineers, Nuclear Physicists, in my family) take his readers for cretins? Talk of sophistic cowardliness!
You see, in the Akan part of Ghana from whence I hail (which is most of it, of course), there is no such boorish expression as “you and your people” in the context and tone appropriated by the critic. And for one who claims to have received his doctorate at the quite mature age of 59, “after working in Management [whatever that means] and for many major corporations in America as well as his own[,] choice and appropriateness of language usage is [sic] the mark[sic] of a scholar.” Wow, Dr. Danso, my unreserved kudos to “you and your people”!
Interestingly, if, indeed, the critic desires to know, merely acquiring a doctoral degree, in Engineering or Shoeshine Technology, does not necessarily make the holder a “scholar.” For his information and, perhaps, enlightenment, there is a striking difference between a “scholar” and an “intellectual.” The two terms are not mutually fungible or interchangeable.
Indeed, the problem with “Uncle” Kwaku's early morning tirade is that he makes the rather epic accusation that yours truly is both “distorting facts” and “disgracing our [non-Nkrumaist?] past,” without explaining to his readers specific examples of such “distortion” and “disgrace” which “my people and I” have unduly brought to bear on the history of Ghana.
And, as to whether Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe (Agyeman!) singularly claims that “[Dr.] Danquah was assassinated,” I regret to say, but such assertion is not mine to make but the incontrovertibly authoritative facts of postcolonial Ghanaian history! And so perhaps Dr. Danso had better read the report of the (Dr.) Asafu-Adjei Commission ( I am sure there are others) that specifically investigated the deliberate and brutal treatment of the putative Doyen of Gold Coast and Ghanaian politics at the Nsawam Medium-Security Prison (the Condemned Cell for Murderers and other Common Criminals, a.k.a. the Special Block, in Nkrumaist parlance). I should also point out to Dr. Danso that Dr. Danquah was my great-granduncle, and that almost every reputable member of the Ofori-Atta Clan, including Paa Wille, served time at Nsawam, at the especial pleasure and delight of Dr. Danso's “Osagyefo”!
And, perhaps, the critic would also serve himself and his constituents better by finding out about the historical significance of Nsawam and Dr. Danquah, long before the Doyen's brutal assassination by the Show Boy.
“Kwame, what is wrong with you?” you ask, Wofa Danso? You see, I should rather be the one asking such a question!
Of course, there existed a cloth named “Fathia Fata Nkrumah” (and, perhaps, you did not need to translate its meaning for me; or did you borrow it from Gamal Nkrumah's article? For you can bet your bottom dollar that I speak and write Twi better than most Ghanaians that I know, having been raised a Presybterian). And if you care to know, my great-grandfather, Sintim-Aboagye, was one of the founders of Akyem-Begoro Presbyterian Church, as well as the Begoro Boarding School, which produced the sterling likes of Dr. J. B. Danquah, founder of the University of Ghana, and the Rev. T. H. Sintim, my own maternal grandfather and founder or co-founder of many Presbyterian schools all over southern Ghana, including Asante-Mampong, Winneba and Achiase, long before the Show Boy appeared on Ghana's national podium to do his show! And so, No, Kwame Nkrumah did not make me what I am! And for your information, Kyebi-Susubiribi has had a school since at least 1839!
As for your claim of “Ghanaian women having named” a cloth for Mrs. Nkrumah, don't you think such a claim is rather broad, hyperbolic and outright presumptuous? Which “Ghanaian women,” for instance, do you have in mind (since you ought to know by now that it definitely wasn't the women of “you [Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe] and your people”? Or do you mean Cii-Pii-Pii women? Then, by all means, as the sterling scholar that you claim to be, say so! (Then again, on this score, who do you think is actually attempting to distort Ghanaian history?)
Dr. Danso-Abeam (Or is your kind of Danso from Mali, or one of those pan-Africanist places?) are you foolhardily denying the brutal assassination of Dr. Danquah (whom you don't seem to respect very much) at the hands of President Kwame Nkrumah (whom you appear to worship more religiously than God and Jesus Christ), or you seriously believe that Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe (Asiakwahenenana and Osei-Tutu Panyin DehyeE, Adansipipim-Nana and Okyeman Baamuhene) is “distorting” the grim and stark facts of postcolonial Ghanaian history, simply because you think we ought not to wash our proverbial dirty linen before the International Community?
Anyway, good luck with your book on Ghanaian leadership! I hope you get your money's worth.
*Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D., teaches English and Journalism at Nassau Community College of the State University of New York, Garden City. He is the author of twelve books of poetry and essays, including “Dr. J. B. Danquah: Architect of Modern Ghana” (iUniverse.com, 2005) e-mail: [email protected].
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