Nkrumah’s Warning Against Ghana’s Modern Imperialists: Worse Than Colonialists?

Ghana’s struggle against exploitation did not end with the nation gaining its independence in 1957. Today, many citizens believe that a new form of domination has emerged, not from foreign empires, but from within the nation’s own political class.

For eight years, ex-president Akufo-Addo and his vice president, Mahamudu Bawumia, under the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration, presided over a period that many Ghanaians describe as one of the most destructive in the country’s democratic history.

In the eyes of critics, the scale of economic collapse, corruption, and state capture under the government mirrors the very imperialist tactics Kwame Nkrumah warned Africa about. The painful irony is that this time, the exploitation did not come from abroad; it came from leaders entrusted with Ghana’s future.

During those eight years, Ghana witnessed a pattern of governance that many observers interpreted as deliberate state looting. Major scandals, including controversies surrounding the PDS electricity concession, the Agyapa Royalties agreement, procurement irregularities, and questions raised about the financing of the National Cathedral project.

The NPP government exhibited widespread corruption that has never been witnessed in the country’s political history. The government placed private interests above national welfare, ruling the country based on a self-described print named “Agyapadie.”

Critics argue that these actions drained public resources, weakened institutions, and created an environment where accountability was nearly impossible. Instead of protecting the public purse, as promised, the state became vulnerable to misuse and mismanagement.

Nobody was held accountable for either stealing government properties or funds. In July 2023, Dapaah reported that two house helpers, Patience Botwe and Sarah Agyei, had stolen approximately $1 million USD, €300,000, and millions of Ghana cedis from her residence in Accra between July and October 2022.

Dapaah herself was arrested by the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) not for stealing, but for suspected corruption related to the possession of such large sums of foreign currency, which raised public scrutiny. She was released on bail shortly after her arrest while the OSP investigated the source of the funds. Dapaah escaped with impunity.

The economic consequences became severe, while Ghana’s debt levels surged, inflation soared, and the cedi experienced repeated depreciation. Businesses struggled, unemployment rose, and the country eventually entered an IMF program that required painful restructuring.

Many Ghanaians lost savings, pensions, and investments as the financial sector reeled from instability. For those who lived through this period, the hardship felt deeper than the economic pressures of the colonial era. Colonial powers extracted resources, but the internal mismanagement of recent years affected every sector of society, from healthcare and education to agriculture and energy.

What makes the situation even more troubling for many citizens is the perception that some political actors continue to undermine the progress of the current administration. Despite the challenges inherited from the past, the new government has made efforts to stabilize the economy, rebuild investor confidence, and restore key institutions.

Yet critics argue that certain political voices and the NPP appear more interested in regaining power than supporting national recovery. This behavior, in the eyes of many Ghanaians, reflects the same self‑serving philosophy that Nkrumah associated with imperialism, a mindset that prioritizes personal or party gain over the collective good.

The comparison to colonialism is not an exaggeration but a reflection of lived experience. Colonial rule exploited Ghana’s resources for foreign benefit; modern political exploitation drains the nation from within. The emotional weight of this reality is heavy because it suggests that the struggle for true independence, economic, political, and psychological, is far from over.

Ghana’s future depends on confronting these patterns honestly and ensuring that leadership is rooted in service, not self‑interest. The nation stands at a crossroads where repeating the mistakes of the past would be nothing short of national self‑harm.

Allowing the NPP to return to power after the devastation of their previous rule would not simply be a political miscalculation; it would be a dangerous surrender to the very forces of internal imperialism that have weakened the nation from within. No country can progress when its own leaders behave like conquerors, draining public wealth and sabotaging national recovery for personal gain.

To protect the future, Ghana must reject any return to this cycle of exploitation and insist on leadership that values accountability, integrity, and the collective good. The lesson of history is clear: imperialism, whether foreign or domestic, thrives only when people fail to defend their own destiny. Ghana can’t afford to make that mistake again.