“And They Say, They Love Nkrumah”

The name Nkrumah, has always been portrayed as a sacred name in Ghana. The Nkrumaists considered him a god who no one must mention his name in vain.

To them Nkrumah, as a person and his personality must be held with the same reverence, latria, we hold the Almighty God we serve.

May I expose and explore the mindset of his disciples he left with us, here on earth?

In August 1962, there was an assassination attempt on Nkrumah in Kurungugu, when a bomb was thrown at him. Among the five suspects arrested over that crime were, three high ranking CPP members of which two were cabinet ministers and one was a party national executive member. There was a trial and a retrial, which ended up with all three top CPP members found guilty of attempting to kill Nkrumah.

And a series of bombing in Accra, targeted at Nkrumah, had among those arrested, top CPP activists Why would people so close to Nkrumah and who owed their lives to him, and claim to love him, want him dead?

After he was overthrown in 1966, Ghanaians witnessed many CPP activists and government members, denying and rejecting him. These betrayals bring to mind what Jesus went through when He was arrested and crucified.

It was recorded in an edition of the African Observer that some of his ministers and top party officers, would visit him in Conakry, Guinea and solicit funds from him to overthrow the NLC government, only to relocate abroad. They actually went to collect their ex-gratia.

One name that is a taboo to mention within Nkrumaist quarters, is Kotoka who was among those who overthrew Nkrumah in 1966.

In 1967, during an abortive coup, Kotoka was killed in the forecourt of the Accra International Airport and in 1969, the airport was renamed, Kotoka International Airport, in his honour.

Between 1969 to date, a period of 55 years, the pro-socialist group made up of pro-Nkrumah, ruled this country for 36 years, with twenty-eight years, from 1972 to 2000, being uninterrupted. Never could they delete the name Kotoka from our international airport’s name. When they petitioned Rawlings to do so, he bellowed at them, saying Kotoka was a hero who overthrew a dictator and restored democracy in this country.

As if this was not enough, Rawlings publicly said that all Nkrumah did for Ghana, was to give us a national anthem and a national flag. No Nkrumaists condemned him, rather they moved in droves to join Rawlings and help him form the NDC Tradition. And today, they say, they love Nkrumah.

The 1966 coup is blamed on the UP Tradition to this day, even though some historians attributed it to Nkrumah’s interference in the Armed Forces. In 1979, the only united Nkrumaist party after Nkrumah’s CPP, formed government led by Dr. Hilla Limann. In 1981, this Nkrumaist government was overthrown by Nkrumaists. And they say they love Nkrumah.

Come the Fourth Republic, Ghanaians who always proudly declare they are for Nkrumah, and ready to die for him, completely rejected his party at the polls and rather went to vote for the NDC, who is the descendant of the PNDC, which overthrew an Nkrumaist government.

Even in his traditional area, Nkrumah was rejected for the NDC, and yet these Nkrumaists will be the first to demand apology if someone dare say something they consider demeaning about Nkrumah. They will never show how much they love him by voting out the NDC in their constituencies.

Today, the Nkrumaists have deep and entrenched divisions among them, which was there when Nkrumah was president, with a number of political parties all professing Nkrumah. Interestingly though, if Dr. Limann inherited Nkrumah in 1979 and went on to form the PNC as a political party in 1992, then the true descendants of Nkrumah’s CPP, in the direct line of succession, is the PNC. So, where does the current CPP come from? This is just by the way.

Talking about line of succession, we need to look at this fine beautiful woman, Samia Nkrumah. She is the daughter of Kwame Nkrumah and a politician with his ideology.  In 2008, she was elected the MP for the Jomoro constituency in the Western Region on the CPP ticket, obtaining a little over 50% of the votes.

Come 2012, she received 35.31% of votes in the constituency and was rejected by Nkrumah’s own for the NDC candidate, and people say, Nkrumah is their lord and master.

Samia went on to contest for, and not to claim as her inheritance, the leadership of the CPP, but was rejected by the very people who claim Nkrumah runs in their blood. Then the problems manifested, which led to her leaving the party, which uses her father as their god, image and standard bearer.

Today, Samia is all over the news, saying she is going to contest the Jomoro seat not on any Nkrumaist’s party ticket, but as an independent candidate.

After succeeding in throwing out Nkrumah’s own daughter from the party, the Nkrumaists still claim they love Nkrumah.

The truth is, it seems it is only the UP Tradition which truly loves Nkrumah, because they will speak the truth to and about him. Nkrumah once said that his real enemies were not in the UP but within his own party, how true this is.

Hon. Daniel Dugan

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect The Chronicle’s stance.

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