Lift high the flag of Ghana. The gay
star shining in the sky. Bright with the
souls of our fathers, Beneath whose shade
we’ll live and die. Red for the blood of
the heroes in the fight. Green for the
precious farms of our birth right And
linked with these the shining golden band
That marks the richness of our fatherland.
APOLOGISTS for the type of democracy espoused by members of the Danquah-Busia-Dombo tradition would relish the introduction of 4th August as Founders’ Day. The proponents of the type of administration doggedly named ‘Nkrumahism’ whose pet idol of Nkrumah as the only person who founded Ghana would spurn it. They would have wished for the retention of 24th September as Founder’s Day. To the “apologists”, it was a dream come true, after so many years of political harangue; to the “proponents”, it was an unnecessary distortion of Ghana’s history.
The first Europeans to arrive in Ghana were the Portuguese in 1471 and they built the Elmina Castle. For a trade in human beings (slaves) in return for rum, guns, beads, metal knives, mirrors, the Dutch, Danes, Prussian, Swedes and British were attracted. Because gold was abundant here, the Europeans named this country ‘Gold Coast’ (compare Cote d’Ivoire as ‘Slave Coast’). The British, by conquest, negotiations, and purchase gradually wormed its way into the whole country. There was resistance, some subtle and some violent.
The Fante states signed the Bond of 1844, and in 1897, the Aborigines’ Rights Protection Society (ARPS) was formed by the traditional rulers and educated elite to protect the traditional land tenure practices of the indigenous peoples. Jacob Wilson Sey, J. P. Brown, J. E. Casely Hayford, William Essuman Pieterson, J. E. Biney, H. van Hien, Kobina Sekyi were the ‘big boys’.
With the British declaring Asante and the Northern Territories as protectorates in 1901 and taking up the suzerainty of the west of Togo in 1916 after the defeat of Germany, the colonization of the Gold Coast by Britain was complete.
In 1947, there was agitation for independence. Pa Grant, Dr. J. B. Danquah, Edward Akufo-Addo, Emmanuel Obetsebi-Lamptey, William Ofori Atta and Ako-Adjei formed the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC), the first political party in the country. These persons were busy businessmen and lawyers. Ako Adjei recommended Nkrumah to the UGCC members as someone who had the time, the energy and the passion to propagate the UGCC idea of self-government. Nkrumah was invited to Ghana, his passage paid by UGCC, a vehicle at his disposal and accommodation made readily available. It was a period of the Cold War (the West versus the East; Capitalism versus Socialism / Communism). Nkrumah leaned towards the East, and he broke from the UGCC to form the Convention People’s Party (CPP), in 1949.
Propaganda was at its best and greatest. The concept “federation” was shot down. Krobo Edusei at a rally in Accra said support for “federation” was to create its idea of “separation”, and Subin (in Kumasi) would be drenched and a canal dug to the coast, to form a separate Asante nation; one would need a passport to “travel” to Kumasi! It was nothing like the Cantons of Switzerland.
When Danquah moved the motion for independence, Nkrumah said “the mind that moved the motion has a criminal motive”; Archie Casely Hayford said: “I was not made Minister of Agriculture to see to the liquidation of my ministry at so short a time.” And Kobla Gbedemah noted: “I will not support any motion for self-government that is not moved by Kwame Nkrumah”. Nkrumah moved the motion supported by K. A. Busia “104-Freedom” was the CPP motto. When “Lift high the flag of Ghana” replaced “God save the Queen”, the nation had over £200 million in foreign reserves – the money would assist the leaders to build schools, hospitals, factories, et cetera. The struggle had been over. The internecine fight with Ankrah stabbing Baffoe was over. In 1965, the nation had in a referendum voted 99.9% for a one-party state; Builders’ (later, Workers’) Brigade and Young Pioneer whose seed was planted by Nkrumah had fructified. All those who dared to challenge the “forward march” of Nkrumah were taken care of by the Preventive Detention Act (PDA). A “culture of silence” prevailed. J. B. Danquah “died like a dog” in Nsawam Prison. R. R. Amponsah, Obetsebi Lamptey, E.R.T. Madjitey, Tawiah Adamafio and Ako-Adjei (who proposed Nkrumah to UGCC) were all incarcerated. It might not appear surprising that the majority of Ghanaians hailed the 24th February, 1966 coup d’etat!
Some walked out of the prisons with emaciated limbs, some came out almost blind and they had no nice words for the man they called “dictator” or “tyrant” who had been locked out in Hanoi, Vietnam, and later brought to Guinea, as co-President. Ali Mazrui described Nkrumah, born in Nkroful to Elizabeth Nyanibah as Francis Nwia Kofi on 21st September,1909, and earning a B. A. and M. A. in Theology at the Lincoln University and a PhD as honoris causa (no doctoral thesis submitted), as “…a great son of Africa, but not a very good servant of Ghana.” To him, Nkrumah had begun his political career as a democrat, but ended as dictator. Ali Mazrui noted: “Nkrumah was a great African, but not a great Ghanaian…”
All the “Big Six” who were arrested after protests against the Association of West African Merchants (AWAM – an acronym synonymous with cheating) were detained in the Northern Region after Superintendent Colin Imray opened fire on the World War veterans, killing: Sergeant Cornelius Adjetey, Private Odartey Lamptey and Corporal Attipoe. But UGCC sent a cable to the Secretary of State in London: “…unless Colonial Government is changed and a new Government of the people and their chiefs installed at the centre immediately, the conduct of the masses now completely out of control with strikes… will continue and result in worse violent and irresponsible acts by the uncontrolled people…”
The self-proclaimed “Civitatis Ghaniensis Conditor” (Founder of the State of Ghana) minted on the national currency, changed the national anthem to make references to himself, amended the constitution to make himself ‘Life President’, Nkrumah subsequently received a number of accolades as well as a barrage of criticisms.
In 2000, Nkrumah was voted the “Man of the Millenium” by about 5,000 listeners to BBC. Nkrumah had noted: “Long after I am dead and gone, the light will continue to burn and be borne aloft, giving light and guidance to all people…” Nkrumah himself recognized the inexorable end of all human beings, including himself, but some of his followers believed in the literal meaning of “Nkrumah never dies”; “Nkrumah is our Messiah” – the pledge of the Young Pioneers.
The President, Nana Addo, in pronouncing August 4 as Founders’ Day, urged all Ghanaians to rise above “partisan considerations, set the record straight, recognize the collective efforts in gaining our freedom and independence from colonial rule and do right by our history.” This could be a “hard” exhortation, especially when the CPP and the NDC have kicked against it (even though the founder of the NDC, Jerry John Rawlings and his wife chose to attend the opening function). Kakra Essamuah of the NDC writes: “The only reason advanced for this law, passed by the NPP-dominated Parliament of Ghana was that, it was on 4th August, 1947, that UGCC was set up as a political party…” It was to celebrate Akufo Addo’s grand-uncle, his uncle and his father. A future NDC government will revert to Founder’s Day. Your truth, our truth, the truth!
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From Africanus Owusu – Ansah