Yours sincerely was there at Nkroful when the leadership of the Peoples’ National Party (PNP, led by Alhaji Imoro Egala) went to the peaceful town to pray at the mausoleum for success in the 1979 general election. The late President of Guinea, Sekou Toure, had refused to hand over the mortal remains of the Osagyefo to the Government of Ghana unless Ghanaians, and for that matter, the government of General Kutu Acheampong regarded the Osagyefo as the President of Ghana. Sekou toure had flown the remains of the Osagyefo from Guinea where he, Osagyefo, was in exile to Bucharest for medical treatment when he fell ill, but sadly the former President died there.
The road to Nkroful was very bad when Nkrumah died so General Acheampong had to quickly order for the road to be graveled before the body of Osagyefo was brought back home. And so to Nkroful we went; and by the tomb of the former President of Ghana, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, we stood in sorrow and with pain in our hearts. After the prayers and the pouring of libation, Mr. Oktwere Bekoe, a leading member of the PNP led the gathering to sing the ‘Nkrumah show boy’ party song. It was around 3:00am and a red cockerel appeared at the museum from nowhere and started crowing. As we were living Nkroful after saying goodbye to Madam Nyaneba, the mother of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Imoro Egala told everybody present that the PNP would win the impending elections with Dr. Hilla Liman as the President; and it came to pass. Even though I belonged to the Popular Front Party (PFP), I was taken on board by what I saw, and this encounter at Nkroful kept lingering in my mind till today. And so the question is: where is the cockerel I saw at Nkroful? Has it lost the voice to crow? Who is suffocating the CPP red cockerel? If Imoro Egala, Okotere Bekoe, Kankam Da Costa, Gdedemah etc could work beyond endurance to make the PNP win the 1979 general election in a matter of six months, why can’t the current leadership of the party do same?. Indeed, things have fallen apart and the centre cannot hold. The disintegration of the CPP began when Rawlings banned all political parties including the PNP–an offshoot of the CPP when he seized power in 1981. The ban continued until 11 years later when Rawlings lifted it. By the time he did so after pressure from the IMF, which refused to give loan to any nation under military rule, majority of the leading PNP stewards had died or too old to politic. Dr. Liman, the only living Nkrumahist leader, decided to lead the PNP again when the ban on party politics was lifted but he was blocked by the few living elders of the PNP.
Dr. Liman, a poor former Head of State, living in a two-bedroom apartment, decided to form his own party called the People’s National Convention (PNC). Dr. Liman started a nationwide tour to introduce the new party but abandoned his project when he reached the then Brong Ahafo Region due to ill health and lack of funds. In fact, apart from the PNC, we had other breakaways of Nkrumahist parties. Since a divided army cannot win a battle, not to talk of a war, all the Nkrumahist parties performed very badly.
Mr. Kufuor did the undoable when he made sure some Nkrumahist parties were represented in Parliament. He impressed upon some NPP parliamentary candidates to step down to support the CPP candidates. That was how the likes of Paa Kwesi Nduom and Freddy Blay had their seats in Parliament. The NDC which supposes to be Nkrumahist later annexed all the seats of the CPP, living the party with no seats in Parliament. That is why my heart ravages when I hear any NDC person boasting that he or she is an Nkrumahist.
If Madam Samia Nkrumah had had the support of the leading members of the CPP, she would have united the Nkrumahist for a quantum leap forward. Sadly, these leading members became a torn in the flesh of Samia. The NDC seized the opportunity to dislodge the lady from Parliament. It is noteworthy to mention here that in 1996, candidate Kufuor, a dye in the wool U.P member, chose Mr. Ekow Nkesah Arkaah, a leading member of the CPP as his running mate. In the case of Paa kwesi Nduom, he was made a Cabinet Member, all in an attempt by Kufour to unify the hitherto political enemies.
So how is the CPP going to make the red cookerel crow again at dawn? Anytime, I see people in the PNC or other breakaway Nkrumhiast parading as Nkrumahist and preaching the gospel according to the Osagyefo, I laugh. How can you be an Nkrumahist while you dine with the NDC, a party which is always eager to bury the Nkrumahist dream anytime the party makes a move to unite? Sometimes you don’t have the courage to blame the NDC because the Nkrumahists, out of poverty, sold their conscience to them.
But come toe to them.poverty, sold tehir rumaist anytiem think of this: can a political party which is under resourced use one and half months to introduce a presidential candidate to the voters and thereafter campaign for him to become the President of Ghana? Well, we live to see that dream come true. But why has unity eluded the CPP this time around? The answer is simple. Everybody in the party seeks for visibility and recognition in relevant quarters. When the party was formed after the ban on party politics was lifted, Okotwere Bekoe, Imoro Igala, Kankam Da Costa and a few living Nkrumahist threw their ambitions to the dogs and brought their strength together to make their dream come to reality. Even though comrade Egala played a pivotal role in the formation of the new Nkrumahist party, Ghanaians could hardly identify the leader until Dr. Liman was introduced to Ghanaians as the presidential candidate of the PNP. The situation was like boys-on-the-bus glow. That glow is gone living behind nostalgia. Meanwhile, the ghost of the Osagyefo is lying in his grave in pain, angry and with regret. I will surely come back to this topic again but for now, I am hunched with emotion for the Nkrumahist.
From Eric Bawah