Danquah On Nkrumah’s Propaganda Climb To Greatness

By Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, www.danquahinstitute.org

In his maiden address to Parliament in January 2009, President JEA Mills, an avowed Nkrumaist, said, “We intend to honour Dr Kwamne Nkrumah’s memory with a national holiday to be known as Founder’s Day.”

Thus, September 21 is now one more of developing Ghana’s  numerous public holidays (17) to  force on the nation a break from our  usual ‘work and unhappiness’ routine.

Several articles were written and speeches made from the likes of political historian, Prof Mike Oquaye, a Danqua-Dombo-Busiast, and political scientist Dr Vladimer Antwi-Danso, an Nkrumaist, to the effect that “We cannot say that Nkrumah was the founder of the nation we call Ghana. Ghana does not have one founder.”

As our way of marking the day, the Danquah Institute has provided below an article wrote by Dr J B Danquah on October 2, 1961, where he traces Mr Nkrumah’s contribution to the independence struggle and the propaganda tactics he used to turn the ‘masses’ of Ghana against the other nationalist leaders. Please read below J B in his own words:

Kwame Nkrumah: West Africa’s deluded Pan-Africanist

The behaviour must have been quite comical. An exiled former powerful president and hero of the African anti-colonial struggle cowering in his bedroom in fear, though nobody was really after him. Unbeknown to many, this was the other side of life Ghana’s founding father, Kwame Nkrumah, led in exile in Guinea-Conakry. This was despite holding the title of co-president bestowed upon him by his host, Ahmed Sekou Toure. In his home away from home, he spent most of his time hallucinating about his abduction and assassination by Western intelligence agents.

When his cook died in Conakry, he hoarded food in his bedroom fearing he would be poisoned. One of his waking nightmares was that someone was going through his mail.

Corruption and the fabric of our Existence

By Mike Mensah-Bonsu, former National Chairman of PNC and staunch Nkrumahist

I think we shall be doing our country a great disservice if we single out Mr. J.J. Rawlings as a ‘betrayer’ of his own rules.

Similarly, I do not agree with the imprisonment of Mr. Tsikata on the basis of corruption even though “there may be” clear proof of wrongful doing.

My comments are in no way intended to defend or attack these gentlemen in question. However, I firmly believe that vindication can never be the best form of justice and of resolving problems in our society, otherwise we may have to ‘get rid’ of many people – we have far too many corrupt men and women in Ghana – singling out “scape goats” is not the answer. The killing of the Honourable Judges, Afrifa, Kotoka, Achampong, Akuffo, Yaw Boakye, Felli, etc., etc., is still haunting the Nation – the result of vindication.