Today marks exactly 57 years, exactly on February 24 1966, when Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the first president and leader of this country, and his Convention People’s Party (CPP), was overthrown from office in a coup-d’état.
A section of the military, led by Colonel Emmanuel K. Kotoka, Major Akwasi Amankwa Afrifa, and the police, led by the then Inspector General of Police, J.W. K. Harley, took over the administration of this country while Nkrumah was outside this country.
The reasons for the coup, according to the leaders, was to liberate Ghana from Nkrumah’s dictatorship. They said the CPP administration was abusive and corrupt. Above all, they pointed to the dire economic situation and absence of democratic practices in the nation—a situation they claimed had affected the morale of citizens, and especially of the armed forces. The majority of Ghanaians, including some prominent members of the CPP, supported this declaration.
Ironically, Nkrumah who had supported a military coup in Nigeria, and offered his support to the military in that country, condemned his own ouster in outrageous terms.
The fact we are still debating Nkrumah after the collapse of Nkrumahism is evidence of the allure of the pernicious ideology of socialism, (central planning), which continues to seduce people by promising to re-distribute of wealth.
Indeed, 24th February 1966 evokes mixed feelings among Ghanaians. Was Nkrumah a victim of the Cold War? Was 24 February a day of shame? Or the day freedom and liberty won against tyranny and dictatorship?
While the debate continues, supporters of Nkrumah and so-called big government fanatics in Ghana, continue to stifle the expression of any views that cut against their opinions. It is necessary to use this anniversary to push back against pseudo-censorship, and to once again, look at his ideas, and the consequences of his policies on the economy of this country with open and clear eyes. History is the impartial judge of all human actions.
Nkrumah’s scientific socialism, sought to place every Ghanaian in a one-party “workers’ paradise” under absolute dependency on the State: for an education, a job, and a place to live. Opportunities for economic and social advancement, and selected benefits and privileges was bestowed on only those loyal and obedient to the CPP.
The “classless society,” which he tried to impose on the people of this country was in reality, an intricate hierarchical labyrinth of status, position, and degrees of power depending upon the individual’s place within the vast bureaucratic network of central government planning.
Nkrumah’s scientific socialism, sought to place every Ghanaian in a one-party “workers’ paradise” under absolute dependency on the State: for an education, a job, and a place to live. Opportunities for economic and social advancement, and selected benefits and privileges was bestowed on only those loyal and obedient to the CPP.
The “classless society,” which he tried to impose on the people of this country was in reality, an intricate hierarchical labyrinth of status, position, and degrees of power depending upon the individual’s place within the vast bureaucratic network of central government planning.
The human mind deceives, lies, hides, lulls, beguiles, dull memories, and time kills pains in the long term. That is why fifty-seven years after the overthrow of Nkrumah, his weaknesses and jubilation at the news of the coup is forgotten. Now, the man is assessed with honour and his shortcomings are overlooked. Was he a good man? A great man? And is greatness beyond good and evil?
We need our heroes. Nkrumah to some extent is a hero. We recognise his role and his vision for this country and for the excitement he created for the liberation of Africa, and for the people of African descent, all over the world. Indeed, he remains as the foremost Ghanaian leader who has a vision, no matter how flawed. He was unrelenting in his fight against imperialism and neo-colonialism.
Nkrumah achieved some measure of support for Ghana from both the East and West during his time, but he failed to build a sound and prosperous economy for this country. He diverted his attention from the development of a strong local economy to play in the political stage of the world.
In his haste to create socialism, he forgot that without entrepreneurial activity, capital is just a heap of capital goods. Without the entrepreneur, capital is dead. It takes entrepreneurial activity to bring capital to life and to keep capital alive.
At a time when we honour our past, our focus should firmly be on the future. Turning this country into a one-party dictatorship was not necessary at the time. His paranoia against all criticisms and desire to stifle all opposition to his regime was the mark of a dictator. Whatever economic growth of the Nkrumah years also occurred, against a backdrop of political repression.
Mind control through propaganda, censorship, and indoctrination were rigorously put into effect to inculcate “socialist values” especially among schoolchildren in order to eradicate bourgeois, capitalist thinking.
Ironically, on 6th March 1957, his independence proclamation freed a nation from colonialism, but he depended on imperialists to fund his economic policies. He declared a peoples’ republic, but he was intolerant of the peoples’ views. He insisted on equality, but he practiced cronyism. He said he was fighting for liberty, but approved the arrest of opponents and the suspension of habeas corpus.
While he was busy propounding his vision of the unity of Africa and the non-aligned movement, he neglected the Ghanaian economy. His idea of the need to use government to control the commanding heights of the economy with western capital and eastern socialism modelled on an African variation was simply not very deep or thorough.
The apologists still taking Nkrumah and his industrialisation policies seriously choose to ignore or downplay the mess that his scientific socialism created in both Ghanaian commerce and agriculture.
At independence, Ghana possessed a prosperous peasant farming class, which had established itself and was producing two-thirds of the world’s cocoa supply. Nkrumah deliberately undermined them. He used the Cocoa Marketing Board to appropriate the farmer’s money to finance his development programmes. Unfortunately, that appropriation continues today. Nkrumah’s agricultural policy rejected the peasant farmers with the introduction of the Workers Brigade.
Nkrumah showed he was indifferent to corruption, financial responsibility and accepted no financial restraint and discipline. This started a spiral of corruption in the public sector …. it continues today. Contrary to public opinion, he failed also to fight the evils of tribalism with its ritualistic code of fear and authority that robs individuals of their individuality and humanity.
Nkrumah trampled on our freedoms, led us down a path to a dystopian future where we were supposed to own nothing. His educational system was supposed to empower people. That is the aim of free education. It is believed that access to a free, basic education would take many Ghanaians out of poverty.
However, the opposite is the truth. Our public and private schools, remain nurturers of entitlement and dependent children. Why? Because it fits into the agenda of the political networks that make the welfare system relevant.
We are a nation infected with an entitlement and ‘social justice’ mentality from which we now find difficult to cure. Destroying entrepreneurial capitalism in favour of state capitalism and socialism led to economic decline.
Nkrumah promised a higher living standard for the poor, but deceived himself into believing that more government interventionism and more control of business could reach those aims. The opposite was the case. The dismal zombie parade of bad policies, from both leading parties in Ghana, aided by neo-colonialists, is crushing people’s potential to prosper.
What matters most right now is this country should wean itself from the vampire statist ideology. Socialist central planning and re-distribution policies will not deliver prosperity because it failed to address the fundamental weaknesses of the Ghanaian economy, its lack of productiveness and its failure to build strong local entrepreneurs and institutions.
That is, if we are willing to go forward as a country.
And if we do want to go forward, patriots should not be afraid to take a meat cleaver to economic vampire sectors like, education, and healthcare, which have been the main focus of redistribution of wealth since independence and a major contributor to our economic stagnation.
Ghana can be a prosperous country. However, it takes principles and a commitment to equity to either make a country prosperous or destroy it. The prosperity we are talking about could only happen when leaders understand wealth creation and are humble to include citizens from decisive participation in government. Sadly, our leaders are still not committed to the rule of law, property rights and while still preaching fair play and democratic tolerance, trample on the rights of individuals with impunity.
And yes, Nkrumah’s overthrow was necessary.
By Kwadwo Afari
