I have never met Editor-in-Chief of the New Crusading GuideKweku Baako and don't think I might ever, especially now that he has seemingly abandoned his mother party the Convention People's Party. But there is an uncanny link between him and I: his father Kofi Baako was one-time Minister of Information in Nkrumah's government; my paternal grandfather E.K.Bensah was MP for Agona Swedru. I was surfing, as you do, when I came across an excerpt from a book in which my grandfather and Kweku Baako's father ostensibly freed some putative political prisoners.
Sometimes, am not quite sure what to do with a legacy like that. Politics is the last thing I want to do, but every couple of months, I gain greater insight into the period before the infamous CIA-sponsored coup, which took Nkrumah out of power and wonder about Ghana if Nkrumah had not been so violently cut off in his prime...
6 comments:
Mmmm interesting E.K. I think you are a little harsh on Mr. Kweku Baako. If he feels the CPP in its present form today does not represent the CPP of old, he can hardly be faulted.
Interestingly, was just talking to someone at work the other day whose deceased grandfather told him about the good and the bad of the Nkrumah's era which makes me realise that alot of the younger generation are operating on a hindsight 20/20 basis when it comes to this time in our history. This was the idyllic time of progress, freedom and development for Ghana as far as we are concerned. Now was it all really?
As for the "infamous CIA-sponsored plot"..There was absolutely no justification to oust Nkrumah from power yet I'm still waiting for someone to go to CIA archives in Langley Virgina to elucidate the exact role of the CIA in the downfall of Kwame Nkrumah. The files should be open by now. Instead we rely on hearsay mainly from a plethora of Ghanaian sources. Let's have the facts!!!! I think that sounds like a perfect topic for a PhD. In fact, I think I shall abandon my current topic in favor of this one!
Abena, thanks so much for your comments!
I agree with you on Kweku Baako, and I do accept very much that the CPP has a LOT of work to do as well!
As regards the CIA, it IS a fact, and the CIA opened the files a few years back. Let me quote something for ya:
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Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem returns from a weekend in Accra where they are busy preparing to celebrate 50 years of independence. For Ghana’s ruling party, the New Patriotic Party and President Kuffour, the 50th anniversary celebrations are problematic. How do they celebrate the legacy of Nkrumah and Pan-Africanism when they and their forbearers opposed him and his party, the CPP (Convention People’s Party)? Well, they do so by having the 'mother of all parties' and attempting to make political gain out of the celebrations.
Last weekend I was in Accra to participate in a symposium at the Great Halof the University of Ghana, Legon. It was organised by a coalition of Nkrumahist and other prgressive forces under the aegis of the African People’s Platform.
The choice of the dates (23-24 February 2007) for the two day workshops were not accidental. On 24 February 1966 the government of Dr Kwame Nkrumah, founder, leader of the independent state of Ghana, and trail-blazer of the anti-colonial movement and foremost Pan-Africanist leader of the mid-2oth century and probably most popular of all times, was overthrown in a military coup orchestrated by domestic reactionary forces and their imperialist backers notably the ex-colonial masters, Britain and their American cousins through the CIA. Two monographs compiled by the Socialist Forum of Ghana: 'THE GREAT DECEPTION: The role of the CIA and right wing forces in the overthrow of Nkrumah', and 'FIGHT BACK: A Response to anti-Nkrumah provocations' refreshes our memories about the local and international context of the various challenges that Nkrumah faced both in life and even in death.
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that was from http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/panafrican/40079
It has failed to be hearsay since 2007, and around the ghana at 50, there was a lot of noise about the veracity of it. Well, the files are there!
I hope this will not foreclose your decision to work on a Ph.D on it though. You might see from my various writings that I am a staunch Nkrumahist -- and not necessarily because my grandfather worked in his administration as Minister and MP alone...
I hope this has helped shed light on a naturally-obscure period for our contemporaries who might not have benefitted from first-hand experiences of Nkrumah as both my parents did...
Thanks for the insight EK yet I'm completely unconvinced by the source you point to. Especially since their own primary sources were "Two monographs compiled by the Socialist Forum of Ghana: 'THE GREAT DECEPTION: The role of the CIA and right wing forces in the overthrow of Nkrumah', and 'FIGHT BACK: A Response to anti-Nkrumah provocations"
I hope you see my problem with this. Where are the independent NON-Ghanaian sources?
I think if I see a link ending in us.gov. then I will have a better appreciation for this so-called "fact".
Didn't some Nazi propagandist once say that "a lie repeated often enough becomes truth" ?
Please don't get me wrong, I'm well-aware of CIA machinations across the continent in the 1960s and BBC interview with CIA Congo bureau chief Larry Devlin got me blogging about this some weeks ago.
The primary aim of the CIA was to stop the spread of communism across Africa (according to Mr. Devlin) even though it seems completely ludicrous in this day and age..
As for the PhD, I'm currently deep into one already in a completely different field but this makes for an interesting side project for next time I'm in the US!
Abena,
I keep on having to pinch myself that in your capacity as a scientist and kind of "empirical data" person, you are bound to seek definitive proof on a lot of things--no less than this.
Someone once said "just because you can't see it, doesn't mean it's not there". Speculation might have been rife all these years about the role of the CIA in his overthrow, but it took a while to have it documented. This link I am about to give you might give you an insight (http://www.seeingblack.com/x060702/nkrumah.shtml) Let me just add that just because the documents have been declassified does not mean you will find it online!! The Book "the Great Deception" in fact culls a considerable amount from the CIA archives for the benefit of readers. The only way to establish the veracity of those sources would be to trace the people who culled the CIA archives. In short, you arrive at a conclusion by adducing, rather than DEDUCING. Maybe you can enlighten me more on that;-)
Seriously, though, I believe the truth is out there, but the jury is far from out on the CIA involvement. Over the next couple of yeas, I believe more proof will come to light. This final source, extracted from books.google.com points to CIA elements linked with then-Minister of FInance Gbedemah: http://books.google.com.gh/books?id=TyM9WgZChF0C&pg=PA225&lpg=PA225&dq=%22Mahoney%22:nkrumah&source=bl&ots=r0v9XbQJGX&sig=kLix2Xh-jfVTonVfpGhK_LfPBQs&hl=en&ei=76qTSviTPOPKjAfU-OnnDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4#v=onepage&q=%22Mahoney%22%3Ankrumah&f=false
I think this deserves a full entry later. BTW, glad to hear you're recovered from the car incident!!!
I must agree with Abena that the Nkrumah era had both good and bad sides; it's just human nature. And my parents and grandparents also benefitted from first-hand experiences of that era…
Indeed, EK, the truth is very much out there and it looks like the trip to Langley Virginia is premature and unnecessary.
Consolidated declassified documents from US "Departments of State and Defense, National Security Council, Central Intelligence Agency, Agency for International Development, and other foreign affairs agencies as well as the private papers of individuals involved in formulating U.S. foreign policy."
[according to the page] can all be found at http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ho/frus/index.htm.
So you can imagine my excitement at the .gov.
The volumes include official communication, confidential, memos, covert operations etc.
I briefly scanned through the Nkrumah era and the documents do not spare any niceties concerning how the US government really felt about the government as well as their interests in Valco etc.
As for the "CIA-sponsored" plot...mmmm still have to read carefully between the lines but still no indications as yet!
PS: Thanks! I'm well-recovered from the car drama and just greatly full I'm not in little ziploc bags in some fridge:)
PPS: Well-put Anonymous!
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