As the Ghanablogging community begins a week of writing about Nkrumah, I want to also believe that the research that will go into it in writing the entries will be transformative.
Dr.Nkrumah was more than an ordinary man; there are some of of us who want to believe that he came to save Africa (and by extension Ghana) from perpetual slavery. We can bang drums and make bombastic claims about the white man till the cows come home, but truth is it is we Ghanaians that overthrew this great man. The white man could have come up with his ruses and caprices and we could have pretended to accept and turned on them -- as we did so many times in history. Yet the (alledged) CIA money was too exciting a prospect to anticipate such an idea.
I have written about Nkrumah before, and over the next couple of posts, I shall be referring to them.
I make no secret about my views about Nkrumah on this blog--and I would understand if observers might feel it is because of my paternal grandfather who was a Minister and MP in his regime.
I've only today found out that grandad "O'Pop" was once Minister of Works/Construction and Communications! You can read his history here:http://books.google.com/books?id=K7UqAAAAMAAJ&q=bensah&dq=bensah&lr=&ei=-ZavStrTNYvQMuib5ZgN.
For me, a journey through Nkrumah's life is equally a discovery about the politician my grandfather was in Nkrumah's regime and an exploration into the legacy of Nkrumah even for my Dad's own generation.
It appears my children might not have a choice of where their politics will be!:-)
2 comments:
I am most impressed by his regime's efficiency; how much they elevated Ghana for Ghanaians & within such a short time.
GHOS--so am I. The challenge for me, though, remains with reconciling the personal and the political with the reality of Nkrumah's great deeds. Accounts told me by my Dad who was a teenager at the time have been authenticated by my Mum, other family members, and contemporaries of my parents who all remember how great Nkrumah was--and how he transformed Ghana into a veritable beacon of hope that it remains for Africa today.
Let's keep our fingers crossed that the incumbent government will do better than the last administration, in their capacities as pseudo-CPP:-)
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