Kwame Nkrumah Legacy Project, Are the Work of Individuals Who Believe That the Unitary Vision Espoused and Promoted by Ghana's First President, Dr

The essays in this VISIONS series, The Kwame NKrumah Legacy Project, are the work of individuals who believe that the Unitary Vision espoused and promoted by Ghana's first President, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, are the essence of Ghana as Nation, and what Ghana (and Africa) can be. These individuals recognize that the international stature and significance of Dr. Nkrumah are completely secure, a point found in many of the essays. However, within Ghana itself, some people do not have reliable information about the Founder of Ghana, Dr. Nkrumah, due to the wanton destruction of heritage records of all sorts and massive misinformation after the CIA-sponsored coup d'état that toppled Nkrumah's CPP at the hands of the Dr. Kofi Busia directed NLM and NLC military regime, in 1966. These essays are an attempt to provide more objective Ghana-centered information about all those records.

Some of the essays may have been previously published on other platforms/media. Further, these essays are not the work of reporters and so, readers may find some errors in grammar, diction, spelling. For a Ghana-centered publication where English is not native, we do not fret those imperfections. We believe more in substance, in context, and in the development of the masses and their resources for their own benefit right here on the land, on earth, as Dr. Nkrumah envisioned through his many publications, speeches, and the numerous institutions and physical infrastructure he bequeathed Ghana.

Thanks for your interest in VISIONS/The Kwame Nkrumah Legacy Project.

Long Live Kwame Nkrumah's Ghana!

(In This Volume):

Date Comment No Title Name of Author Published Kwame Nkrumah_ The ONE and Dr. Kwame Botwe- 7 Mar 14 1 ONLY Founding Father of Ghana - Asamoah Part I Kwame Nkrumah_ The ONE and Dr. Kwame Botwe- 8 Mar 14 2 ONLY Founding Father of Ghana - Asamoah Part II

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Feature Article | 7 March 2014 00:30 CET 0 Comment Follow Us

Kwame Nkrumah: The ONE and ONLY Founding If you want to forgive others, forgive yourself Father of Ghana Part I ...2014 Independence Day Special first. By: SA Sarkodie

By Kwame BotweAsamoah, Dr. Previous | Next More Quotes | Submit Quote

Introduction. That Kwame Nkrumah is the founder of modern Ghana is not debatable; yet, there are still some guilty and misguided individuals among us who would clothe themselves in an oblong missile and blast it from Mars into a fortified round hole. Since the late President Arthur Mills declared Kwame Nkrumah’s birthday as a statutory Founder’s Day in Ghana, certain resentful, misguided and illinformed individuals have been blowing their shattered trumpets from Mars about their socalled “founding fathers” by way of distorting and turning Ghana’s political history upside down. So far, they have failed to provide any cogent argument/s to underscore their hodgepodge position. By their imprudent logic, all leaders of the antiEuropean intruders, antiGold Coast Crown colony, proselfgovernment Fante confederation, antiAWAM (European merchants), anti draconian indirect rule, cocoa holdup, as well as ethnocentric, terrorist and secessionist crusaders, Popular Hot News Shared from 1482 to March 6, 1957, are “founding fathers.” But going by the American benchmark, “Founding Fathers,” refers to a group of individuals (men) with shared political philosophy and ideology, vision and socioeconomic values, who struggle, revolt, and/or fight together to overthrow their foreign overlord to Will Presidentelect Muhammadu Buhar found a nation based on a constitution. In the case of Ghana, can the socalled “founders fathers” meet The Jamaican Akan Root this criterion? Aside from their sabotaging and domestic terrorist tactics (including bombing, shooting, Who Is Who! Ghana Or Nigeria? and hunting down supporters of the CPP), parochial objectives and secessionist goals, none of the Katakyie To Contest Bekwai Npp Parli A Tale Of Three Presidents: Lbj, Gej names that often pop up played any role, identified or associated themselves with Kwame Nkrumah and Welcome Buhari, The Game Changer his CPP’s political ideology, PanAfrican vision, strategy and tactics, which galvanized the common Tithing Was Under And Is Under The L people and some “chiefs” to rally behind Kwame Nkrumah’s struggle for a unified country from 1949 to One Down, Ninetynine To Go! the 1954 and 1956 general elections. It was consequent to the victory of Nkrumah and his CPP (the first Police Arrests A Christian Man For G and only political party in all the four independent territories under the British colonial administration) in Men Of African Descent And Prostate the 1956 general election that modern Ghana was founded on March 6, 1957. As the subsequent discourse shows, not only did the champions of barefaced ethnocentrism, parochialism and secessionism ferociously try to sabotage Ghana’s independence, but they also oppose the name, Ghana, when Kwame Nkrumah proposed it. So, why are they “Founding Fathers?”

Origin of the UGCC. In the aftermath of the socalled World War II and the collapsed of the British economy, the British colonial government limited import and export licenses to the Association of West African (Europeans) Merchants (AWAM). Feeling marginalized, some of the African merchants led by George Paa Grant (a wealthy Sekondi merchant), AwoonorWilliams (a Sekondibased lawyer) and others formed the Gold Coast League as a pressure group to advance their economic and political interest. Concurrently, the upshot of Dr. J. B. Danquah’s connection with the ritual murder of Odikro of Akyea Mensah of Apedwa brought him (Danquah) into conflict with Governor Allen Burns. As a result, J. B. Danquah, Erick Akufo Addo, Ako Adjei and others in Accra formed the Gold Coast National Party to oppose the Burns Constitution. The irony here is that in Governor Burns’ constitutional reform in the late 1930s, Dr. J. B. Danquah pressed for the creation of an Office of Minister of Home Affairs for himself. As well, Dr. Danquah had wholeheartedly embraced the Burns Constitution by representing the Joint Provincial Council of Chiefs in the Burns Legislative Council in 1946. http://www.modernghana.com/news/527715/1/kwamenkrumahtheoneandonlyfoundingfatherof.html 1/5 4/6/2015 Kwame Nkrumah: The ONE and ONLY Founding Father of Ghana Part I Dr. J. B. Danquah’s personal contradictory positions notwithstanding, the economic and political interest of these two pressure groups resulted in a marriage of convenience and became the United Gold Coast Convention in Saltpond in August 1947, under the leadership of George Paa Grant. The main objective of this selfselected “Gentlemen’s Club,” comprising lawyers, merchant, wealthy cocoa farmers, and other similarminded individuals was to advance their economic and political interest through political power sharing with the Colonial Government. Most critical was their call for the replacement of Chiefs on the Legislative Council with educated persons. The important thing to note here is that the UGCC was a loose, [Gentlemen’s Club] without program of action, funds and bank account.

Because of its selfappointed mandate, the UGCC avoided designating itself as a political party; thus, seeing themselves as “rightful rulers,” its original initiators detested the idea of political parties. Secondly, as bourgeoisies, they took politics to be a leisure activity. Their elitist outlook also prevented them from reconciling themselves with the people. Hence, they needed Nkrumah’s kind of leadership and organizational skills to bring some of the “chiefs” and people into their fold, and turn the UGGC into a popular movement to oppose and upset the Burns Constitution. The big question, however, is, if the UGCC was truly a “movement struggling for independence (as some apologists have claimed), why did its initiators not give up their private business and professional endeavors as Vladimir Lenin, Nelson Mandela, Augustino Neto, Mahatma Gandhi and others did, rather than search for another citizen (Nkrumah) outside the territory with special leadership and organizational skills to become its general secretary?

Kwame Nkrumah as the Antidote to the UGCC Handicaps. Ako Adjei, who recommended Kwame Nkrumah as the antidote to the UGCC’s inadequacies, knew about Nkrumah’s anticolonial crusade and Union of West African States agitation in the US, as well as $153.12 his unique organizational kills and leadership roles during and after the 5th PanAfrican Congress in Manchester. To test the waters, Ako Adjei wrote to ask Nkrumah if he would consider returning to the Shop Now country to become the General Secretary of a newly formed UGCC. Without waiting for his response, AwoonorWilliams wrote a letter, and signed by Paa Grant, to Nkrumah, offering him the job of General Secretary, a monthly salary of one hundred pounds and a car. Dr. J.B. Danquah followed it up his letter urging him to accept the position. So, who was the “opportunist” here, as some functional illiterates and boorish individuals try to impute in their hoaxed writings? Clearly, they wanted to use Nkrumah to attain their selfish goal, namely to replace the “Chiefs” on the Legislative Council with themselves, selfstyled elites. The Mightiest Tree Is Rumoured To H

The fact is Nkrumah initially was reluctant to accept the offer as he perceived the UGCC members to be Wednesday, March 25, 2015 “bourgeois reactionaries” enamored in capitalist ideology and philosophy. Secondly, he, as the General [B] How does it profit a man if he Secretary of West African National Secretariat, as well as Chairman of “The Circle,” was at the time busy acquires all the wealth of the world, working on a West African National Conference towards a Union of West African Socialist Republics, but los ... slated to be held in Lagos in October 1948. Nonetheless, after meeting with his comrades in the West read more » African National Secretariat, it was decided that Nkrumah should accept the offer and return to Will Presidentelect Muhammadu Buha operationalize the 1945 Manchester PanAfrican Congress resolutions. Nkrumah assured them that he would not compromise with the reactionaries and reformists in the UGCC (Smertin) So, right from the Friday, April 3, 2015 beginning, Nkrumah understood his mission as returning to, interalia, liberate the Gold Coast from “For there is nothing hidden that will British colonialism, and make Ghana the liberated zone for the total liberation of the African continent. not be disclosed, and nothing concealed t ... Prior to Kwame Nkrumah’s acceptance of the invitation to become the General Secretary of the yetto read more » be christened UGCC, he had committed himself to serious revolutionary work, which entailed personal Where Is Castro The Destroyer? sacrifices. THE CIRCLE, under his Chairmanship, had as its motto, “The Three S’s—Service, Sacrifice, Suffering,” to which each member pledged and swore. It was this commitment to “revolutionary suicide,” Sunday, March 29, 2015 to borrow Che Guevara’s lexis, that distinguished Kwame Nkrumah from the conformists in the The tragic disappearance of Castro Gentlemen’s Club (UGCC). d'Destroyer together with Jane Bandu who is f ... The Return of Kwame Nkrumah and the Launching read more » of The UGCC. The main issues the UGCC had to resolve once Who Is Who! Ghana Or Nigeria? Kwame Nkrumah arrived on December 8 1947, were confirmation of his appointment as general secretary, Sunday, April 5, 2015 and affirmation of his salary and car, contained in Paa [B]Brethren! I might be wrong… but I Grant’s letter. But the one hundred pounds monthly think and believe citizens of both salary promised him, Nkrumah soon found out, was a countrie ... bait. Not perturbed by monetary compensation for read more » revolutionary work, Nkrumah told them that he would work for free, if the compromised twenty five pounds was going to be difficult for the organization. Though the gentlemen looked at each other in astonishment, they prevailed on Nkrumah to accept the compromised monthly remuneration. Thereafter, under Kwame Nkrumah’s capacity as General Secretary, the UGCC was formally launched in Saltpond on December 29, 1947. So, if everything was “cooked” before Kwame Nkrumah’s arrival, as some shamefaced individuals have claimed, why did this selfappointed “gentlemen’s club,” (UGCC) wait for Nkrumah to launch it in his capacity as General Secretary? In fact the idea that everything was “cooked” prior to the http://www.modernghana.com/news/527715/1/kwamenkrumahtheoneandonlyfoundingfatherof.html 2/5 4/6/2015 Kwame Nkrumah: The ONE and ONLY Founding Father of Ghana Part I return of Nkrumah is totally false, if not hogwash.

The Objective of the UGCC. The objective of the UGCC was “to ensure by all legitimate and constitutional means the direction and control of government should pass into the hands of the people and chiefs in the shortest possible time.” This is delusional. First of all, who begged the British and other European monarchies to send their coachmanagers to nurture the precolonial Africans to maturity before allowing them to rule themselves? Second, saying that “by all ‘legitimate’ and ‘constitutional’ means” not only legitimized the evil British colonization of the Gold Coast, but it also gave credence to the socalled “white man’s burden.” In effect, “by all ‘legitimate’ and ‘constitutional’ means” meant that any forceful demand, demonstrations, boycotts, strikes, uprising, rebellions or positive action confrontation with the British colonial government were illegal and illegitimate, as Dr. Danquah would later characterize the Positive Action. Did the subjugated Irish people “ensure by all legitimate and constitutional means” so that “the direction and control of government” be passed on from the AngloNorman rulers into their (Celtics’) hands “in the shortest possible time?” If the Irish people would wage a war against the AngloNorman occupation of Ireland from 1177 to 1921 (especially the IRAled ‘Irish War of Independence’ from 1916 to 1921 for a Home Rule), what about a little over 100 year old British Gold Coast [Black African] colony?

The request for selfgovernment “in the shortest possible time” is connotative and laughable. Colonialists and imperialists are sly, vicious, always buying time and waiting for opportune moments to disintegrate opponents in the colonies. Historical evidence proves that colonial government or foreign settler regimes never “PASS” on the control of government into the hands of the colonized and/or occupied people, “by all legitimate and constitutional means…in the possible shortest time?” Rather European colonial governments employed deliberate policy of brute violence to suppress legitimate protests, uprisings, rebellions in India, Kenya, South Africa, Angola, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Namibia and other places. In the Gold Coast, the Fante Confederacy’s demand for selfgovernment from the British colonial rule led to the arrest of its leaders. Likewise, the peaceful protest march by the Ex servicemen to the seat of the colonial government in 1948 was met with violence. In the case of the planned CPPGCTUC’s Positive Action in 1950, the same British colonial government flew war planes into the country with the intention of crushing the nonviolent Positive Action. As this paper shows, it was the POSITIVE ACTION, and NOT the feetdragging strategy, which set in motion the Kwame Nkrumah CPP’s forceful and immediate demand for independence from the illegal British colonial rule in the Gold Coast (e. i. the four territories).

Kwame Nkrumah’s Plan of Action. After searching and organizing an office, Nkrumah drew up farreaching plans and placed it before the UGCC Working Committee on January 20, 1948. First among the plans were “Shadow Cabinet” and “Organizational Work.” The latter included direct confrontation with the colonial government through organizing strikes, demonstrations and boycotts, contained in one of the resolutions adopted at the 5th PanAfrican Congress in Manchester. Also because the scope of the UGCC was limited to the Colony proper, and to a lesser degree with Ashanti, Nkrumah proposed recommendations for the UGCC to embrace the entire Ashanti Province, the Northern Territories and TransVolta/Togoland.

The Kwame Nkrumah Countrywide Tour. While the other members of the Executive/Working Committee of the UGCC were busy attending to their private endeavors, Kwame Nkrumah decided to travel throughout the four territories—the Colony, Ashanti Province, Northern Territories, and Trans/Volta Togoland—under the British colonial government. Notwithstanding the appalling states of roads in many areas, as well as the poor condition of the old car with which he was traveling, Nkrumah was determined to meet, hear, see and rally the people for the anticolonial struggle. In doing so, he sometimes walked or got a lift with a passing “mammy” lorry when the car broke down, leaving the car with the driver; sometimes, he either walked to the next village or town and on some occasions slept on the roadside in the bush. The most intriguing phenomenon was that Nkrumah, in many instances, carried his suitcase containing his personal belongings on his head. The question is, which of the socalled “founding fathers” were prepared to undergo these hardships, aside from pleasing their colonial masters by “drinking tea, dining and playing tennis with them?” to borrow Sannie Awudu’s words.

Nonetheless, Nkrumah held endless meetings and rallies, delivering hundreds of speeches while organizing branches of the UGCC by himself. Prior to his arrival, there were thirteen (13) non functioning branches in the Colony. But within six months, Nkrumah had established over five hundred (500) branches in the Colony alone, issuing membership cards with dues paying. Along side these, he established youth organizations, and later placed them under the umbrella of Council of Youth Organization (CYO). During the tours, Nkrumah found feeling of discontent and unrest among the people. It was by no accident, therefore, that Kwame Nkrumah would soon become the face of the UGCC and, by extension, the icon of the anticolonial struggle in the four territories.

To Be Continued! http://www.modernghana.com/news/527715/1/kwamenkrumahtheoneandonlyfoundingfatherof.html 3/5 4/6/2015 Kwame Nkrumah: The ONE and ONLY Founding Father of Ghana Part I By Kwame BotweAsamoah, Ph.D. CPP, USA

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Feature Article | 8 March 2014 01:51 CET 1 Comments Follow Us

Kwame Nkrumah: The ONE and ONLY Founding The greatest and ultimate questions in life are Father of Ghana Part II all about God and your relationship to him. By: FRANCIS TAWIAH(Duisb

By Kwame BotweAsamoah, Dr. Previous | Next More Quotes | Submit Quote

The January28th February Incidence: Kwame Nkrumah’s Role.

Nevertheless, the feeling of the discontent that Nkrumah found would lead to the two major uprisings in the “country” in January and February 1948, fuelling the drive for Ghana’s independence. The two major uprisings coincided with the return of Kwame Nkrumah to the Gold Coast. With the exception of the ex servicemen’s march, Nkrumah had no knowledge of the plans for the boycott of the Association of West African Merchants (AWAM) and Syrians’ commodities organized by Nii Kwabena Bonne. The end of the Nii Kwabena Boone strike coincided with the exservicemen’s peaceful march on February 28 with a petition containing their grievances to the Governor, during which three of its Union members were shot dead with others wounded at Christiansborg CrossRoads. This incidence subsequently led to the arrest and Popular Hot News Shared detention of the six Executive members of the UGCC. Did the UGCC play any role leading to the February 28 uprising leading to their arrest? Earlier, Danquah and Nkrumah had addressed the ex servicemen on February 20 at Palladium to express solidarity with their concerns. Yet, Danquah’s Will Presidentelect Muhammadu Buhar telegram to the Secretary of State for the Colonies regarding the 28th incidence ended with the words The Jamaican Akan Root “God Save the King.” Who Is Who! Ghana Or Nigeria? Katakyie To Contest Bekwai Npp Parli On the other hand, a careful investigation of what appears to be Nkrumah’s calculated statements may A Tale Of Three Presidents: Lbj, Gej Welcome Buhari, The Game Changer possibly shed some light on his complicity in the exservicemen’s march. He wrote: “I was certainly Tithing Was Under And Is Under The L aware of the general dissatisfaction of the exservicemen and “was acquainted with their Union through One Down, Ninetynine To Go! my work as general secretary of the UGCC;” “it had been my intention to organize them in due course Police Arrests A Christian Man For G as an arm of our movement;” and that “I was fully aware that they intended to make peaceful Men Of African Descent And Prostate demonstration.” The question is how did he know this? I put this question to the leadership of the Veterans Association of Ghana in my 1990 interview with them at their headquarters in Accra, and the answer I got was revealing. Its Chairman (one of the leaders of the exservicemen at the time of the 28 February march) emphatically said it was Kwame Nkrumah who wrote their petition and passed it on to them through Ako Adjei. The Watson Commission also noted that Kwame Nkrumah had circulated the “The Circle” in which he advocated civil disobedience, demonstrations, boycotts, and strikes. So the Watson Commission was right in attributing the two uprisings to Nkrumah’s arrival.

Detention, Watson Commission and The Myth of The Big Six.

The anger of the remaining Exservicemen and general public over the death of Sgt Adjetey, Cpl. Attipoe and Private OdarteyLamptey fueled the violence that erupted leading to massive looting and destruction of public property. Subsequently, Governor Creasy on March 12, 1948, issued Removal Order for the arrest and imprisoned of the six executives of the UGCC, namely Jones William OforiAtta, Joseph Danquah, Ako Adjei, Obetsebi Lamptey and AkuffoAddo and Kwame Nkrumah for being responsible for the riots; hence, they collectively became known as “Big Six.” While in prison, the other five blamed Kwame Nkrumah for the riots and their imprisonment and expressed their regret for inviting Nkrumah to take up the secretary generalship of the UGCC. To this end, they blamed Ako Adjei for his http://www.modernghana.com/news/527937/50/kwamenkrumahtheoneandonlyfoundingfatherof.html 1/6 4/6/2015 Kwame Nkrumah: The ONE and ONLY Founding Father of Ghana Part II role in recommending Nkrumah to the group. Dr. J. B. Danquah wept saying that he would not have supported the recommendation by Ako Adjei, had he (Danquah) known of Nkrumah’s ideological persuasion.

After their release from prison to appear individually before the Watson Commission of Inquiry regarding the two uprisings, the other five members dissociated themselves from the two uprisings. With the exception of S. E. Ackah, all the Executive members of the UGCC totally disowned Nkrumah’s recommendations, which they had previously approved. But upon crossexamination, several members of them admitted to having received the recommendations from Nkrumah, but went further to clarify that they never associated themselves with it. In other words, Kwame Nkrumah was just and employee of the $260.49 UGCC, and, as such, they could not entirely be held responsible for his actions. Such acts of betrayal, denial and cowardly behavior are the marks of those pretenders. Certainly, they were traitors worthy of Shop Now rebuke. “The Big Six” is, thus, a misnomer.

But to acknowledge Kwame Nkrumah as the major driving force in the UGCC at the time, it is worthy of notice to quote the Commission’s observation:

From the internal minutes evidence of the Minute Book of the Working Committee, the Convention did not really get down to business until the arrival of Mr. Kwame Nkrumah on 16th December, 1947, and his assumption of his assumption of the post as Secretary (see the Watson Commission Report).

So, in essence, the UGCC was an inert organization before Kwame Nkrumah’s arrival to become its General Secretary; thus, it was he who built and breathed life into the UGCC, thereby giving rise to political and national consciousness across the entire country as we know today.

In its inquiry, the Watson Commission also noted that Kwame Nkrumah had circulated the “The Circle” in which he advocated an open defiance to colonialism through civil disobedience, demonstrations, boycotts, and strikes. In effect, this observation and that of the other five members of the UGCC (while in imprison) linked Nkrumah’s activities to the uprisings. Yet, while the two uprisings did not threaten the British colonial government, it caused the replacement of the Burns constitution with the Coussey Constitution in 1951. It also served as a prelude to Kwame NkrumahGCTUC Positive Action in 1950 from which the British colonial government never recovered. The Watson Commission was therefore right when it forewarned in its conclusion that KWAME NKRUMAH (and NOT the spineless members of The Mightiest Tree Is Rumoured To H the UGCC) was the “MAN TO BE WATCHED.” Wednesday, March 25, 2015 [B] How does it profit a man if he Kwame Nkrumah in a Headon Collision with the UGCC. acquires all the wealth of the world, but los ... First. After blaming Nkrumah for their imprisonment, as well as denouncing his recommendations during read more » the deliberation of the Watson Commission of Inquiry, the Working Committee of the UGCC opposed everything Nkrumah had to do or say. They brought many charges against Nkrumah based on Will Presidentelect Muhammadu Buha differences in vision, ideology, philosophy and strategy. One was the word “Comrade” in one of Friday, April 3, 2015 Nkrumah’s letters Obetsebi Lamptey and William Ofori Attah had confiscated from Nkrumah’s office in “For there is nothing hidden that will Saltpond. They quizzed him about the word comrade, since they found it to be synonymous with not be disclosed, and nothing Communism. concealed t ... read more » Second. The Working Committee accused Nkrumah of acting outside his authority to set up a school for the dismissed teachers and students on March 28, 1948 for demonstrating against the arrest and Where Is Castro The Destroyer? detention of the “The Big Six.” The Working Committee objected to the idea when Nkrumah proposed it. Sunday, March 29, 2015 In setting up the College, Nkrumah donated half of his monthly salary of twenty five (25) pounds as seed The tragic disappearance of Castro money towards purchasing tins, packing cases and boards as seats and desks for the first batch of ten d'Destroyer together with Jane students. The Ghana College expanded to became the Ghana National College. In fact, they were Bandu who is f ... apprehensive about Nkrumah’s reference to UNITED GOLD COAST and United West Africa in his read more » inaugural speech to the students and teachers of what would become the Ghana National College. “Founding Fathers” indeed! Who Is Who! Ghana Or Nigeria? Sunday, April 5, 2015 Third. The Working Committee objected to Nkrumah’s suggestion for the creation of a newspaper as an [B]Brethren! I might be wrong… but I organ of the movement, because it would get the members of the Committee embroiled in seditious think and believe citizens of both cases. But when Nkrumah went ahead and launched the “Accra Evening News,” they forget about countrie ... “seditious” cases and founded their own newspaper called the “The Ghana Statesman” read more »

Fourth. Because of the popularity and success of the “Accra Evening News” (in contrast to “The Ghana Statesman”), some members of the Working Committee prevailed on a few civil servants and the Commissioner of Police to bring libel cases against Nkrumah. The libel cases amounted to about ten thousand pounds, which Nkrumah’s supporters raised money to meet the claims of the plaintiffs.

Fifth. J.B. Danquah brought a libel suit against the “Accra Evening News” for publishing an article about the Kyebi ritual murder. Danquah was awarded damages, but not contented with the awards, he went ahead to buy the rights to the paper. In this situation, Kwame Nkrumah outwitted J.B. Danquah. Thus, http://www.modernghana.com/news/527937/50/kwamenkrumahtheoneandonlyfoundingfatherof.html 2/6 4/6/2015 Kwame Nkrumah: The ONE and ONLY Founding Father of Ghana Part II “The Head Press” which published the “Accra Evening News” was instantly taken over by the “Heal Press” and published the newspaper under a new name, the “Ghana Evening News.”

Sixth. The Working Committee demanded an immediate dismissal of Nkrumah’s private secretary on the grounds that Nkrumah appointed him without their prior approval and was being paid out of the UGCC’s funds.

Seventh. To buttress their suggestion to Nkrumah to resign from his job as Secretary General of the UGCC, they offered him one hundred pounds to return to England.

Eighth. Realizing that Nkrumah was the key figure in Gwynn Oak, MD Residents Are `Rattled` By the movement with strong following, and fearful that his New Website removal from the UGCC would lead to a complete collapse of the movement, they moved Nkrumah to the post of treasurer.

Ninth. The Working Committee accused Nkrumah of establishing a Youth Study Group at Osu in Accra with Komla Gbedemah as its Chairman. This would later embody a nationalist youth movement with the Ashanti Youth Association and the Ghana Youth Association of Sekondi, and become known as the Committee on Youth Organization (CYO). The CYO, Nkrumah explained to the Working Committee, was to serve as the youth wing of the UGCC, yet they still objected to its formation. They found the CYO’s manifesto, “SelfGovernment Now” a threat to the program of the UGCC, “SelfGovernment within the shortest possible time.” As aristocrats, they were nurturing the hope that their gentle approach would be rewarded by new concessions from their colonial masters which would enable them to fulfill their aspirations. Hence, they opposed the CYO as it was composed of the less privileged and radical section of the populace, and who were articulating the economic, social and political aspirations of the rank and file. More importantly, considering themselves as the noblemen, they felt a little uneasy by Nkrumah’s open and simple manner approach to the ordinary people.

All the while, Nkrumah and his Comrades were working on turning the CYO into a political party. In the CPP’s revolutionary program and forceful demand for “SelfGovernment NOW” that followed, the UGCC became a lameduck association as the local branches which Nkrumah had set up either converted to the CPP or collapsed. Subsequently, the Working Committee of the UGCC meeting in Saltpond in 1949 passed a vote of NO CONFIDENCE in DR. J. B. DANQUAH’s LEADERSHIP. So why the sudden hullabaloo about one of Ghana’s foremost traitors?

The CPP as the First National Political Party.

The CPP’s SixPoint Program, prior to its launching, included realization of unity of the chiefs and people of the Colony, Ashanti, Northern Territories and TransVolta, and the achievement of full “Self Government Now.” The emphasis on the realization of a United Gold Coast, in particular, was to have a farreaching impact on the results of the 1956 United Nation’s Plebiscite regarding the fate of the people in the UN trusteeship.

After the formal resignation from the UGCC, Nkrumah launched the CPP on June 12, 1949 in Accra to an audience of about sixty people, with demand for “Selfgovernment Now.” They included people from all the four provinces under the British colonial administration. Nkrumah “declared himself, and his very life blood, if need be to the cause of Ghana.” Remember the three “SSS” (Service, Sacrifice and Suffering) mentioned above? Critical to the successes of the CPP were WOMEN. From the birth of the CPP, they were the topmost field organizers of the CPP. Thus, with women as effective field organizers, the CPP went on to build an unprecedented grassroot campaign by building cells with structures in all towns and villages across the entire country. Consequently, the membership of the CPP by 1950 swelled up to about one million, unknown in the history of the country at the time.

And what did the UGCC aristocrats do? They resulted to name callings, referring to the CPP as a party of “verandah boys, hooligans, and communists.” Prior to the name callings, Obetsebi Lamptey, during the (UGCC) Working Committee’s meeting in Palladium on June 16, 1949, questioned why the majority Ga people in Accra should allow themselves to be led by” a “stranger.” Though the remarks caused the meeting to end in uproar and confusion against him, we must ask if these are the attributes we expect from “founding fathers”?

The Coussey Constitution. The All African Coussey Committee included “The Big Six,” exclusive of Nkrumah. The new constitution still fell far short of the CPP's call for full selfgovernment. Executive power remained in the hands of the British Governor to appoint three ExOfficio portfolios for Defense and External Affairs, Finance and http://www.modernghana.com/news/527937/50/kwamenkrumahtheoneandonlyfoundingfatherof.html 3/6 4/6/2015 Kwame Nkrumah: The ONE and ONLY Founding Father of Ghana Part II Justice, and Attorney General. This, to Nkrumah, meant that the Constitution was not designed for the Africans to take over the Government. It was formulated as an adaptation of the principle of indirect rule, whereby change would come through and with the consent of the traditional authorities.

Enamored in Edmund Burke’s political ideology of rule by the preordained elite, the Committee’s Constitution/Report stipulated that only those citizens with sufficient wages and property would be allowed to vote. In his response, Nkrumah organized “People Representative Assembly” comprising trade unions, farmers, women, youth, unemployed school leavers and others. The Assembly called for a universal suffrage without regard to property qualification, a separate house of chiefs, and demanded a selfgovernment constitution. So when the British colonial government rejected the CPP selfgovernment constitution, Kwame Nkrumah organized the Positive Action with full participation by the Gold Coast Trade Union Congress (GCTUC).

The Positive Action and the Road to Ghana’s Independence.

It was Frederick Douglas who once said that “power concedes nothing without a demand.” With this mind, Nkrumah said that colonialism had never been overthrown without a bitter and vigorous struggle. News of the intended Positive Action caused the Ga State Council to summon Nkrumah to appear before them to explain what he meant. Also present were the JointProvincial Council of Chiefs. Surprisingly, J. B. Danquah and other exUGCC members were present. The Chiefs, led by Sir Tsibu Darku and Nana Ofori Attah II, expressed their total disapproval of the demands of the Peoples Assembly. Ofori Attah’s speech, in particular was “abusive couched in language in an undignified language,” Nkrumah described. In deploying the Positive Action, the JointProvincial Council of Chiefs characterized its organizers as “grasshopper leaders.”

But when Nkrumah avowed that the Positive Action would go on as planned if the request for the People’s Representative Assembly was still rejected, J. B. Danquah responded in undignified and sinister ways. He said: “It is obvious that the law, as far as Kwame Nkrumah is concerned, must go according to him. It is my opinion that those who go against [colonial] constitutional authority MUST EXCPECT TO PAY FOR IT WITH THEIR NECKS.” How and by who? one may ask.

The colonial government on its part, asked for the suspension of the Positive Action. On January 8 1950, Kwame Nkrumah declared “Positive Action,” which called for a general strike, and non cooperation with the colonial Government. A state of emergency was subsequently declared throughout the whole country, and a curfew imposed.. Thereafter, the office of the “Evening News” was raided, closed down by the police, and banned. Syrian, Lebanese and British nationals were armed as special constables to help the colonial government to restore order. Two African policemen died during a confrontation with an exservicemen’s demonstration. Nkrumah and his associates (including women) were arrested, tried and imprisoned for instigating the strike. Nkrumah was sentenced to a threeyear sentence for public disorder and sedition.

Predictably, Dr. J. B. Danquah condemned the Positive Action “as an act of treachery.” His instant joy over the arrest of Nkrumah and other leading members of the CPP ended in these words: pataku (wolf) has been driven away.”

To Be Continued!!