The 50th anniversary of Fuhrer Kwame Nkrumah's overthrow as usual was greated with cacophonic worshipping by Nkrumah apologists and lies about how if Fuhrer Nkrumah would have turned Ghana into utopia where milk and honey would have been like a waterfall on every corner for citizens to enjoy freely if he was not overthrown.. Folks, that is a myth and not supported by any economic statistic in 1966 when he was overthrown.

As a matter of fact, Ghana started economically deteriorating in 1964 after Fuhrer Nkrumah has spent every penny he got from the colonial Masters in 1957 and this is supported by empirical facts. It is easy to do things when you have money as Fuhrer Nkrumah had when he assumed office. A lot of others could have done what Fuhrer Nkrumah did with the money the newly minted independent Ghana had and maybe more if Nkrumah would not have used tens of millions of pounds trying to be President of Africa.

I have no personal animosity against Fuhrer Nkrumah and believe from all historical facts that he was very patriotic and everything he did for Ghana whether good or bad was done with the best intention but sometimes what you believe to be good might be the opposite and the foundation which Ghana was built on was really weak, both politically and economically as evidenced by history. How and why did the brilliant, charismatic Fuhrer Kwame Nkrumah, the outspoken Marxist/Communist, Pan-African Founding Father of Ghana, begin his political slide and ultimate ignominious fall from power?

The list of reasons is lengthy and complex but it is safe to say, that Nkrumah's decline began in early 1960. Until then, the population, because he had lead them to Independence from Britain, was generally willing to overlook Nkrumah's Marxist/Communist ideological pronouncements, his costly demands for pomp and splendor and his assumption of more and more power, in many cases, usurping elected and Traditional Authority.


"From independence in 1957, Ghana enjoyed economic prosperity with a relatively high
growth rate, substantial foreign exchange reserve and a strong civil service to guide economic growth.

2 To promote socioeconomic development, the government instituted
a policy of free education, healthcare and initiated mass industrialization. However,
coupled with external shocks arising from deteriorating price of cocoa, the economic
situation retrogressed from bad to worse. In 1965, Ghana was faced with the challenge
of dealing with an economic downturn and, needing an external bailout, approached
IMF. The Fund proposed a reduction in government spending to levels that could be
covered by government revenues in order to fight inflation.

3. The Nkrumah government,
however, rejected these conditions. Adopting these policies would have thwarted the
expansionist development programmes which included diversification of the Ghanaian economy through import substituting industrialization.

4. Moreover, if Nkrumah had
accepted IMF loan and conditionalities, it would have affected the momentum of his
economic development strategy

5. The IMF policies would have forced Nkrumah to cut
back on capital spending (i.e. building of schools, hospitals, and particularly his pet
economic programme: the import substituting industrialization). Since Nkrumah
government was overthrown in 1966, it is impossible to determine whether its policies
could have tackled the economic downturn without the IMF support.


This notwithstanding, available data indicates that Ghana's socio-economic situation as
of 1965 - a year before the overthrow- was not only gloomy (according to some
analysts) but also heralded the nation's economic doom.6 Besides the high level of debt
stock which stood at USD$500 million in 1965 (from a negligible amount in 1960), the
external reserve position had deteriorated considerably between 1957 when net
reserves stood at US$269 million and 1966 when they were negative at –US$391
million.7 This outcome resulted in a deteriorating balance of payments position and also
the poor credit rating accorded the country. Consequently, inflation ballooned from 0.98
percent in 1964 to 26.4 percent in 1965"




2 Hutchful, E. (1985). IMF Adjustment Policies in Ghana since 1966. African Development, 10 (1), 5.
3 Aryeetey, E. and Fosu, A. (2000). Economic Growth in Ghana: 1960-2000. A Paper Prepared for AERC
Growth Project.

"
However, beginning in mid-1960, at about the time that he assumed the Presidency and approved the new Republican Constitution, the economic fallibility of Ghana clearly manifested itself and materially effected the lives of all Ghanaians. From 1960 to 1965, world cocoa prices plummeted, and the enormous development spending begun by Nkrumah four years earlier, severely impacted the country's economy. Foreign exchange and government's reserves shrank and disappeared. Unemployment rose dramatically. Food prices skyrocketed up over 250% from 1957 levels and up a phenomenal 66% in 1965. Eventually, there were massive food and essentials shortages effecting every area, sector and individual in Ghana. Econmic growth, which had ranged from 9% to 12% per annum until 1960, dropped to 2% to 3%, insufficient to sustain a population expanding at almost 3% per year.

Nkrumah's response was an austere socialist budget which imposed flawed Marxist concepts of economic resuscitation on the population, primarily through harsh and unrealistic taxation. Financial mismanagement and economic chaos increased and the country was eventually poised at the brink of national bankruptcy and international disgrace.

In the meantime, to shore up his eroding political strength, Nkrumah assumed more and more power which he exercised capriciously. Obsessed with personal safety after two failed assassination attempts, he established a very well and heavily armed Secret Security Service and Presidential Guard recruited from abroad and under his direct control. Resentment by the ill-equipped Army and Police followed.

In the meantime, the Cult of Nkrumahism continued to develop and propound preposterous quasi-marxist theory and dogma hatched in the name of Nkrumah, at the Ideological Institute at Winebba. The Nkrumah cult, created by Nkrumah himself to perpetuate and mythicize himself, forced acquiescence by all, to what was called "the Nkrumahist Gospel".

In 1964, Nkrumah declared himself President for Life and summarily banned all opposition political parties. His enemies, real and imagined, were detained. In the process, innocent people from all over Ghana were swept up and imprisoned in complete abuse of their individual rights and liberties. Laws were suspended and/or manipulated to prop up Nkrumah's faltering regime."

It is therefore a mirage for Fuhrer Nkrumah apologists to lie to Ghanaians that if he was not overthrown in 1966, Ghana would have been heaven on earth. Ghana in 1966 was like Mugabe Zimbabwe and with his intended grooming of one of his sons to take over after his death like the Kabilas of Congo, Ghana would have been a failed state like Somalia.

Justice Sarpong

(CARDINAL of TRUTH)