The Convention Peoples' Party (CPP) on Friday refuted the assertion by President John Agyekum Kufuor that within six years of independence, Ghana's foreign exchange reserves had disappeared.

The President said in his inaugural address on January 7 that the situation led Ghana to join the list of beggar nations. A statement signed by Dr Nii Noi Dowuona, General Secretary of the CPP said, the President's claims were some of the archaic and bankrupt stereotype campaign of vilification and recrimination waged by the Danquah-Busia tradition against Dr. Kwame Nkrumah and the CPP government.

It said the detractors could not erase Dr. Nkrumah's well-deserved status from the sands of history as the greatest African of the 20th century.

"Dr Kwame Nkrumah's unparalleled role in the socio-economic transformation of Ghana and the emancipation of black people was well established based on a sincere account of political history".

The statement said: "The unstated foreign reserves in the Central Bank did not disappear as we are made to believe, but were rather invested based on sound economic programmes. Ghana was not a beggar nation during Dr Nkrumah's era".

The statement said, the rapid development projects that followed within the short span of Dr Nkrumah's government would go down in African history as one of the most remarkable post-independence achievements.

"The Work and Happiness Programme and the Seven Year Development Plan launched in 1964 were to ensure expansion in agriculture as a basis for corresponding industrial take-off backed by an accelerated growth in educational and training facilities for the country's human resources."

It said the Co-operative, Workers Brigade and Young Farmers' League farms and the agro-based industries as well as the numerous schools, colleges and universities that sprung up all over the country were a testimony to the vision of the CPP government's. "Today, we have nothing to write home about with high unemployment rate, which rather threatens the socio-cultural fabric of the nation."