31 March 2006


CPP posied to upset in Tamale?

After 40 years in the wilderness, the CPP cockerel appeared to be finally crowing in Tamale, and indications are that the party that Nkrumah formed, the party that led Ghana to independence, may stage an upset in the Tamale by-election, come 4th April.

News from Tamale indicate that political turncoat, Wayo Seini, has been marginalised and now the race is between the NDC and the CPP. But given the in-fighting in the former party and the massive resources placed at the disposal of the CPP candidate by the pressure group, CPP-Patriots, a historical upset cannot be ruled out.

If this should happen, it would be the first time the CPP has won a parliamentary seat in the 4th Republic without the assistance of any other party. Currently, the three members of Parliament - Kojo Armah, Freddy Blay, and Paa Kwesi Nduom- all owe their seats to the charity of the NPP. Indeed, Dr. Nduom is a minister in the NPP government, while the others regularly side witht the NPP on important national issues, such as ROPAB, which was seconded by Mr. Armah in Paliament.
For the CPP-Patriots, which has vowed to help reform the CPP for the 2008 elections, much is riding on Tamale. A win - big win - will make them a credible force to reckon with both within the CPP and within the country's larger polical community. A dismal performance of their candidate, however, could doom them and the CPP for many years to come.
According to sources, when the Tamale by-election was declared, the party's leadership, under Dr. Edmund Delle, decided to continue with the past and not participate, citing lack of money and other resources.
The Patriots, however, working through the regional executives, managed to get the chairman to change his mind and give the Patriots the go ahead. With that high-level clearance, the Patriots sent a top level delegation to Tamale to scout for a "winnable" candidate.
They settled on Basharu Daballi, an articulate and charismatic activist, who recently headed the Concerned Citizens of Tamale group to address the city's chronic water shortages. He is said to be non-tribalistic and enjoys support across both gates.
Then came the funding problems that the party chairman had raised. Determined to move forward, the executives of the Patriots levied themselves C2 million each for an estimated budget of about C70 million. The general membership was asked to offer whatever they could offer. By Monday, they were ready for battle.
Meanwhile, Dr. Nduom, still at loggerheads with the leadership, chipped in some posters and t-shirts, as did the former central bank governor, Dr. Duffuor.
But as the Akan say, "agoro ne fem". Until 4th April, the CPP will still have to try hard to convince Ghanaians that it is the party of the future.


Source:
GHP

29 March 2006

CPP optimistic of winning Tamale Central bye-election

CPP optimistic of winning Tamale Central bye-election
Posted: Mar 29 2006

Northern Regional Chairman of the Convention People's Party (CPP) Albert Atutiga, says the Party would win the Tamale Central Parliamentary seat in the bye-elections lasted for April 4.


"Let's fight hard to shock Ghanaians who think that the NPP and the NDC are the only two dominant parties in the country by winning the Tamale Central Constituency seat convincingly, come April 4"

Mr Atutiga was addressing CPP members at a rally in Tamale.

It was organized to introduce the CPP candidate, Mr. Alhassan Basharu Dabali, a 41-year-old electrician.

The rally also sought the support of the electorate to enable the Party to win the by-election.


Mr. Atutiga said: "Members of the NDC in Tamale Central are only crowd pullers while Prof. Wayo Seini and the other two candidates are making up the numbers."

He said Prof. Wayo Seini had betrayed and disappointed the NPP, NDC and the people of Tamale Central and that he was now out to "deceive" the electorate.

On the NDC, Mr. Atutiga said: "Their days are over; they cannot win elections in Ghana again. Only the CPP would win the Tamale Central seat in preparation towards the 2008 general election".

He cited the current mass resignations of members from the NDC as a sign of the Party's doom in Ghana politics.
To the NPP, Mr. Atutiga said: "Since they fear defeat in Tamale Central, they have not fielded any candidate".

Mr. Dabali noted that all members of the NDC had their roots from the CPP and solicited the support of all floating voters to throw their weight behind him to win the seat.

He advised the electorate to be wary of those who would desert them in midstream and come back to promise them heaven on earth saying: "I will never disappoint you".

Source: GNA

CPP sure of winning the Tamale Central by-election


CPP sure of winning the Tamale Central by-election


Tamale, March 29, GNA - Mr Albert Atutiga, Northern Regional Chairman of the Convention People's Party (CPP) on Tuesday said the Party would win the Tamale Central Parliamentary seat in the bye-elections slated for April 4.

"Let's fight hard to shock Ghanaians, who think that the NPP and the NDC are the only two dominant parties in the country by winning the Tamale Central Constituency seat convincingly, come April 4." Mr Atutiga was addressing CPP members at a rally in Tamale. It was organised to introduce the CPP candidate, Mr Alhassan Basharu Dabali, a 41-year-old electrician.

The rally also sought the support of the electorate to enable the Party to win the by-election.

Mr Atutiga said: "Members of the NDC in Tamale Central are only crowd pullers while Prof. Wayo Seini and the other two candidates are making up the numbers."

He said Prof. Wayo Seini had betrayed and disappointed the NPP, NDC and the people of Tamale Central and that he was now out to "deceive" the electorate.

On the NDC, Mr Atutiga said: "Their days are over; they cannot win elections in Ghana again. Only the CPP would win the Tamale Central seat in preparation towards the 2008 General Election". He cited the current mass resignations of members from the NDC as a sign of the Party's doom in Ghana politics.

To the NPP, Mr Atutiga said: "Since they fear defeat in Tamale Central, they have not fielded any candidate."

Mr Dabali noted that all members of the NDC had their roots from the CPP and solicited the support of all floating voters to throw their weight behind him to win the seat.

He advised the electorate to be wary of those who would desert them midstream and come back to promise them heaven on earth saying: "I will never disappoint you".

29 March 06

Source:
GNA

21 March 2006

Ashanti CPP supports Dr Delle's leadership



Ashanti CPP supports Dr Delle's leadership



Kumasi, March 20, GNA -

The Executive Committee of the Convention People's Party (CPP) in Ashanti has expressed support for the national leadership of the party under the chairmanship of Dr Edmund Delle. The regional executive has therefore condemned calls for the resignation of the national leadership of the party, saying, it did not support 'skirt and blouse' politicians.

A statement issued in Kumasi on Monday and signed by Mr Kwabena Anim, Ashanti Regional Secretary of the CPP, called on the national leadership to weed out all members with double allegiance, which was decided upon by the Central Committee of the party in Kumasi. The statement pointed out that the biggest challenge facing the CPP was how to restore the morale of the broad membership and sympathisers at all levels.

"We need to do away with armchair politicians and arm-twisting leaders who have taken centre stage".

The party, the statement said needs to organise the wards and constituencies and called on the national leadership for logistic support to undertake grassroots mobilisation of members. "The leadership must move to the constituencies to interact with out members. While declaring our support for the national leadership under Dr Delle, we wish to appeal to our members to organise effectively the broad Nkrumaist party to meet the challenges of the 2008 elections". The statement also drew the attention of the national leadership of the party to take steps to call a national congress to conclude the unity programme before March 30, 2006.

Source:
GNA

14 March 2006

LETTER FROM AMERICA

LETTER FROM AMERICA
Re-articulating Nkrumaism as Part of a Progressive Political Agenda for the 21st Century


My memory is failing me for the precise year, but like our good old ancestors who used to calculate their ages by connecting their birthdays with the most auspicious events that straddled their entrances to this good earth, I distinctly recall my introductory parable as taking place on a 6th March in the recent past when our independence day celebrations and an earth tremor collided.
The tremor itself was not much on the Richter scale, but it was enough to re-ignite the perpetually fertile imaginations of a lot of latter-day prophets in search of catastrophic visions, and many of them seized their chance to carve multi-layered omens out of that small-sized dance of the earth. But it was my fellow trotro passenger’s interpretation of events that caught me off-balance momentarily, and has stood with me even up to this day. According to that rather creative prophet-manqué, the tremor was no other than an indication of the second coming of Kwame Nkrumah, because apparently, the Osagyefo promised on his death-bed that he would return a second-time, Christ-like, to deliver the political kingdom—and all other things that gets to be added to it—to his legion of long-suffering believers.
Last Monday was another 6th of March, and before it were the 24th of February and the 28th as well. The politically erudite know all about those dates, but for Nkrumaists in particular, they take on an added significance and on their latest resurrections, provided platforms for re-initiations into all-too-often-facile rituals of nostalgia. Thousands of miles removed from the Ghanaian scene, I can imagine candle-light marches and various gatherings that organized to commemorate the occasion(s) that would also have evoked the idea of an immortal Nkrumah as their theme.
Of course Nkrumah is hardly a midget in political affairs of the world. In African American communities here in the US, he is easily the most famous African of modern times. I have heard Native American nationalists cite him frequently, too. But he was in his true element in the 1960s when he torched off a light that inspired so many revolutionaries around the world, and was invoked by people as diverse as Patrice Lumumba, Nelson Mandela, Ho Chinh Minh, Malcolm X, Ernesto Che Guevera, Fidel Castro, Nikita Kruchev and a lot more. In the personality of Nkrumah loomed the hopes and aspirations of so many of what Frantz Fanon would call “the wretched of the world,” and the Mau Mau of Kenya, the Algerian revolutionaries, the South African Azanian forces, the Namibians, the new Nationalists of India, the jungle tigers of Vietnam and a thousand other groups all saw him simultaneously as a beacon of hope, and a slap in the face of imperialists’ many lies.
Even his ideological enemies such as John Kennedy of the U.S. learnt to respect him. After all, what would you do with a guy who is so confident as to declare that there is a new African in the world who is not afraid to take his destiny into his own hands, and is willing to go all the way to assert his place on the stage of history? Those were the good old days without HIPC scars, and those of us who lived in his shadow felt good because every time he mounted the podium in the UN to talk about world politics or Africa’s place in the world, it was such a happy time!
This was a guy he knew well enough to fight against the balkanization of Africa and consistently pointed out that the independence of Ghana, though it was unique in black history, was meaningless unless it was linked with the total liberation of Africa, and who would do so much for continental solidarity as to make people like Ali Mazrui call him “a bad Ghanaian but a good African.”
We can go on and on, but we also know that times have changed. The sad fact is that, on occasion of another Independence Day celebration as the one we had last week, what becomes obvious is the knowledge that Nkrumah died thirty-four years ago. Died both literally and metaphorically because those good things that he wanted, other people both among our own and outside our shores did not want. Those things that he sought, others vehemently opposed and did all they could to kill.
Since Nkrumah’s overthrow, there have been so many other different attempts to kill him by local elitist ideologues of all stripes and their allies from abroad. What they’ve always wanted is to take us as low as possible, and bring us to the position where we can go a-begging at the doors of proud neighbors under such psychologically horrendous tags as “highly poor and indebted” people. So we can live at the edge of others’ hostile desires.
But if there’s ever been any kind of poverty among us, it’s that poverty of imagination among the greedy elite classes that sell our people so cheap at the market places of our enemies and takes the thirty pieces of silver to build mansions of flatulence to cover their in-built inferiority complexes with. If there indeed is poverty among our people today, it springs from that amazing will-to-suicide that characterizes some of the policies of our contemporary politicians who, rather than thinking of how to forge a national ethos within a larger framework of continental solidarity and work towards creating the best of ourselves, would rather focus on narrow regimes of nepotism, tribalism, and a thousand other isms that only weaken us the more and make it easier for outsiders to take advantage of us.
In the light of these depressive realities, it is incumbent upon those who equate Nkrumaism with progressive, forward-looking, visionary, self-assertive politics also need to constantly remind themselves about the need not to only repeat the things Nkrumah did, but more importantly, to get out of the rut of the all-too-often lachrymose nostalgia for the past that was Nkrumah in order to forge a new progressive discourse that, while it draws from that man’s vision, can also connect with the masses of our people and their daily needs as they exist in this twenty first century.
Perhaps it is this blurred nature of Nkrumaist politics that enables self-seekers like Kwesi Nduom to walk the corridors of retrogressive power politics today and claim they’re Nkrumaists. To flush such opportunists out of the system, we need a new definition of terms, a new language that rises from the ashes of what used to be, and like a phoenix shoots us up into a new realm of self-belief, national pride, and real progress. Again, the politics of progress that we seek to articulate must be done in alliance with all the forces of progress both in our own country and outside just like Nkrumah knew, and used to do.
The real test of a contemporarily relevant Nkrumaism must also lie in its ability to transcend empty slogans and limited nostalgic lore, and to take the future by the horns. The people of our continent will ultimately take over the destiny of the continent, and overthrow all the exploiters and their local leeching allies, but we have to position ourselves in such a way as to facilitate the process.
This is ultimately what Nkrumah meant, and what our own reconfigurations of Nkrumaism must mean, and that is the more reason why the 6th of March and other dates in our history must be constantly re-narrated to suit our contemporary exigencies. We fail in our duty to posterity if we do not do so, and while we wait, others might appropriate these dates for their own narrow uses.
Not surprisingly, at the official podiums last week, Nkrumah’s name was conspicuously missing, but then again, it is not they, but we who should assert the things that matter to us. In doing so, we need no prompting from anywhere but the inner sources that tell us that we are doing the right things both for ourselves and for children’s children after us.
Happy belated independence anniversary to all; even to those who only wanted it “step by step...” because they have always been content to grab the bones that fall off the colonial masters’ tables!

Author: By Prince Kwame Adika, Ghanaian based in the USA

Patriots of CPP puncture rosy picture

Patriots of CPP puncture rosy picture
GOV’T LYING ABOUT ECONOMY
Manufacturing, water, electricity generation declining
We can sell petrol for under ¢30,000 if..

By J. Ato Kobbie | Posted: Tuesday, March 14, 2006

An economist, Dr. Nii Moi Thompson, has questioned the government’s repeated claims of superior economic management and said available evidence from its own policy documents indicate an economy in decline that needs to be saved.

“You can’t address a problem that you don’t even recognize exists,” noted the outspoken economist, during a lecture jointly organized by the Patriots of the Convention People’s Party (CPP) and the Youth for Action Ghana at the University of Cape Coast on March 6, in observance of Ghana’s 49th independence anniversary. Dr. Thompson spoke on the topic; ‘The Economy of Ghana:

Yesterday, Today, and the Way Forward.’

In a spirited graphs-and-tables-filled presentation that spanned about two hours in a near-capacity university auditorium, Dr. Thompson took his audience through a history of Ghana’s economy, starting from the Guggisburg plan of 1920-1930, which he described as the world’s first national development plan, through HIPC in 2000 and ultimately, 2006.

He said the government’s claim of macroeconomic stability was based on “miscalculations and misrepresentations,” noting that annual inflation averaged 20.0 percent between 1997 and 2000 and 22.0 percent between 2001 and 2004.

“How can this represent a fall in inflation,” he asked, noting that that is one reason why real interest rates are high and businesses are not borrowing. ”Go and look at p.46 of the 2006 budget. Credit to the private sector is declining,” he added.

He said the government’s budgets are also riddled with what appear to be deliberate misinformation of Ghanaians about the true pace of development. He said road projects that were reported in the 2005 budget as having been completed in 2004 were again reported in the 2006 budget as having been completed in 2005, while roads reported to be at an advanced stage of completion in 2004 were reported to be at lower stage of completion in 2005.

Dr. Thompson called for a new kind of leadership that would be selfless, modest and visionary. “Building presidential mansions while slashing government allocations to rural water would not bring us development; it will only create a society of extreme privilege and extreme deprivation. In fact, the $1,000 per capita income being advocated by the government for a per capita income status by 2015 will not, I repeat, will not, make Ghana middle income.

With the current cut-off point of US$965, inflation would ensure that we remain low-income in 2015, even if we attain one thousand dollars”

To avoid such a situation, Dr. Thompson said we need to make the Ghanaian economy globally competitive by adopting what he called C-cubed:

Cost containment, cost reduction, and cost management, noting that we should look beyond non-traditional exports like yams and pineapples and consider strategic exports based on knowledge and technical services rather than physical exports.

He said although Gordon Guggisburg, the governor from 1920-1927, could raise only half of the projected 24 million pounds proposed for the plan, he prioritized his expenditures and thus was able to complete certain key development projects which have survived till this day.

As examples, Dr. Thompson listed Korle Bu Hospital, Achimota College, Takoradi Harbour, and over 3,000 miles of paved roads, in addition to the existing 260 miles of road that were then in existence. The proposed Kumasi-Tamale rail line, however, could not be constructed although Akim Tafo and Kumasi were connected by rail as planned.

Dr. Thompson noted that the global economic recession of the late 1920s and early 1930s led to a collapse in exports from the Gold Coast, resulting in widespread social disaffection, including the famous cocoa hold-up in1937. Continued unrest through the 1940s led to the boycott of European goods and stores initiated by Chief Nii Kwabena Bonne of Osu in 1948.

An inquiry into the disturbances that followed laid the ground work for self-government in 1951, he said, and eventually, independence in 1957. Dr. Thompson noted: “During this period, the Nkrumah government continued with the aggressive development of the country, with emphasis on infrastructure, schools, hospitals, electricity, etc.”

He said the 7-year development plan of 1963/64, which was the first comprehensive and coordinated plan in the nation’s history, switched emphasis from infrastructure to the productive sectors, namely agriculture and industry.

“The plan was supposed to make Ghana a light-industrial country by 1970 and ultimately by this time ‘a heavy industrial country on the scale of the U.S. or Japan,” the eminent economist said to loud applause from the audience. “Unfortunately, the subversion of 1966 set in a period of disarray and retrogression from which we are yet to recover,” he added.

He said in 1962, for example, Ghana’s per capita income was $190 while South Korea’s was $110. “In 1970 South Korea overtook us at $260, compared to $250 for Ghana. They have not looked back since. As I speak, South Korea has a per capita income of about $18,000, while Ghana’s is less than $400. In fact, South Korea now gives aid to Ghana, including Hyundai vehicles, on which they insist we should display their name. How much more demeaning can it get?” he asked.

Dr. Thompson said the retrogression continued through structural adjustment years until 2001, when Ghana officially accepted the tag of Heavily Indebted and Poor Country (HIPC) and went begging for “debt relief”. To qualify for HIPC, Ghana had to meet a number of conditionalities from the IMF, World Bank and the countries’s development partners.

According to Dr. Thompson, the costs of meeting these conditionalities have far outweighed the benefits of going HIPC, hence the economy’s inability to grow at an appreciable rate.

He explained: Thanks to improvements in the global economy, cocoa and gold prices recovered after 2000, while the rate of change in world oil prices slowed down considerably. How, the insistence by the Bretton Woods Institutions that we raise the price of everything ‘petroleum products, electricity, water, etc.’ irrespective of the impact on the economy and without any corresponding increases in the quantity and quality of utility services - has made Ghana a high-cost economy and undermined our global competitiveness”

That’s why the economy is not growing, why key areas like manufacturing and electricity and water generation, as well as fisheries, have been declining since 2000, despite the government’s proclamation of a golden age of business.”

Dr. Thompson noted that the recent increase in fuel prices was unnecessary, arguing that “we can sell petrol for just under ¢30,000, perhaps lower, if we get to know more about TOR’s operation. Such price containment, if well managed and aligned with other policies, should give the economy the breathing space that it needs to grow.”

11 March 2006

No coup d'etat is justifiable - CPP



No coup d'etat is justifiable - CPP
Edmund Delle

...as Kwabena Agepong defends 1966 coup
Accra, March 11, GNA - The Convention People's Party (CPP) on Saturday said no coup d'etat is justifiable; "forceful overthrown of any democratically elected government is not acceptable under any condition in the past, present or the future."

He said: "overthrow of Dr Nkrumah's regime by Zionist Forces and their local collaborator had been the bane of Ghana's developmental agenda, which also derailed comprehensive programmes embarked upon by the government for the attainment of economic independence, this disservice to the nation can never be justified under any condition.

"Apart from Ghana, the military take-over had far-reaching consequences on both political, economic and national integration of the continent," Dr. Edmund N. Delle CPP Chairman stated at Adenta, during a meeting with Polling Station executives of the party on Friday.

He described Mr. Kwebena Agyei Agyapong, Press Secretary to President John Agyekum Kufuor's justification of the 1966 Coup as "infantile talk of ignorance and must be discarded outright."

Dr Delle said military adventurism and disruption of the process of democratisation had retarded the nations development, "at 49 years were are still depending on foreign donor support to strengthen national budget, face with poor infrastructure, breakdown of factories that the Dr Nkrumah's regime established and above all decent people were maltreated and dehumanised and for any right thinking Ghanaian to justify this act is committing democratic suicide."

The CPP Chairman and Leader urged Ghanaians to abhor Coups and prepare to defend the Constitution, irrespective of which political tradition is in power, "Politicians should not justify and jubilate because when the military overthrows their opponent in power, such attitude offers a fertile ground for continuous military interventions in body politics of a country".

Mr. Agyapong was reported by a section of the media to have said, "anybody who refers to 24 February 1966 as a day of shame is advertising his ignorance of Ghana's political history, in that the dynamics of the internal political situation at the time called for that military intervention."

According to Mr. Agyapong, prior to the overthrow of Dr Nkrumah, Ghana's first President, there was a political situation where the president had declared a one party state and himself as the life President of Ghana, as a result of which he adopted a policy of vendetta and vindictiveness against his political opponents.

Mr. Agyapong is quoted to have said: "In order to clamp down on his political opponents and cow them into submission, Dr Nkrumah manipulated Parliament to enact the oppressive Preventive Detention Act, which was used to incarcerate anybody perceived to be against his authority and dictatorial regime.

"This, I expected the Socialist Forum and their newly found allies to acknowledge instead of trying successfully to find fault with the Danquah/Busia tradition at the time."

Dr Delle whose visit was to launch a CPP mass mobilization drive from the polling stations through the Constituencies and to national level of the party urged CPP activists to defend the legacy of Dr Nkrumah and the tenets of multi-party democracy.

He encouraged the formation of strong polling station executives to serve as a platform for mobilization.

Dr Delle, who is the President of RABITO Clinics called on the youth to be selfless, modest and prepare to sacrifice their lives and resources to build Ghana into a prosperous nation.

He said the future of Ghana depended more on the youth and challenged them to bring their resources to bear on the country's quest for speedy development.

He debunked the notion that, the CPP was made up of old men and women and said the party had faith and believed in the capabilities of the Ghanaian youth and urged them to learn hard to acquire knowledge that would enable them to contribute meaningfully to nation building. Dr. Delle stated that, the CPP would continue to support and encourage indigenous entrepreneurship in the country and urged Ghanaians to be proud of their own indigenous products to enable the local industries to grow and expand.

He deplored the confrontational postures being exhibited by activists of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) and said the CPP was a party of peace and would not engage in any unnecessary confrontation that could derail the country's democratic process.

Dr Delle urged members of the party to be disciplined, law abiding and work hard to market the ideals and ideas of the founder of the party, to enable the party to win the 2008 elections. Mr. Kofi Attoh, Greater Accra Secretary of the party said CPP was the only party in the country that had the tools and knowhow to manage and save the country from poverty.

He urged members of the party to educate the electorate to embrace the ideals of the CPP, which has the policy of wealth creation, to enable the party win the next general elections.

The Constituency Chairman and Secretary, Mr. Dennis Gymah and Mr. Chris Saugbey respectively commended the National Chairman for the visit, which, according to them would fuel party activists in the constituency to work hard.

Other members of the team, which also visited Ododdiodoo, include Mr. Oteng Anane, and Mr. Daniel Quartey National Youth Organiser and Deputy National Youth Organsier respectively.

Source:
GNA

08 March 2006

Resolve issues with DV Bill- CPP

Resolve issues with DV Bill- CPP
Posted: Mar 08 2006

The Convention People’s Party has asked government to take immediate steps to resolve outstanding issues on the Domestic Violence Bill and other proposed legislations to pave way for their passage into law.

In a statement to commemorate International Women’s day, which falls today, the party says this will show the government’s commitment to the noble ideals of equality and emancipation of women and the under-privileged.

The CPP says the best protection for the rights of women is an open and democratic society free from all manner of discrimination, especially against the under-privileged.

The party says it remains committed to the women’s cause and will explore all avenues to support Ghanaian women and Gender Advocacy groups in their quest to seek opportunity for women, children and the under-privileged.

07 March 2006

Kufuor's speech was partisan -Aggudey





The Convention People's Party (CPP) Presidential candidate for the 2004 election, George Aggudey has accused President Kufuor of being partisan in his address on the 49th anniversary celebration of the Ghana�s independence.

Reacting to the President's Independence address on Monday, Mr Aggudey dismissed the president's attempt at preaching unity as futile.

According to him the president was asking Ghanaians to eschew partisanship but ended up being very partisan in his speech.

He failed to mention the main architect of our independence, which is unfortunate, he said.

Mr Aggudey said there could be no celebration of Ghana's independence without reference to Kwame Nkrumah, the main architect of Ghana's independence.

He wondered why the president made reference to George Padmore and W.E B Dubios as contributors to the struggle to redeem Africa from colonial domination, without mentioning Kwame Nkrumah whose role in that struggle was very significant and hence be commended as well.

Mr Aggudey was however happy with the role Ghana had taken on the African Continent and looked forward to a happy Golden Jubilee next year.

Meanwhile, Ghana�s only surviving president, Jerry Rawlings did not attend Monday's occasion.

Source:
Crusading Guide

Kufuor grants audience to Nkrumaist delegation

Kufuor grants audience to Nkrumaist delegation

Accra, March 7, GNA - A delegation of the Nkrumaist political tradition on Tuesday called on President John Agyekum Kufuor at the Castle, Osu, to formally inform him of the death of Mr Van Milno, the sole publisher of the literary works of Ghana's First President Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah.

He died in December, last year, and the Nkrumaists had planned to organise a special programme to honour his memory in March this year, the leader of the delegation, Mr Mike Eghan, said.

He said the late Milno arrived in the country as a Lecturer but later became Dr Nkrumah's publisher, publishing all the 14 books and four pamphlets he authored.

His wife, Madam June Milno also served as the First President's Research Officer and is still alive. The delegation appealed to President Kufuor for Ghana to acknowledge her on the occasion of the country's Golden Jubilee Celebration next year.

The delegation again brought to his attention what they said was the sad state of the first President's Secretary, Madam Erica Powell and pleaded for support for her upkeep.

Responding, President Kufuor said the Government identified with the message the delegation were carrying and said although they belonged to different political traditions it was important they should agree to disagree.

"We should go about our politics this way and should avoid seeing one another as enemies."

He said he had a great deal of respect for President Nkrumah, for his talent and pioneering role that put Ghana on the map of the world. He left behind some good legacies.

President Kufuor gave the assurance that Mrs Milno, who worked with Dr Nkrumah and helped him to effectively combine the demanding duties of the Head of State and prolific writing deserved to be appreciated for the part they played in Ghana's history. Also at the Castle was a delegation of the family of the late Mrs Peggy Appiah, wife of the Great Ghanaian Politician, Mr Joe Appiah. She died on February 11, 2006.

Mr Frank Boateng, the Spokesperson, informed President Kufuor that she would be laid in state on March 18 to be followed by burial service at the Wesley Methodist Cathedral in Kumasi, the next day. President Kufuor described her as an extraordinary woman, who came to the country during the turbulent days of Ghana's politics, saw her husband arrested and detained many times but chose to stay on. She came to love Ghana and was a Ghanaian. She contributed her bit to the country, he said, citing how she adapted to the culture and traditions of the people and her books on folklore.

President Kufuor said the Government would be there to help to give her a fitting burial. 07 March 06
Source:
GNA

Documents Expose U.S. Role in Nkrumah Overthrow

Documents Expose U.S. Role in Nkrumah Overthrow
Declassified National Security Council and Central Intelligence Agency documents provide compelling, new evidence of United States government involvement in the 1966 overthrow of Ghanaian President Kwame Nkrumah.

The coup d'etat, organized by dissident army officers, toppled the Nkrumah government on Feb. 24, 1966 and was promptly hailed by Western governments, including the U.S.

The documents appear in a collection of diplomatic and intelligence memos, telegrams, and reports on Africa in Foreign Relations of the United States, the government's ongoing official history of American foreign policy.

Prepared by the State Department's Office of the Historian, the latest volumes reflect the overt diplomacy and covert actions of President Lyndon B. Johnson's administration from 1964-68. Though published in November 1999, what they reveal about U.S. complicity in the Ghana coup was only recently noted.

Allegations of American involvement in the putsche arose almost immediately because of the well-known hostility of the U.S. to Nkrumah's socialist orientation and pan-African activism.

Nkrumah, himself, implicated the U.S. in his overthrow, and warned other African nations about what he saw as an emerging pattern.

"An all-out offensive is being waged against the progressive, independent states," he wrote in Dark Days in Ghana, his 1969 account of the Ghana coup. "All that has been needed was a small force of disciplined men to seize the key points of the capital city and to arrest the existing political leadership."

"It has been one of the tasks of the C.I.A. and other similar organisations," he noted, "to discover these potential quislings and traitors in our midst, and to encourage them, by bribery and the promise of political power, to destroy the constitutional government of their countries."

A Spook's Story While charges of U.S. involvement are not new, support for them was lacking until 1978, when anecdotal evidence was provided from an unlikely source�a former CIA case officer, John Stockwell, who reported first-hand testimony in his memoir, In Search of Enemies: A CIA Story.

"The inside story came to me," Stockwell wrote, "from an egotistical friend, who had been chief of the [CIA] station in Accra [Ghana] at the time." (Stockwell was stationed one country away in the Ivory Coast.)

Subsequent investigations by The New York Times and Covert Action Information Bulletin identified the station chief as Howard T. Banes, who operated undercover as a political officer in the U.S. Embassy.

This is how the ouster of Nkrumah was handled as Stockwell related. The Accra station was encouraged by headquarters to maintain contact with dissidents of the Ghanaian army for the purpose of gathering intelligence on their activities. It was given a generous budget, and maintained intimate contact with the plotters as a coup was hatched. So close was the station's involvement that it was able to coordinate the recovery of some classified Soviet military equipment by the United States as the coup took place.

According to Stockwell, Banes' sense of initiative knew no bounds. The station even proposed to headquarters through back channels that a squad be on hand at the moment of the coup to storm the [Communist] Chinese embassy, kill everyone inside, steal their secret records, and blow up the building to cover the facts.

Though the proposal was quashed, inside the CIA headquarters the Accra station was given full, if unofficial credit for the eventual coup, in which eight Soviet advisors were killed. None of this was adequately reflected in the agency's records, Stockwell wrote.

Confirmation and Revelation While the newly-released documents, written by a National Security Council staffer and unnamed CIA officers, confirm the essential outlines set forth by Nkrumah and Stockwell, they also provide additional, and chilling, details about what the U.S. government knew about the plot, when, and what it was prepared to do and did do to assist it.

On March 11, 1965, almost a year before the coup, William P. Mahoney, the U.S. ambassador to Ghana, participated in a candid discussion in Washington, D.C., with CIA Director John A. McCone and the deputy chief of the CIA's Africa division, whose name has been withheld.

Significantly, the Africa division was part of the CIA's directorate of plans, or dirty tricks component, through which the government pursued its covert policies.

According to the record of their meeting (Document 251), topic one was the "Coup d'etat Plot, Ghana." While Mahoney was satisfied that popular opinion was running strongly against Nkrumah and the economy of the country was in a precarious state, he was not convinced that the coup d'etat, now being planned by Acting Police Commissioner Harlley and Generals Otu and Ankrah, would necessarily take place.

Nevertheless, he confidently�and accurately, as it turned out�predicted that one way or another Nkrumah would be out within a year. Revealing the depth of embassy knowledge of the plot, Mahoney referred to a recent report which mentioned that the top coup conspirators were scheduled to meet on 10 March at which time they would determine the timing of the coup.

However, he warned, because of a tendency to procrastinate, any specific date they set should be accepted with reservations. In a reversal of what some would assume were the traditional roles of an ambassador and the CIA director, McCone asked Mahoney who would most likely succeed Nkrumah in the event of a coup.

Mahoney again correctly forecast the future: Ambassador Mahoney stated that initially, at least, a military junta would take over.

Making it Happen But Mahoney was not a prophet. Rather, he represented the commitment of the U.S. government, in coordination with other Western governments, to bring about Nkrumah's downfall.

Firstly, Mahoney recommended denying Ghana's forthcoming aid request in the interests of further weakening Nkrumah. He felt that there was little chance that either the Chinese Communists or the Soviets would in adequate measure come to Nkrumah's financial rescue and the British would continue to adopt a hard nose attitude toward providing further assistance to Ghana.

At the same time, it appears that Mahoney encouraged Nkrumah in the mistaken belief that both the U.S. and the U.K. would come to his financial rescue and proposed maintaining current U.S. aid levels and programs because they will endure and be remembered long after Nkrumah goes.

Secondly, Mahoney seems to have assumed the responsibility of increasing the pressure on Nkrumah and exploiting the probable results. This can be seen in his 50-minute meeting with Nkrumah three weeks later.

According to Mahoney's account of their April 2 discussion (Document 252), "at one point Nkrumah, who had been holding face in hands, looked up and I saw he was crying. With difficulty he said I could not understand the ordeal he had been through during last month. Recalling that there had been seven attempts on his life."

Mahoney did not attempt to discourage Nkrumah's fears, nor did he characterize them as unfounded in his report to his superiors.

"While Nkrumah apparently continues to have personal affection for me," he noted, "he seems as convinced as ever that the US is out to get him. From what he said about assassination attempts in March, it appears he still suspects US involvement."

Of course, the U.S. was out to get him. Moreover, Nkrumah was keenly aware of a recent African precedent that made the notion of a U.S.-organized or sanctioned assassination plot plausible�namely, the fate of the Congo and its first prime minister, his friend Patrice Lumumba.

Nkrumah believed that the destabilization of the Congolese government in 1960 and Lumumba's assassination in 1961 were the work of the "Invisible Government of the U.S.," as he wrote in Neocolonialism: The Last Stage of Imperialism, later in 1965.

When Lumumba's murder was announced, Nkrumah told students at the inauguration of an ideological institute that bore his name that this brutal murder should teach them the diabolical depths of degradation to which these twin-monsters of imperialism and colonialism can descend.

In his conclusion, Mahoney observed: "Nkrumah gave me the impression of being a badly frightened man. His emotional resources seem be running out. As pressures increase, we may expect more hysterical outbursts, many directed against US."

It was not necessary to add that he was helping to apply the pressure, nor that any hysterical outbursts by Nkrumah played into the West's projection of him as an unstable dictator, thus justifying his removal.

Smoking Gun On May 27, 1965, Robert W. Komer, a National Security Council staffer, briefed his boss, McGeorge Bundy, President Johnson's special assistant for national security affairs, on the anti-Nkrumah campaign (Document 253).

Komer, who first joined the White House as a member of President Kennedy's NSC staff, had worked as a CIA analyst for 15 years. In 1967, Johnson tapped him to head his hearts-and-minds pacification program in Vietnam.

Komer's report establishes that the effort was not only interagency, sanctioned by the White House and supervised by the State Department and CIA, but also intergovernmental, being supported by America's Western allies.

"FYI," he advised, "we may have a pro-Western coup in Ghana soon. Certain key military and police figures have been planning one for some time, and Ghana's deteriorating economic condition may provide the spark."

"The plotters are keeping us briefed," he noted, "and the State Department thinks we're more on the inside than the British. While we're not directly involved (I'm told), we and other Western countries (including France) have been helping to set up the situation by ignoring Nkrumah's pleas for economic aid. All in all, it looks good."

Komer's reference to not being told if the U.S. was directly involved in the coup plot is revealing and quite likely a wry nod to his CIA past.

Among the most deeply ingrained aspects of intelligence tradecraft and culture is plausible deniability, the habit of mind and practice designed to insulate the U.S., and particularly the president, from responsibility for particularly sensitive covert operations.

Komer would have known that orders such as the overthrow of Nkrumah would have been communicated in a deliberately vague, opaque, allusive, and indirect fashion, as Thomas Powers noted in The Man Who Kept the Secrets: Richard Helms and the CIA.

It would be unreasonable to argue that the U.S. was not directly involved when it created or exacerbated the conditions that favored a coup, and did so for the express purpose of bringing one about.

Truth and Consequences As it turned out, the coup did not occur for another nine months. After it did, Komer, now acting special assistant for national security affairs, wrote a congratulatory assessment to the President on March 12, 1966 (Document 260). His assessment of Nkrumah and his successors was telling.

"The coup in Ghana," he crowed, "is another example of a fortuitous windfall. Nkrumah was doing more to undermine our interests than any other black African. In reaction to his strongly pro-Communist leanings, the new military regime is almost pathetically pro-Western."

In this, Komer and Nkrumah were in agreement. "Where the more subtle methods of economic pressure and political subversion have failed to achieve the desired result," Nkrumah wrote from exile in Guinea three years later, "there has been resort to violence in order to promote a change of regime and prepare the way for the establishment of a puppet government."

Paul Lee is a historian, filmmaker, and freelance writer. He is Director of Best Efforts, Inc. (BEI), a professional research and consulting service that specializes in the recovery, preservation, and dissemination of global black history and culture. BEI offers "OurStory," a black history lecture series. You can reach him at besteffortsinc@yahoo.com.

Source:
Copyright �2001, Paul Lee

NPP’s Tribalism Re-surfaces - CPP

NPP’s Tribalism Re-surfaces - CPP
49 years ago the CPP founding fathers of our beloved Ghana dreamed and planned a nation where all the peoples and tribes of our nation shall live in harmony, with equality and social justice for all.

For this reason the CPP opted for and fought for the Unitary State that Ghana has today as opposed to a Federal State. The Unitary formula has served Ghana well and helped to avoid the tribal clashes that we have seen elsewhere in Africa.

The unity and harmony that Ghana enjoys has been threatened on many occasions since our independence, often by elements close to the antecedents of the ruling NPP Government. Every Ghanaian’s hope however is that our Political Parties and politicians will maintain the peace and harmony bequeathed to us by the CPP founders of our nation and nurture tribal harmony.

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) is in Government today and thus has seemingly come a long way to dispel a widely held perception that it is a tribal party. The Leadership of the NPP needs to be alerted to a resurgence of tribalistic tendencies within its ranks and from its supporters and sympathises who at every opportunity would seek to turn back the clock of peace and harmony. It is with grave concern that we bring to the attention of fellow Ghanaians how supporters of The NPP have taken advantage of the Press Statement by the CPP UK & Ireland, signed by its Regional Secretary Mr Kwami Agbodza - an Ewe from Kpando, to insult all Ewes as inward-looking, echoing the late Victor Owusu. The insults also echoes and confirms the view of Agbogbomefia of Asogli State, Togbe Afede XIV who recalled at the meeting with Dr. Addo Kufour, the tribal slogans that heralded the formation of the NPP as a political party in the 1990’s, and pointed out that a great majority of the people in the Volta Region were put off by the slogans like “Yeregye yen man” etc. The current insults even went further to use language that is unbecoming members of a ruling party. They then claimed that it was all in the name of politics thus further confirming the use of ethnicity in Ghanaian politics for the sake of political power. The attack came in the wake of the Statement of the CPP UK & Ireland that the Diaspora Vote Committee (DVC) is bogus and a democratic fraud and that the DVC has been lying that it represents the view of all Ghanaians in over 150 countries in the world including those in the UK.

Some of the very troubling insults couched in strong anti-Ewe language which has caused grave concern to the Leadership of the CPP UK & Ireland, can be found at http://www.ghanaweb.com/Ghana HomePage/ NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=99843, and read as follows ( with all the attendant errors verbatim): “Kwami Agbodza, It's not surprising to read this thrash from an "inward-looking" Ayigbe Rawlings school boy. It's a pity you have never voted in any Ghana elections and pathetically don't even realize what you lose by not voting.Avu kokulo!”;

“This illigal alien must be booted from uk or whereve he is to go back to serve his trokosi amaga to atone for his forefathers sin as prescribed amagas in volta region”;

“It's not surprising to read this thrash from this "inward-looking" Rawlings Ayigbe man.”; “You stupid ayigbeman, you rather wise up and grow up and stop being childish and naive.”; “What have you people got to offer mother Ghana apart from jealousy, hatred, violence and trokosi. Even the most educated among you, at the expense of the state, still expect handouts from the state. In the words of JFK, they have no knowledge of what they can do for their country but only think of what the country can do for them. Hence they stay at their so-called unmerited positions without any innovations or positive agenda to move the country forward but rest unashamedly on their farting asses and rust as well as waste the lives of the people around them. Such people are a waste to themselves, their own people, the tax payer and the state. Now what has Ayigbeland got to offer mother Ghana in terms of natural resources? Literally nothing. At least it was the cocoa and gold from the forests elsewhere in Ghana that sustained mother Ghana and continue to do so up to now and have enable those people from cocoa growing and gold producing areas to tolerate you parasites all along. Apart from hatred, jealousy, violence, tribalism, trokosi,intimidation and selfish, inward-looking individuals, ayigbeland cannot wholly boasts of anything meaningful. So you stop that loose talk and wise up? Please don't tempt people to say that some of you are generally a curse to mother Ghana”; “You want the repeat of 20 years of extra judicial killings. Executions without trial. Human rights violations. Disenfrichment of innocent citizens.

Unilateral consfication of personal properties. Which were hallmark of (p)ndc dominated ewes/ glorified ewe vampire cult with rawlings their high priest… Do you understand that Rawlings spared the ayigbe people and buchered some one in my family? You vampire pathological thief”.

The CPP UK & Ireland takes this opportunity to call on all Ghanaians from all ethnic groups whether busanga, wangara, mande-busanga, grusi, vagala, sisala, mo, kasena (paga), mole-dagbon, walba (wala), nanumba, nankansi and gurense, namnam (nabdon), mamprusi, kusasi, dagomba, dagarte (dagaba), builsa, (kangyaga or kanja), gurma, salfalba (sabulaba), pilapila, kyamba (tehamba, baasari), kokomba, bimoba, guan, yefi, Nchumuru, krachi, nkonya, gonja, cherepong, larte, anum, awutu, efutu, senya, avatime, nyongbo, tafi, akpafu, lolobi, likpe, ewe, ga-dangme, ga, dangme, wassa, sefwi, nzema, kwahu, fante, evalue, denkyira, chokosi, boron (brong) including banda, asen (assin), asante, aowin, akyem, akwamu, akuapem, ahanta, ahafo and agona among others, to rally behind the anti-racial and anti-ethnic philosophy of the Convention Peoples Party (CPP) to ask the NPP Leadership in Accra to categorically denounce such sentiments and to boldly assure the nation that tribalism would not be tolerated in its ranks. Kwame Nkrumah’s philosophy which was the basis of the founding of Ghana and can be found in his book Consciencism , teaches that all Ghanaians arise from the same matter and are therefore equal; that because, matter with its own pristine laws, in traditional African outlook, is seen as having an absolute and independent existence, with powers of self-motion that is the basis of categorial convertibility, Ghana for instance has many categories of ethnic groups without prejudice to their equality; so we are all one multi-ethnic nation with a common destiny and a common good and together, whether on the side of progressive forces or conservative forces, we can advance the nation Ghana free from the rancour of divisive ethnicity, of which the NPP have shown themselves to be crafters of as far back as the MateMeho terrorist days. The CPP UK & Ireland would like to point out that such language and intolerance from NPP supporters is unhealthy and can only lead to conflict with no particular ethnic group the winner, and thus in the interest of mother Ghana we call on The NPP Government to move swiftly and take action to disown such persons..

We certainly believe that only an Nkrumahist Government can safeguard the harmonies multi-ethnic legacy of Ghana from the NPP which as this incidence shows has time and time again shown its true colours to be be that of one-party, one-tribe and Conservative dominated state. We call on all Ghanaians for the sake of the common good to, as a first step put pressure on the NPP and their supporters to turn away from such sentiments, but ultimately to put a progressive Nkrumaist government into office in January 2009.

We call on all Nkrumahists to discuss with immediate effect, all issues to do with how - what we can do or what can be done – to get an Nkrumahist government into office in January 2009 , as the basis of our activism towards rooting out NPP tribalistic compassionate conservatism.

International Nkrumaists across the globe, our friends and sympathisers in Asia, Europe and the United States of America amongst others, in the light of the African Identity, in the love of the African Brotherhood, in the self-determination of the African Personality and in the plan and power of the African Social and Economic Reconstruction, wish Ghana well in the full knowledge that it is only an Nkrumaist Government that can rebuild Ghana our beloved nation.

The CPP rejects tribalism in Ghana and elsewhere.

Signed:

Nii Armah Akomfrah,
Chairman, CPP UK & Ireland Branch
cppuk@hotmail.com

Source:
CPP UK & Ireland Branch

06 March 2006

Independence Day Message From CPP


Independence Day Message From CPP
Ghanaians urged to be committed to Nkrumah's policies

Accra, March, 6, GNA - The Convention Peoples Party (CPP) on Sunday entreated Ghanaians to be committed to Dr Nkrumah's policy of Pan Africanism and emancipation of the oppressed and the underprivileged. They further urged the youth to rededicate themselves to the struggle for economic liberation of the continent as Ghana celebrates her 49th anniversary.

A statement issued and signed by Nii Noi Dowuona, General Secretary of the party said it was the CPP's expectation that the remaining hurdles in the path of total continental union would be cleared within the shortest possible time to free people from the weakened effects of neo-colonialism and globalisation.

The statement said next year marks the 50th anniversary of the attainment of independence and called on all Nkrumaists to gather under the CPP and urged other political parties, organizations and groupings to bury all differences and petty ambitions to pave way for the grand unity that has eluded the country since 1992.

A broad platform for the mobilization of all human and material resources must be created to transform the CPP to its original status as the most powerful and winsome political force. It said the role played by Ghana in the attainment of political independence of the whole continent under the leadership of Dr Kwame Nkrumah would never be forgotten in the annals of African political history.

"The fact that we consider our independence meaningless unless it was linked with the total liberation of Africa established the qualities of selflessness and commitment towards political emancipation, which inspired all countries in Africa then under colonial rule to strive for independence," the statement said

Ghana blazed the trail in Africa, south of the Sahara in becoming the first African country to attain political independence 49 years ago, the CPP said and adding, "We must consider ourselves fortunate for the leadership of the great Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah and his lieutenants at the most important time in our history. The CPP wished Ghanaians a happy anniversary, while saluting all fallen heroes, sons and daughters who fought for Ghana's independence.

Source:
GNA

Independence Day Message From Boakye Djan

Independence Day Message From Boakye Djan
6th March 2006 Message To Ghanaians: Prepare To Fight For The New Freedom
Fellow Ghanaians,

On the occasion of the 49th Anniversary of Ghana’s Independence, let us all remember the essence of the Struggle for the old freedom from colonialism to independent Ghana led by Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah: self-determination, progressive development and unitarism.

In less than three years from now Ghanaians will have the opportunity to fight once again for Ghana’s policy freedom on a single political platform of Nkrumaists United for Government.

Thus, whilst we celebrate this 6th March anniversary, let us remind ourselves that Dr. Kwame Nkrumah’s philosophy and ideology has living roots in Ghanaian life and Ghanaian society today. During the celebration for instance, we shall all witness the equal treatment of all religions in the nation he founded, derived from Dr. Nkrumah’s own Consciencism, which accepts the equality of all human beings whether Christian, Moslem or Traditionalist. Ghana’s national foundation was built on this fundamental principle of human and ethnic equality.

Under an Nkrumaist Government, Nkrumaism, born of the fire of our contemporary struggles against poverty, ethnic divisions and corrupt governance, will be made a reality. This will be contrary to those who believe in the annual ritual of arranging and classifying Nkrumaism with the delicate care lavished on museum pieces and historical relics. Many, as you know, talk of Kwame Nkrumah mainly or only in the past tense but never tell us of Nkrumaism for future political action: an Nkrumaist Government in Ghana as early as 2009 for instance.

Together, Fellow Ghanaians, armed with a progressive programme behind which all the positive forces of our beloved nation will be united, let us all prepare to fight in the coming 2008 electoral contest against negative forces to free Ghana from the two-party liberal (NDC)-conservative (NPP) domination to a three way contest between progressives, liberals and conservatives and to bring Ghana the new freedom from poverty into wealth.

For now, let us all make the best of this independence day of 6th March 2006.

May God Our Father, Allah the Ever Compassionate and Ever Merciful and All Our Ancestors bless you all.

Thank you.

Osahene Boakye Djan,
Presidential Candidate, Campaign of Nkrumaists United for Government (CNUG) 2009.

For more information please contact the Campaign of Nkrumaists United for Government 2009 at Email address: campaign_nug2009@yahoo.co.uk

Source:
Osahene Boakye Djan

03 March 2006

Socialists launch booklet on overthrow of Nkrumah

Socialists launch booklet on overthrow of Nkrumah

Accra, March 3, GNA - The Socialist Forum of Ghana on Friday launched "The Great Deception" a booklet that tells the facts behind the overthrow of Ghana's First President, Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah. The 104-paged booklet has documents and published materials that established the collaboration between the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the right wing forces to subvert the economy and peaceful development of Ghana through the overthrow of the Osagyefo Dr Nkrumah's Government.

Professor Ama Ata Aidoo, renowned Writer, who chaired the launching of the compilation by the Forum, said it was good that such a booklet was being launched to inform the people, particularly the young ones about the real facts behind the demise of the First Republic. "This book gives something to look at... where we are coming from and be guided by it", she noted, urging all people, especially journalists to adopt the reading habit so that they could be well-informed on issues.

She said Dr Nkrumah did so many good things but the three main events that really brought him down were his declaring Ghana as a one-party state; declaring himself as a life President and the introduction of the Prevention Detention Act, which was abused by detaining his opponents without trial. "These are all facts that must be accepted by all Nkumahists and others so that the right lessons could be learnt from it", Prof Aidoo concluded.

Professor Ansa K. Asare, a Lecturer at the University of Ghana, Legon, who together with Professor Aidoo and Mr Kwasi Pratt Jnr, Communications Director of Convention Peoples' Party (CPP), launched the booklet, said all citizens including those of Danquah-Busia Tradition should get a copy of the book and read so that they would know the truth.

The booklet, which is priced at 30,000 cedis a copy, would be re-launched at all regional capitals with copies kept at various bookshops of the Universities in the country.

Source:
GNA

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