tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7618276.post114162145376814256..comments2024-03-14T05:19:03.379-05:00Comments on Koranteng's Toli: Africa, 1966Korantenghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05280138409675883100noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7618276.post-1142278642303021902006-03-13T13:37:00.000-06:002006-03-13T13:37:00.000-06:00In response to Mr. Bensah's comments on the commen...In response to Mr. Bensah's comments on the comments I made to this blog earlier, I submitted the following to his blog. I'm copying my comments to your blog because he posts here as well.<BR/><BR/>Below is a copy of my quote on his blog:<BR/><BR/>This is reasoning-lite. When I say Nkrumah had alienated "significant portions of the Ghanaian populace," your response should be the citation of a poll that refutes my assertion. Or better yet, the results of a free and fair election that was contested by any Ghanaian who met the Constitutional requirements, within a multiparty state. This latter condition couldn't have been met because your idol had foreclosed that option. Would you seriously prefer to live in a one-party state today? Saying that Nkrumah made mistakes because he was "human," and believing that that absolves him of critical judgement just opens the floodgates for each and every dictator and historical miscreant, starting, let's say, from Genghis Khan to Pol Pot to wash away their sins.<BR/><BR/>Your calumny against JB Danquah should not go unanswered. I'm not an expert in the history of that period, so I throw out a challenge to anyone who is to come set the record straight.<BR/><BR/>You might as well say that Nkrumah's tilt toward...what?...I'd say the senseless cult of egomaniacal personality placed him in the pay of his Soviet masters, who in the end had to provide guards to protect him from Ghanaians. Isn't that rich in irony?<BR/><BR/>All of Nkrumah's so-called achievements do bear scrutiny, there can't be any doubt that the record is mixed. There is no question that the trajectory of the country at the time of his ouster was not a pleasant one. Having said all of this, though, I think that the sooner Ghana gets over this and seizes a true destiny away from false nostalgia the better.<BR/><BR/>Lastly, I hope you don't really believe that being an intellectual with a Ph.D (of course, Nkrumah didn't even have that, I believe, what he had was a honorary degree - which really doesn't entitle one to call oneself "Dr." - and his calling himself such was the regrettable beginning of Ghana's worship of the fatted calf of the golden Ph.D idol) and a student of Theology qualifies a person to be a good head of state.Dia&Kofihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15541075908131234244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7618276.post-1142252926211372372006-03-13T06:28:00.000-06:002006-03-13T06:28:00.000-06:00"deeply alienated from significant portions of the..."<I>deeply alienated from significant portions of the Ghanaian populace</I>" That is a serious fallacy. Nkrumah was a man of the people. Even JB Danquah, hailed as the doyen of Ghanaian politics, as much supported this when he said that "even if we fail you, Nkrumah won't."<BR/><BR/>I know this, not just because my paternal grandfather worked with the Nkrumah regime, but also because I have in front of me the book, published by the Socialist Forum here in Ghana, entitled "The Great Deception: The Role of teh CIA and Rightwing forces in the overthrow of Nkrumah". <BR/><BR/>It contains de-classified documents by the CIA, with extracts of letters wwritten by Nkrumah to the US government about his aspirations for Ghana, and by extension Pan-AFrican movement.<BR/><BR/>Not only that, but documentary evidence of the same JB Danquah going to the new US ammbassador to Ghana demanding why his pay from the US government was not forthcoming!!!!<BR/><BR/>I feel the heat here in Ghana, because somehow, somewhere, the acceptance by both parties that Nkrumah was a great man, with all his flaws--the Preventive Detention Act of 1958 for example was deemed a mistake, but was used in equal measure by the British over Northern Ireland in the seventies -- is coming into form.<BR/><BR/>Both the NDC, and even the ruling NPP, have recently accepted that Nkrumah was a great man.<BR/><BR/>Finally, I do not think that you have to be a socialist to appreciate the magnitude of social development Nkrumah brought to Ghana. SO, statements like "<I>the economy tanking under the weight of socialist central planning nostrums, trusting in the show of force represented by military support</I>" that amazeddad makes isn't just fallacious, it is a great disservice to the memory of not just the founding father of Ghana, but ALSO of Pan-Africanism.<BR/><BR/>I must preface all this by saying that I am an amateur diplomatic historian by training, so the ideas over bias are not lost on me. To boot I challenge <I>anyone</I> to provide PROOF that Nkrumah can be likened to those dictators like Mobutu and Bokassa who seriously regressed Africa.<BR/><BR/>Thta's my two cents, cheers!!Emmanuel.K.Bensah IIhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18425904642659360906noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7618276.post-1142184815577702062006-03-12T11:33:00.000-06:002006-03-12T11:33:00.000-06:00For all who have had to leave Africa –under whatev...For all who have had to leave Africa –under whatever circumstances - this may be a very inspiring poem. <BR/><BR/> The Dignity of Vision By Rev P E Adotey Addo<BR/><BR/> <BR/><BR/>To Ghana our hearts and souls belong, our dreams of old and new.<BR/>Your sacred grounds receiving our libations as you did our mothers and fathers.<BR/>Hopes never faltering while heeding the wisdom of the ancients.<BR/>The sacred drums will beat as we feed from our mothers’ breasts<BR/> While our fathers nurture our visions old and new against all odds.<BR/>With perseverance, trust, honesty, keen foresight and compassion<BR/> We pledge our commitment to a prosperous and brighter future.<BR/> So watch over our tomorrows until you claim us back again<BR/> Lest we forget, lest we perish.<BR/><BR/> <BR/><BR/>Dedicated to The Ghanaian Students @ Cornell University Ithaca New York.And all Ghanaians everywhere.As the Keynote speaker :<BR/><BR/>On The 49th Independence Celebration of The Republic Of Ghana March 4th 2006. All Rights ReservedAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7618276.post-1141764105805857392006-03-07T14:41:00.000-06:002006-03-07T14:41:00.000-06:00Picture of Nkrumah with military brass says it all...Picture of Nkrumah with military brass says it all. At the end, deeply alienated from significant portions of the Ghanaian populace, the economy tanking under the weight of socialist central planning nostrums, trusting in the show of force represented by military support, brandishing the mystical hokum-bunkum of the white tail, Nkrumah was an overripe fruit waiting to fall.Dia&Kofihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15541075908131234244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7618276.post-1141676973830013442006-03-06T14:29:00.000-06:002006-03-06T14:29:00.000-06:00great find! reading voraciously:)great find! reading voraciously:)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com