Ghana Gains Independence under the Leadership of Kwame Nkrumah

Ghana Gains Independence under the Leadership of Kwame Nkrumah

On 6 March 1957, the Gold Coast (now known as Ghana) gained independence from Britain. Ghana became a member of the Commonwealth of Nations and was led to independence by Kwame Nkrumah who transformed the country into a republic, with himself as President-for-Life. The country was the first to gain independence from European colonialism. The flag of the newly independent state was designed with red, which signified those who had died for independence, the gold as the mineral wealth and with the green representing the rich grasslands of the area. The black star became the symbol of the people and of African emancipation.

Kwame Nkrumah, who was born on 21 September 1909, was a Ghanaian politician and a revolutionary. He was the first Prime Minister and President of Ghana, having led the Gold Coast to independence from Britain in 1957. An influential advocate of Pan-Africanism, Nkrumah was a founding member of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) and winner of the Lenin Peace Prize from the Soviet Union in 1962.

After twelve years abroad pursuing higher education, developing his political philosophy, and organising with other diasporic pan-Africanists, Nkrumah returned to the Gold Coast in 1947 to begin his political career as Secretary of the United Gold Coast Convention and an advocate of national independence. He was imprisoned until 1951, and after his release he formed the Convention People’s Party, which achieved rapid success through its unprecedented appeal to the common voter. He became Prime Minister in 1952 and retained the position when Ghana declared independence from Britain in 1957. In 1960, Ghanaians approved a new constitution and elected Nkrumah as President.

According to The African Communist, “It was not only the chance of timing however which placed Ghana in the forefront of the African Revolution. Kwame Nkrumah reiterated time and again that the emancipation of Ghana was only meaningful in the overall context of African freedom and unity. His militant call for united struggle against colonialism and neo-colonialism, his powerful advocacy of a common front for the complete uprooting of imperialist survivals and white supremacy regimes throughout our continent, made him the pace-setter in the formation of the Organisation of African Unity in 1953, in the making of its founding Charter and earlier revolutionary policies” (Editorial, No. 50, Third Quarter 1972).

His administration was primarily socialist as well as nationalist. It funded national industrial and energy projects, developed a strong national education system and promoted a pan-Africanist culture. Under Nkrumah, Ghana played a leading role in African international relations during the decolonisation period. In 1964, a constitutional amendment made Ghana a one-party state, with Nkrumah as president for life of both the nation and its party. Diplomatic relations with the West seemed to deteriorate, with Nkrumah’s publication of his seminal work, “Neo-Colonialism: The Last Stage of Imperialism” in 1965, and his criticism of Britain’s response to the secession of White Rhodesia.. “It was for these things that the imperialists hated Nkrumah, that they reviled and maligned him, conspired time and again among themselves and with the unpatriotic forces of internal reaction …” (The African Communist).

In February 1966, while Nkrumah was on a state visit to North Vietnam and China, his government was overthrown in a violent coup d’état led by the national military and police forces, with backing from the civil service. Nkrumah alluded to American involvement in the coup, which was codenamed “Operation Cold Chop”, that agents at the Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) Accra station “maintained intimate contact with the plotters as a coup was hatched”. The National Liberation Council that took over after Nkrumah was deposed came under the supervision of international financial institutions, and as soon as they took over, they privatised many of the country’s state corporations.

The coup was led by Colonel Emmanuel Kwasi Katoka and Brigadier Akwasi Afrifan, with the resultant National Liberation Council chaired by Lieutenant General Joseph A. Ankrah. Following the coup, Ghana realigned itself internationally, cutting its close ties to Guinea and the Eastern Bloc countries, accepting a new friendship with the Western Bloc, and inviting the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank to take a leading role in managing the economy. With this reversal, accentuated by the expulsion of immigrants and a new willingness to negotiate with apartheid South Africa, Ghana lost a good deal of its stature in the eyes of African nationalists and revolutionaries.

From 1966 onwards, a series of alternating military and civilian governments ruled Ghana, often affected by economic instabilities. Ultimately, politics in the country culminated in the ascent to power of Flight Lieutenant Jerry John Rawling of the Provisional National Defence Council in 1981. These changes resulted in the suspension of the constitution in 1981 and the banning of all political parties. A multi-party system was restored with the promulgation of a new constitution and the presidential elections of 1992, in which Rawlings was elected, and was re-elected again in the 1996 general elections.

Nkrumah lived the rest of his life in exile in Conakry, Guinea, as the guest of President Ahmed Sékou Touré, who made him “Honorary Co-President” of the country. He never returned to Ghana, but he continued to push for his vision of African unity. According to intelligence documents released by the United States Department of State’s Office of the Historian, “Nkrumah was doing more to undermine [U.S. government] interests than any other black African”.

When his cook died mysteriously, he suspected that foreign agents were going to abduct and assassinate him. In failing health, he flew to Bucharest, Romania, for medical treatment in August 1971. Ultimately, on 27 April 1972, he died of prostate cancer at the age of 62 while in Romania. Nkrumah was buried in a tomb in the village of his birth, Nkroful, in Ghana. His remains were transferred to a large national memorial tomb and park in Accra.

“There can be no doubt that the broad main road of socialism and African unity for which Nkrumah fought with such ability and conviction is the only way to a free, happy and independent future for our people. It is for that that Africa will ever honour his memory” (The African Communist).

Sources:
Wikipedia.
Editorial, “The African Communist”, No. 50, Third Quarter 1972.

Castro Khwela
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