THE ASSASSINATION OF NKRUMAH’S DREAM

On February 24, 1966, the first President of Ghana, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, was removed from office through a joint military and police coup. The overthrow of the Convention People’s Party (CPP) government 53years ago is regrettable, to say the least.
In 1956, the CPP won the Legislative Election leading to independence and Kwame Nkrumah became the first Prime Minister of Ghana. He was later elected President of the first Republic in 1960.
According to declassified documents from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the United States, France and Britain had been trying to truncate Nkrumah’s regime since 1964.
President Nkrumah was seen as an ally of erstwhile Soviet Union and the Eastern Europe. But the pan-African leader declared his position in one of his famous statements, “We neither face East nor West; we face forward”.
At the invitation of President Ho Chi Minh, Dr. Nkrumah left Ghana for Hanoi on February 21, 1966, to resolve the Vietnam War. Since the country had no vice president, Ghana was left in the control of a three-man Presidential Commission.
Consequently, the CIA-backed coup in Ghana was carried out at the dawn of February 24, 1966, while Nkrumah was still on a peace mission in Southeast Asia. And that became the end of Nkrumah’s political career in Ghana.
The masterminds of the 1966 revolution were Col. E.K. Kotoka, Major A.A. Afrifa, and Mr. J.W.K. Harley, the then Inspector-General of Police. The bloody coup d’état that toppled the first Republican Constitution of Ghana was codenamed ‘Operation Cold Chop’.
The rationale behind the coup
In the early morning hours of February 24, 1966, Col. Kotoka of the 2nd Infantry Brigade is quoted to have announced on Radio Ghana that, “Kwame Nkrumah is overthrown, and the myth surrounding him is broken”.
One may ask the question, what inspired the security officers to overthrow Osagyefo Dr. Nkrumah? And on what basis can the coup be said to be justified?
The famous coup-makers cited Nkrumah’s Preventive Detection Act (PDA), mismanagement, dictatorial practices, abuse of human rights, oppression and the deteriorating economy of Ghana as the principal reasons for the uprising.
Just to play the devil’s advocate. How did the revolution contribute towards national development? Did the country’s fortunes improve in any way after Nkrumah’s administration was deposed? Obviously, your guess is as good as mine, even till now this same accusations are being used to change government in our so called Democratic rule.

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