From the time he became the President of Ghana, many pundits and respected world leaders have compared John Mahama to the Greatest African, Dr Nkrumah. Yes, Nkrumah will forever remain the greatest Blackman. Some supporters, admirers and neutrals analysts tend to point to resoluteness when it comes to taking difficult decision. John Mahama just like his political godfather Nkrumah, showed great compassion for the poor and the downtrodden. He had personal connect with them.
He reached out to the poor not just for votes, but because he felt for them and they reciprocated. Anyone wanting to emulate Nkrumah should know that his legacy is not about the headlines grabbing events, but includes his love for his fellow citizens, especially the voiceless and the powerless. That was exactly what John Mahama did his four years. What happened in Ghana between 1966 and 1972 is exactly, what we witnessing in Ghana today. The lies the UP elements told Ghanaians about Nkrumah and the Cpp and how the destroyed Ghana when Ghanaians gave them the opportunity to exhibit the skills they preached for decades.
When we talk about great leaders, Nkrumah and his political son are the first few names which strikes in our mind. Both led many nationwide campaigns to ease poverty, eliminate injustice of human right. Nkrumah gave us our independence, and Mahama reactivated Pan Africanism in Ghana and beyond. Leaders of the coup that overthrew Nkrumah immediately banned the Cpp and everything connected to Nkrumah. The man who gave us our independence lived in exile till his death. Nkrumah achieved remarkable successes including the independence,the development projects including the schools, roads, hospitals, the silos, the factories etc.
He also built the Tema Harbour, Tema township, Tema motorway, Komfo Anokye Hospital, University of science and technology (KNUST), University of Cape Coast, Akosombo Dam, Adome bridge. The forebears of the Npp vehemently opposed implementation of these laudable projects and incited Ghanaians to oppose the implementation of these projects. Some of these projects remain our source of revenue generation and pillars of the economy. The Tema Port which was vehemently condemned by the UP elements still remains one our sources of revenue generation.
Nkrumah built tomatoes and mango canning plant at Wenchi the home base of Busia which had a capacity to process 5,000 tons of tomatoes and 7,000 tons of tomatoes each year. He built a sugar factory at Asutuare, built a cattle hide leather shoe complex. He sited the slaughter house in the north of Bolgatanga, Kade matches factory etc etc. He established a state airline (Ghana Airways). His opponents told Ghanaians lies about him just like the Npp did to Mahama between 2012 and 2016. They collaborated with the imperialists forces to sabotage economic policies of Nkrumah and lies to Ghanaians about his person and his administration. The NPP in collaboration with some external forces, fake civil society organizations, fake neutrals did same to John Mahama and his administration. The world bank in their report had revealed that Africa needed over $90 billion annually for its infrastructure projects before it can take pace with the rest of the world in terms of economic development but these neutrals some who were in the academia rubbished Mahama’s massive infrastructure projects.
They levelled false corruption allegations against John Mahama and his appointees and forcefully, buried all his achievements with their lies and false allegations. Just like the Npp, Busia and his UP elements told Ghanaians that borrowing was a political crime and chastised Nkrumah for borrowing to build infrastructure. By 1971 the Busia administration had inflated our debt by $72 million in accrued interest payments, and $296 million in short term commercial credits. inflation jumped up. The austerity measures introduced by the Busia administration worsened the economic situation. Wage freezes, tax increases, currency devaluation and rising import prices by the Busia administration, precipitated protest from the Trade Union Congress. In response, the government sent the army to occupy the TUC headquarters and detained some of its leaders. The man who described Nkrumah as a dictator, could not avoid his clash with the judges in the famous Sallah case. He assured the TUC that he will offer them all the support they needed and increase salaries of but he rather repealed the TUC compulsory membership law which led to the TUC shrunk from 700,000 to 300,000. The year between 1966 and 1970 saw a large number of unauthorized strikes.
In 1971, Busia who assured Ghanaians was coming improve their lives, announced that there was a balance of payment problem. The man who vehemently condemned Nkrumah for relying on external support, accepted that external support was necessary to support his government. All requests to their allies including Britain, US etc were rejected because of the administration’s economic policies and human right abuses. in 1971, Nixon rejected a credit facility of up to $54 million from ACB.
The 1972 air is blowing all over. Ghanaians want the Akufo Addo government out. I cannot end this article without my 24 gun salute to my founder and one of the heroes of our time.