Former President John Mahama has taken to his social media page to recall the overthrown of the President Kwame Nkrumah’s government in 1966 as today marks exactly 57years since that sad day.
According to him, the “Danquah-Busia political tradition [now the ruling New Patriotic Party – NPP) conspired with external intelligence agencies to initiate Ghana’s first coup d’etat, which toppled the government of our first President, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.”
He also said “This coup was achieved through a conscious and constant campaign of falsehood and calumny” adding that “As a former President of Ghana who has also been at the receiving end of the Danquah-Busia tradition’s campaign of slander and sabotage, I can empathise completely with the quandary President Nkrumah found himself in.”
He however said, “The perpetrators woefully failed to liberate Ghana as they had promised. They instead initiated a long nightmare that destroyed Nkrumah’s vision for Ghana and Africa.”
Read his full post:
57 years ago today, 24th February 1966, the Danquah-Busia political tradition conspired with external intelligence agencies to initiate Ghana’s first coup d’etat, which toppled the government of our first President, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.
This coup was achieved through a conscious and constant campaign of falsehood and calumny.
As a former President of Ghana who has also been at the receiving end of the Danquah-Busia tradition’s campaign of slander and sabotage, I can empathise completely with the quandary President Nkrumah found himself in.
In 1966, I was a young boy still in primary school. But I remember highlights of the dark days that followed the February 24, 1966 coup.
The perpetrators woefully failed to liberate Ghana as they had promised. They instead initiated a long nightmare that destroyed Nkrumah’s vision for Ghana and Africa.
As today marks 57 years of that coup d’etat, I call on all fellow Ghanaians and our patriotic security agencies and armed forces to mark this day as one of reflection and to remain loyal to the 1992 Constitution as we begin the task of rescuing our dear nation from the dark pit the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has plunged us into.
I further urge all Africans to give meaningful democracy a chance, the very reason for which I am presently here in Nigeria as Head of the West African Elders Forum on an election mediation mission, as the country votes on Saturday.
No civilian administration can repair the damage done to that nation even in three decades. To do that the constitution must be revamped to pave the way for a complete overhaul of Akufo-Addo’s kangaroo justice system in his banana republic, as well as positions created for his family and friends. The political vigilante thugs thrown into the security forces must be cleaned up, the political thieves and looters as well as embezzlers in the public service must be brought to book, and no “scratch my back I scratch your back” practices. And a determined introduction of patriotism trainings for ALL public and private workers in addition to EFFECTIVE CIVIC EDUCATION lessons right from kindergarten to tertiary institutions. Which civilian administration will have the courage to do all of that? Even if they do the existing Kangaroo justice system populated by Akufo-Addo’s judges will block them big time. That’s why they put them there to cover their asses. Mark it!