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Kwame Nkrumah Destooled
Chiefs - In His Own Immortal Words (Part 2)
Prof. Lungu
November 29, 2016
(Memo: 24 March, 1962)
Continuing...
We noted in Part I that
Dr. Kwame Nkrumah understood there is public policy; there
is partisan policy; and there are matters that are personal.
That is another important principle, if you care for
any Nation!
Now, official records, this time from
Ghana, show that under authority of the Unitary state, Kwame
Nkrumah's government addressed the question of members of
the national Council who were perpetually absent from
meetings and neglected their duties to the people/public who
elected them as a result.
In 1958, about the same
time as Busia was sending secret telegrams to Washington,
the CPP government passed a law. That law provided that if a
member of the national Council was absent from post more
than 20 sittings without good reason, that member
automatically lost their seat. The 1958 law applied directly
to Busia, just as to any other councilor; to any member who
would leave Ghana months-on-end; to anyone who failed to
attend to their public duties for which they were
compensated - for their own private gain and personal
interest.
We imagine this was not pleasant to the
ears of Kofi Abrefa Busia, the secret telegram aficionado!
Moreover, many of these same latter-day Nkrumah bashers
conveniently "forget" that the British, the colonial
authority, destooled many chiefs, even exiled them, before
Unitary Ghana.
More directly related to the current
matter, under authority of the Unitary state, Kwame
Nkrumah's government also laid down the policy on errant
chiefs who, in further pursuit of their own personal
matters, misused their authority and official position. When
J.B. Danquah continued propagating confederate-matemeho
propaganda to chiefs, among them Busia-NLM-sympathizer the
Okyenhene of Akyem Abuakwa, while they rejected the
authority of the Unitary state under a democratically
elected government, the CPP government under Kwame Nkrumah
acted swiftly. Among the CPP actions was removal of those
errant chiefs; down-grading of recalcitrant paramount
chiefs; the establishment of Regional Houses of Chiefs;
establishment of the National House of Chief.
Those
Houses of Chiefs exist practically as they were
conceptualized and implemented by Kwame Nkrumah's CPP.
As Johannes Knierzinger (2011) observed, critically:
"...Interestingly enough, the right to withdraw
recognition from a chief, which Nkrumah had used to crush
the chiefs, wasn’t abolished by the NLC regime and the
following government under Busia...//...From 1969 to 1972,
he (Edward Akufo‐ Addo) even became Ceremonial President of
Ghana, alongside Busia, who held all the executive powers as
Prime Minister. This means that the very clan who had fought
fiercely against Nkrumah and for an independent Akyem
Abuakwa under the Okyenhene Nana Ofori Atta II now ruled the
country. Nana Ofori Atta II returned as the leader of the
Akyem, whereas Edward Akufo‐Addo, the son‐in‐law of the
former Okyenhene Nana Ofori Atta I, became President and
Chairman of the Constitutional Commission. But even this set
of circumstances didn’t lead to a reassertion of chieftaincy
in national politics...".
That is a neutral observer
speaking, critically.
That is not Prof Lungu
speaking!
Fact is, Busia and his NLC coup plotters
destooled chiefs many more chiefs for political reasons. And
the Chiefs they installed remained subservient to Unitary
Ghana under their Johnson-CIA sponsored coup on Nkrumah's
Ghana.
So, under Unitary Ghana and the destoolment of
Chief, who is trying to fool who, Okoampa-Ahoofe?
Hogwash!
Dear reader, there was also this other class
of "chiefs" and "chi ef-wanna-bees" whose nefarious
activities earned righteous outrage of Nkrumah's CPP and
thus public policy response under the same Unitary Ghana
construct.
According to population records, there
were approximately 219,000 living in the City of Kumasi in
1960. This compared to nearly 416,000 in urban dwellers in
the Accra-Tema metropolitan area, compared to
Sekondi-Takoradi (124,000), and Tamale (41,000).
At a
civic luncheon 24 Mar 62 to formally designate Kumasi as a
"City", most likely on attainment of the 200,000 population
threshold and significant progress with respect to
infrastructural development, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah made the
following Ghana-centered statement on the subject of errant
"chiefs" with real or apparent connections to the CPP:
MEMO -- READ WORDS & EXCERPTS FROM 1962 SPEECH BY
DR. KWAME NKRUMAH IN KUMASI:
"....I am grateful for
the address of welcome which has just been presented to me.
I also thank you for this fine reception, and the many
expressions of loyalty and confidence in the Party and
Government which have been made.
I have listened with
great interest to the history of this Municipality which has
been recounted. The improvements and the development
projects which have taken place in Kumasi in recent years,
represent a magnificent record, and bear testimony to the
dynamism of our great Party.
Everybody knows of the
horrible atrocities and treacherous manoeuvres which took
place in Kumasi and in many parts of Ashanti before, and
even after our independence. You, Mr. Chairman, have
declared in your address that there has been a change of
heart in Ashanti. I accept this assurance. Indeed, the fact
that I have come here today to declare Kumasi a City should
be sufficient confirmation that the Party and the Government
recognize this change of heart.
But Mr. Chairman and
friends, at a time like this, when Kumasi assumes the great
responsibility of a new and higher status, it is of the
utmost importance that we should all place our cards on the
table face upwards, and do some plain speaking on matters
that might operate to obstruct the success, not only of this
new city, but indeed of the country as a whole.
I
must say that I personally am disturbed by certain
tendencies on the part of some Party comrades and
councillors. Here in Ashanti, and to some extent, in other
parts of the country, matters relating to chieftaincy are
causing a great deal of unrest and strife in our Party. This
is an unfortunate position and must be corrected promptly.
Here and there a chief’s stool becomes vacant. Two Party
comrades contest for enstoolment. One succeeds. Immediately,
the loser of the stool contest becomes aggrieved and turns
against the Party and Government. Not only that, he at once
sets out to undermine the successful comrade who has been
enstooled. Both of them have supporters on their sides so
unnecessary strife ensues and the Party splits over this
issue of chieftaincy.
In future, the Party and
Government will take a very serious view of such matters and
adopt very drastic measures to correct this state of affairs
in our towns and villages. Government will for instance
quickly remove any person from a traditional area who
indulges in such disruptive activities and thereby tends to
undermine not only the progress and prosperity of the
villages and towns but also, the solidarity of the Party....
And now, it gives me great pleasure to declare formally,
the elevation of Kumasi to the honourable status of a City.
I am confident that the Council and the citizens of this
City will prove themselves worthy of the high honour and
distinction conferred on them today...," (Kwame Nkrumah, 24
Mar 62).
Period!
End!
So
you have it, dear reader: The public policy of the CPP with
respect to wayward NLM sympathizers pretending to be chiefs
and members of the CPP who would attempt to bring the name
of the chieftaincy institution into disrepute and disrupt
public order, by assuming stools to which they had no
connections.
Now, tell us Dr. Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe,
how many chiefs were destooled by Kwame Nkrumah, not Busia,
and how many were re-enstooled by Kofi Abrefa Busia in 1969
and given the same authority they used to have, when Busia
had all the power in Unitary Ghana?
Data-deficient
hogwash (DDH)!
Truly!
NOTES/SOURCES:
1. Prof Lungu. Kwame Nkrumah destooled
chiefs in his own immortal words, (Part 2), ModernGhana,
(www.modernghana.com/news/737383/kwame-nkrumah-destooled-chiefs-in-his-own-immortal-words.html).
2. Prof Lungu. Nonentities, liars, and crooks (NLC)
destroyed Nkrumah's Ghana, 6 Oct 15,
(http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/features/Nonentities-liars-and-crooks-NLC-destroyed-Nkrumah-s-Ghana-386072).
3. Danquah-Busia-Dumbo confederates should apologize for
plunging Ghana in chaos, Nkrumah Was Not Prepared To Govern
For Dummies: The Essentials! A 2015 Founder's Day, 25 Sep
15.
(https://www.newsghana.com.gh/danquah-busia-dumbo-confederates-should-apologize-for-plunging-ghana-in-chaos/).
4. Exclusive: Nana Akufo-Addo on Ghana's New Beginning -
Opinion, 18 Nov 16, Newsweek,
(http://www.newsweek.com/ghana-decides-nana-akufo-addo-fresh-beginning-awaiting-ghana-521291).
5. Knierzinger, Johannes, 2011: Chieftaincy and
Development in Ghana: From Political Intermediaries to
Neotraditional Development Brokers. Arbeitspapiere des
Instituts für Ethnologie und Afrikastudien der Johannes
GutenbergUniversität Mainz (Working Papers of the Department
of Anthropology and African Studies of the Johannes
Gutenberg University Mainz).
SUBJ: 1962 Memo ---
Kwame Nkrumah destooled chiefs in his own immortal words,
(Part 2), by Prof. Lungu.
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