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Talk about
symbolic manipulation
E.
Ablorh-Odjidja
Myths are
necessary for history. It is through them that nations express
their history and the paths that fate has led them through. When
we build statues, name our streets and buildings, we are
branding ourselves and creating paths for the imagination of
posterity to follow.
In one sense, we have Jubilee House that the NDC claims clouds
Nkrumah’s history and achievements.
In another, we have the Kotoka’s name on Accra International
Airport that has done far worse, and continues to do so
globally, to the image and mysticism of Nkrumah as a virtuous
leader.
"The voyage of discovery” said Marcel Proust “is not in seeking
new landscapes but in having new eyes."
Myth can provide those eyes. For now, and for ideological
reasons, as a nation, some of us have been blind to this tool as
an aspect of history creation.
So now the NDC government has come to the defense of Nkrumah.
They seek to rename Jubilee house; reverse the name back to Flag
Staff House.
Flag Staff house, the NDC insists was where Nkrumah lived. They
forget to add that that was true until he was overthrown by
Kotoka and his gang of mutineers. And that the name Flag Staff
House itself was a leftover from colonial occupation.
But the real reason for the reversal is Kufuor’s government. In
applying the name Jubilee House to what was the Flag House, the
NDC claims Kufuor was in reality seeking to obliterate the name
and memory of the late President Nkrumah.
Sadly, and also forgotten is the fact that Jubilee House, as
instituted and understood by the Kufuor administration, contains
“Nkrumah Heritage House.”
This sudden move by the NDC to preserve Nkrumah’s memory is
surprising. Since 1966, the location known as Flagg Staff House
had remained unremarkable until Kufuor's government. Through an
astute policy maneuver, Kufuor managed to obtain a loan from the
India government, which in reality was a gift, to complete the
Jubilee House structure, now recognized as one of the ten most
beautiful presidential palaces in the world.
Perhaps, at this time, we should also note that the name Kotoka
has for long been on the Accra International Airport, through
the lengthy years of NDC rule, thus allowing the imposition to
obliterate Nkrumah’s memory as a good leader.
But it must be conceded that in the Jubilee name reversal, the
NDC has picked a fight they know they can win. It is a game
winner to use Nkrumah's name to rouse the NPP. They know that to
fight the change is a sentiment that popular opinion will not
accept because Nkrumah as a great man is an idea that is settled
in the minds of many in Ghana and Africa. But many in the NPP
party don’t like that idea.
Perhaps, the counter response to NDC at this stage is to ask
about Kotoka. But some members of the NPP party, because of
their ideological dislike of Nkrumah, will not allow room for
this pose; not even a lateral one.
Were the reverse possible, the NPP would simply give up the name
Jubilee and then ask the NDC this: what is the name Kotoka doing
on the Accra International Airport; glorifying Nkrumah or the
coup that overthrew him?
The idea of Kotoka’s name sitting on Accra International Airport
is a monstrosity to many who revere Nkrumah. The NDC for years
has allowed this insult to stay. Should it now feel really
offended by an innocuous name like Jubilee House?
After all, what is in the name Jubilee other than to signify the
year 50 and our history to date (forgive the irony)!
Fortunate for the NDC, there will be no pressure from the NPP to
remove Kotoka's name. The preservation of Nkrumah’s honor as a
great man will remain a non issue for them, even if a
controversial one.
While the NPP is currently caught in a serious struggle with the
NDC, a party that is obviously seeking to reverse the
achievements of the Kufuor administration, some NPP members
still see Nkrumah as a virulent opponent whose memory must be
opposed at all cost.
Thus in an eerie and unbelievable ways, the NPP has opened up
two fronts in the fight for political power - one against the
memory of Nkrumah and the other against the NDC. Whether this is
deliberate policy or not, the effect may not be too sanguine for
this political party’s health.
The case of Jubilee House is illustrative of the above point.
E. Ablorh-Odjidja, Publisher
www.ghanadot.com, Washington, DC, October 6, 2010
Permission to publish: Please feel free to publish or
reproduce, with credits, unedited. If posted at a website,
email a copy of the web page to
publisher@ghanadot.com . Or don't publish at all.
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