Ghana @60: The challenge of freedom and African unity

What you need to know:

Nkrumah was overthrown on February 24, 1966, in a military coup engineered by imperialists and their domestic lackeys who were envious and scared of the revolutionary changes which he was making in Africa.
The coup was led by Lt Gen Joseph Ankrah who formed a reactionary military junta called the National Liberation Council (NLC).

Ghana will tomorrow celebrate the 60th anniversary of independence. On March 6, 1957, the British colony of the Gold Coast achieved independence and the first prime minister of the new country, Kwame Nkrumah, decided to rename the country after the ancient West African kingdom of Ghana.
As the first sub-Saharan African colony to achieve independence, Ghana was a trailblazer in many ways and played an important role in the protracted struggle of African peoples for freedom, justice and independence. By 1958, Ghana had become a mecca for African freedom fighters, nationalists and pan-Africanists.
I was in P5 when Ghana achieved independence and can vividly remember that auspicious day. I recall reading about the new country in the March edition of a popular magazine of the times called African Challenge which my father subscribed to.
My class teacher, Mr Jackson Suaka (RIP), took time to educate us on the meaning and significance of independence or driwala in Lugbara. It did not occur to us in 1957 that barely five years later Uganda would follow Ghana and achieve independence in 1962.

Impact of Ghana on Africa
During an era when much of Africa was under colonial rule, Ghana’s independence came at the right time and with a big bang. Ghana’s presence was felt throughout Africa, including Uganda.
Radio Ghana, the new country’s national broadcaster was loud and clear in Uganda and competed favourably for the air waves with BBC and Uganda Broadcasting Service. Ghanaian highlife music came out of the blue and was soon competing with Congolese Rumba music which was dominant in East Africa in 1950s and 1960s.
Above all was the towering figure of president Kwame Nkrumah who was featured regularly on world news. Unlike the mediocre African leaders of today who too often make news for the wrong reasons, Nkrumah was a world-class African leader whom the media pursued and took seriously because he was a man of ideas.
Nkrumah did not last long enough in power to implement his grand ideas and vision for Ghana and Africa, but he planted many valuable seeds which have germinated and grown throughout Africa since 1960s, the most prominent seed being continental African unity which is the goal of the Organisation of African Unity and its successor the African Union.
Nkrumah was overthrown on February 24, 1966, in a military coup engineered by imperialists and their domestic lackeys who were envious and scared of the revolutionary changes which he was making in Africa.
The coup was led by Lt Gen Joseph Ankrah who formed a reactionary military junta called the National Liberation Council (NLC).
NLC held elections in September 1969 which brought to power a civilian government led by Kofi Busia as prime minister. Busia was overthrown in another coup by the National Redemption Council (NRC) which installed Col Ignatius Acheampong as head of state. Busia was in London when the coup took place in 1972.
When NRC requested the UK to extradite him to Ghana for trial, Ghanaians were shocked to learn from British authorities that Busia was after all a British citizen and could not be extradited to Accra. One can never be sure about the nationality of African leaders. In Kinshasa, president Kabila is detested and not trusted partly because many Congolese believe he is a Rwandan or a Ugandan imposed on them by force.
Nkrumah died of cancer in April 1972 and was temporarily buried in Conakry, Guinea, where he lived in asylum for six years. His legacy continues to inspire Africa’s youth and progressive forces everywhere.

Some lessons from Ghana
Like Uganda, Ghana has gone through ups and downs. It has experienced turbulent times and political upheavals. Ghana has a chequered political history with several military coups and counter-coups which brought to power soldiers such as Gen Ankrah, Gen Afrifa, Gen Acheampong, Gen Akuffo and finally a radical, patriotic and charismatic flight lieutenant called Jerry Rawlings who successfully staged two military coups on June 4, 1979, and December 31, 1981.
Rawlings put an end to meddling by soldiers in national politics, which is legitimately a domain for civilians or genuinely retired soldiers, not some in Uganda who retire in name only but actually remain on active duty.
Unlike Uganda, Ghanaians have learnt some basic lessons from their tragic and turbulent history. I believe that Rawlings did a lot to bring order and pump sense into the heads of political opportunists and habitual liars in Ghana who ruined the country by turning politics into an activity for personal gain.
Rawlings put an to end to blatant abuse of office and impunity in Ghana after he publicly executed in 1979 several prominent Ghanaian politicians accused of corruption and gross abuse of power, among them three former heads of state – Acheampong, Fred Akuffo and Afrifa – and a former foreign minister Roger Felli.
One hopes that Ugandans will soon learn some lessons from Ghana which is today one of the most stable and promising countries in Africa where the two-term limit and peaceful change of government have become routine and are taken for granted, something which Uganda has sadly not yet experienced since independence.
I wish the people and government of Ghana, with whom Uganda enjoys cordial relations, a happy 60th independence anniversary. On a personal note, Ms Charity Osei-Nsih Acemah, a beautiful Ghanaian lady, is married to my son Germain and for my family tomorrow is naturally a day to celebrate a historic occasion. May God bless Ghana, Uganda and Africa.