IMHOTEP: Nkrumah forever

The Kwame Nkrumah centenary came and went, with, sadly, no official commemoration in this country. A few years ago, I visited his memorial in Accra, an experience I would recommend to anyone.

There, you will find a simple grave under the shade of a marbled tree trunk signifying his unfinished work; the well manicured garden; the tree that Nelson Mandela planted; the small stool given to him as a child in the tradition of the Akan people; the bed he slept on as a student; his working desk as president; his eye glasses; his books and letters; and the photographs from his days at Achimota to his return home, the years of political struggle, independence and ascension to the presidency, and visits with world leaders such as Zhou Enlai, Nasser and Pandit Nehru.

Born on the 21st of September 1909 in Nkroful, among the famed Nzema people, Nkrumah attended the local school before proceeding to Teacher Training College at Achimota. Educated by Jesuit priests, he might have nurtured the dream of holy orders, but the call to America was stronger. He was to spend a decade in the United States, from 1935 to 1945,

earning degrees in economics and sociology, politics, philosophy and theology; coming under such diverse influences as Kant, Hegel, Marx, Descartes, Schopenhauer, Gandhi, Marcus Garvey, George Padmore, Edward Wilmot Blyden and W. E. B. Du Bois.

Moving to England in 1945 with the intention of studying law, he soon became embroiled in pan-African activities. At the London School of Economics he came under the influence of Harold Laski whilst also studying Logical Positivism under the philosopher A. J. Ayer at University College. In the recent autobiography of our own Sir Udo Udoma, I was intrigued where he mentions -- rather casually -- that he once accommodated in his student rooms in London a homeless Ghanaian by the name of Kwame Nkrumah, a man he found highly political and ‘elusive'.

1n 1947, he returned home to the post of secretary-general of the United Gold Cost Convention (UGCC). Impatient with the slow-paced, middle-class conservatism of the UGCC, he founded the break-away Convention Peoples' Party (CPP) under the banner of ‘positive action' and ‘self-government now'. Rattled by his radicalism and magnetic charisma, the colonial authorities soon clamped him into gaol. But prison only served to enhance his stature and popularity. In 1951, whilst still in incarceration, he was elected Leader of Government Business. For the next decade and a half, he was to remain the main fixture on the Ghanaian political arena.

Nkrumah inherited one of the richest colonial dependencies in Africa, with external reserves standing at over £450 million pounds at independence in 1957. His investments in education, health and social welfare were praiseworthy, as was his beloved Akosombo power project. But his economic strategy and political judgement soon went awry. He went in favour of a misguided strategy of state-led industrialisation, pursuing wasteful prestige projects which the economist George Ayittey described as ‘black elephants'.

A one-party state was soon declared; slamming critics with jail sentences under the Preventive Detention Act 1961. His friend C. L. R.

James noted that the summary removal of a sitting chief justice ultimately spelled the death knell for democracy in Ghana.

A cult of personality took over, as the president answered to such vainglorious titles as: ‘Osagyefo' (Redeemer), ‘the Liberator',

‘Messiah', ‘Star of Africa', and ‘His High Dedication'. His face was on coins, banknotes and postage stamps, while his life-sized statue loomed over parliament. School children were lined up in the steaming heat of Accra, waving flags and singing, ‘Nkrumah never dies'. Wise men like J. K. Nyerere and Nelson Mandela would never have allowed such a cult to develop around their persona.

While things were falling apart, Nkrumah retreated into a cocoon of illusions -- an increasingly isolated and tragic figure. His arranged marriage with the Egyptian Fathia Helen Rizk may not have been altogether fulfilling. "He complained that he had no one to love and that no one loved him", notes Genoveva Marais, the South African woman who once worked for him.

To his former English confidante, Erica Powell, he wrote: "I am friendless and companionless". At a cabinet meeting in February 1963, his minister of finance announced that there was only £500,000 left in reserves, with debts in excess of £340 million. After a long silence, ‘Osagyefo' burst into tears.

In February 1966, while en route to Hanoi, the army, most probably with the help of Western intelligence agencies, overthrew him. Most of his entourage having deserted him, he went into exile in Guinea. In April 1972, he died in Bucharest, Romania, of what his disciples described as ‘the cancer of betrayal'.

Kwame Francis Nwia Nkrumah had his own share of foibles.

External sabotage may not be ruled out, but much of the wahala was his own creation. However, he was not the corrupt villain that the West would have us believe. Supreme advocate of unity; defender of African Personality; a master strategist and consummate tactician; astute political philosopher, prophet and seer blessed; he believed that nothing but the best is good enough for our Africa. For that alone, he shall be counted among the immortals.