By: Prof Lungu
“… J. B. Danquah, the attorney, was the only principal member of the UGCC who did not contribute a single penny to fund Nkrumah’s travel back to Ghana in 1947 to assist the UGCC in a project they were miserably failing at…When the Great People of Akyem Abuakwa, through their taxes and sweat, paid to gloom Barrister J. B. Danquah in England, J. B. Danquah, upon his return, simply neglected them, and they, him!… J. B. Danquah never invented all those things or groom anyone but himself…(He)…will not matter globally, until Danquah-Deathknell-Palanquin Supporters find a humble Ghana-centered way to make his legacy relevant for the entire world…Sadly, though,…they have not even begun to take the first humble and reasonable steps in that direction…Are they truly serious about the “poor prison conditions” under which J. B. Danquah died…,or are they merely into Wolfowizian photo-ops at grave sides, as they utilize Ghana for their selfish and, for Africans, bizarre and hollow “property-owning democracy” mantra and purposes?…”, (Prof Lungu, 2015-2016).
Continuing……
Sadly, but perhaps not surprisingly, the Nigerian civil war was abetted in part by the subversive and deluded Ghana military junta that overthrew Nkrumah under the National Liberation Council (NLC) banner, a name that is in virtual sync with the National Liberation Movement (NLM) of Danquah-Busia. On many fronts, in Aburi Gardens, the NLC soldiers supported the idea of a Confederation of States for Nigeria a la Danquah-Busia, but in Murphy’s Law Fashion, to little success and mighty great disaster for Nigerians.
Then, in our own life time, the Nigeria North/Boko Haram has struck, and the Nigerian federal government is noticeable by its absence. Absent, even as its now rejected Goodluck leader and sundry politicians in far-away Abuja preferred to acquire rights to billboards in Nkrumah’s Ghana just so they could spread self-serving political messages, against the internal interests of Ghana, to the multitude of Nigerian students studying in peace in Nkrumah’s Ghana.
Now, Nigeria has turned to an erstwhile military dictator, Buhari, who claims his is a re-born Nigerian democrat. We posit that these historic and contemporary difficulties in Nigeria, even with Nigeria’s expansive size and population, is not entirely the result of geography. They are the consequences of unwise, deferred, arrested, political choices. They are precisely the kind Ghana escaped from through the tenacity of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, against the destructive and treasonous activities of J. B. Danquah and his Confederate Cohorts. By the same token, the strong, centralized national government of post-independent Ghana has proven to be precisely the kind necessary to significantly ameliorate the provincial powers of paramount chiefs, such as was wielded by the likes of Ofori Atta of Akyem Abuakwa, under master-sanctioned “indirect rule”.
Again, J. B. Danquah did not contribute a single penny towards Nkrumah’s return to Ghana from his studies overseas. And, when the Great People of Akyem Abuakwa, through their taxes and sweat, paid to gloom Barrister J. B. Danquah in England, J. B. Danquah, upon his return, simply neglected them, and they, him!
In that sense, we will even hazard that Nkrumah has saved millions of Ghanaian lives with the development projects that still serve Ghana all across the country. Kwame Nkrumah still continues to do so even after his own death, notwithstanding the detentions and imprisonment by his government of a small group we could count on our own two hands, detentions that lasted 24 months or less, and did not result in the execution of a single “subversive” individual.
Danquah, after all, died prematurely from temporary privilege-withdrawal syndrome (TPWS), abetted by self-induced temper tantrums, and high blood pressure. The death sadly occurred in a prison a lot better than what we now have in Nsawam, Kumasi, and in other sorrowful places, today.
Ask musician Kwaw Kese and Amnesty International, if you seriously care!
Then ask Cameron Duodo and the latter day “apologists” for J. B. Danquah why the NLM/UP/PP/NPP have, over many generations and all those years, have actually done and said precious little. They have said and done precious little about seriously improving conditions in Ghana’s prisons, not even when they had power to direct effect progressive change. Are they truly serious about the “poor and prison conditions” under which J. B. Danquah died while at Nsawam, or are they merely into Wolfowizian photo-ops at grave sides, as they utilize Ghana for their selfish and, for Africans, bizarre and hollow “property-owning democracy” mantra and purposes?
What, after all, is “groomer” J. B. Danquah’s greatest legacy to Ghana, if we must be real? Is it not the proposition and fiendish, malevolent struggle for a 1,000 Chiefs’ Confederation supervised by a select, aristocratic elite in as many feudal enclaves as J. B. Danquah might have cared to create, while he sat in Accra and hollered to Ghanaians through mouthpieces installed in Akyem Abuakwa, the capital he so wanted to create for Ghana?
Give us a break 21st Century-Style!
To the point, Nkrumah was far from being a “brutal dictater,” unless you are totally absent-minded about the history of the World and of Africa, or, you are affiliated with that Danquah-Deathknell-Palanquin freelancer.
Or, you are one with the so-called Danquah Institute that in our own life’s time had a chief who was an informant for the police of the expired colonial masters, in Brexit, London.
Or, maybe, you have absolutely no concept about what an operational definition for “brutal dictator” actually ought to look like – objectively, within reason, and measurable by serious people who do more than just talk and hurl invectives.
In short, if in 2016 you still think that Kwame Nkrumah was a brutal dictator, or that J. B. Danquah groomed Kwame Nkrumah, you are in all probability associated with, or related by blood to one individual, Ofori Attah, of that same Akyem Abuakwa (and J. B. Danquah).
We know that Ofori Atta was among the first to personally benefit from the advent of colonial masters in that part of Ghana, and was by reverse one of the first authorities to see their power, and those of their heirs, wane under the new UNITARY, national government proposed for Ghana by Nkrumah, post independence. Reminds us about the case of the Ibos of Nigeria, who, as a group swiftly accepted Christianity and colonial education, enjoyed so much benefit as a result, but later, primed by the self-centered interests of politicians and pompous soldiers trained by colonial masters, plunged Nigeria into that ugly and brutal civil war called “Biafra”.
So, as we said the last time, Nkrumah’s story tells both camps, so to speak, what is not acceptable for a sovereign, democratic State pushing for stronger, more resilient and vibrant nationhood. It is Unitary sovereignty, foremost, that allows the creation of conditions for a modicum of democratic dispensation, but always in coordination and sympathy with patriotic compatriots who are not persuaded to fund their lives with foreign resources under dark tables and street corners when they are recognized members of a political opposition.
Yes, sovereignty and patriotism!
And balance!
And respect for other peoples’ opinions!
And a proper sense of the History of Man!
In closing, let’s all try to remember that in an increasingly Global Village and against the developmental challenges in Ghana/Africa, precisely the type Nkrumah tried to forestall, J. B. Danquah will only matter to a small clique in Ghana.
For, all will know that J. B. Danquah never invented all those things or groom anyone but himself. That J. B. Danquah will not matter globally, until Danquah-Deathknell-Palanquin Supporters find a humble Ghana-centered way to make his legacy relevant for the entire world.
Sadly, though, we see that they have not even begun to take the first humble and reasonable steps in that direction. Rather, they choose to be defined by the prison-death of a sub-par Show Boy, worshipping his dead spirit on his death day alone in their corner.
They’ve forgotten that it is the “Birth” that is for the Living, Human History, Heritage, and Posterity.
Therefore, if anyone thinks that Nkrumah was a brutal dictator, why do they allow Jerry Rawlings to comfortably perch in his abode in Accra, with all that “justice” blood on his hands, and the Indemnity Clause on his forehead and behind? This Indemnity Clause, we will remind you, could have been proscribed by same NPP-Danquah-Busia-Dombo confederates when they had all the chance, power, and privilege in the world to do so all of those 12 years, within our own life times!
What, we ask, is their pathetic and self-deluding excuse?
Now, the same “property-owning democrats” love Lee Kuan Yew for what he did for Singapore when Nkrumah bested Lew Kuan Yew, if they cared to compare apples-to-apples, year-by-year.
Nice try, Massa Cameron Duodu!
Nice try, Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe. The only grooming credible is the one attached your name, from same Kwame Nkrumah CPP era!
Continue enjoying all those legendary benefits even as they continue to accrue to your next-of-kins and your sundry siblings!
Try harder, Wolfowitz-fellas!
POSTSCRIPT ….EXTRA:
The reader should note that we purposely neglected to mention the evil and brutal regimes at bottom of many great wars and strives. These include the Nazi atrocities in Germany, Pol Pot’s Death Camps in Cambodia, and Stalin’s Labor and Death Camps in Russia, to name just a few near-contemporaries. Then, there is the case of “benevolent” Singapore, of Lee Kuan Yew, the one they love who imprisoned, bankrupted, and according to a Ghanaweb commentator, “squeezed the balls” of his opponents for nearly 2 generations and saw Singapore rise mightily – with one of the highest per capita incomes in the world today.
REFERENCES & SOURCES:
1. Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Kwame, Mahama Yahaya, it was Danquah who groomed Nkrumah, Ghanaweb, (http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/Mahama-Yahaya-it-was-Danquah-who-groomed-Nkrumah-472627).
2. Cameron Duodu. Dr J B Danquah’s Tragic Death Sticks In The Throat Of Some People Like A Dead Rat, (http://www.modernghana.com/news/600004/dr-j-b-danquahs-tragic-death-sticks-in-the-throat-of-some-p.html).
3. Mumford, Lewis. The City in History, 1968.
4. Building The World – The Grand Canal,
(http://blogs.umb.edu/buildingtheworld/waterworks/the-grand-canal-china/).
SUBJ: J. B. Danquah the Groomer & Inventor for Dummies! (Part 2)
Prof. Lungu is Ghana-centered/Ghana-Proud.
Brought to you courtesy www. GhanaHero.com©16 April, 2015-October 2016-Part 2)-Rev.
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