By Ernesto Yeboah
The chaos and bombings of innocent Ghanaians engineered by the UP/mate meho, now transformed into the NPP, is a story well known. So is the fact that the UP was in opposition to the CPP.
Anytime we recall the national crime of 24th February 1966 we talk about the “UP” opposition elements to Kwame Nkrumah, forgetting that those who actually executed the illegal overthrow and subsequently held and exercised real power is the NLC which has transformed itself into the NDC.
In Dark Days in Ghana, in the chapter titled “Opposition Elements”, page 52, Kwame Nkrumah undertakes a surgical analysis of the nature of the opposition that he was confronted with.
Beginning the chapter he states: “The members of “the old opposition” with whom the “NLC” are closely associated, are the same people who tried to sabotage the winning of our political independence ten years ago”. Now, who are the members of “the old opposition” that Nkrumah refers to if not the UP? What we are about to discover is the nature of the NLC and how it manifests itself in every respect in the NDC just as we have seen with the UP and the NPP.
Indeed, so convinced is Nkrumah about the distinction that separated the “NLC” from the UP that on page 105 of the same book he states, “The puppet press and radio reflecting the official line poured out a steady stream of abuse against me personally and against my government.
Endless Commissions of enquiry were set up, manned by members of “the old opposition” and various other ambitious men anxious to ingratiate themselves with the new regime”. Anytime Nkrumah referred to the UP he described them as “the old opposition”.
The NLC was the reactionary class of the Military and Police in whose dirty hands the stolen mandate of the people now rested. Even though they were united in their thoughts against Nkrumah and the CPP, their personal ambitions begun to fuel an intense power struggle that manifested in later overthrows and counter overthrows after 1966.
Rawlings was conscious of his class, which is why as chairman of the AFRC and PNDC he signed to protect the National Criminals who illegally overthrew the CPP and caused the suspension and abrogation of the 1960 constitution, and assumed power without a political mandate.
The Indemnity Clause specifically names NLC, NRC, SMC1, SMC2, AFRC and PNDC, all being military and police officers. That faction is the officer’s class of the indigenous bourgeoisie to be precise. That is precisely the faction the Founding Father of the NDC belongs to.
And since the NDC is established upon his vision and LEADERSHIP in its constitution, it is quite clear which faction is dominant in the NDC and 1992 Constitutions. Rawlings was a military dictator for 11 years before the NDC inserted article 6 in its constitution. The said article states that the Party is founded on the Rawlings vision and leadership. So the NDC are successors to the NLC, in law, they are successors in class, in policy, in ideology and in vision.
The leader of the NLC is the “hero” of the “Founding Father” of the NDC. The NLC vice Chair is his uncle. The Founding Father of the NDC, in power, decreed the NLC to be constitutionally above the law an as clearly indicated in the above table, there is no doubt that the NDC is an offshoot of the NLC.
When the NLC took over they appointed some UP elements to assist them in the running of the state. The NLC together with the UP proscribed the CPP and begun a program to suppress Nkrumah’s thought and ideas in Ghana.
At many places Nkrumah’s books were assembled and burnt, and some of the assembling points included institutions of higher learning such as the University of Ghana under the supervision of its Vice Chancellor, Prof. Kwapong. It is interesting to note that to this very day the vilification of Nkrumah and the CPP continue under the supervision of the twin successors of the NLC, for that matter, the NPP and the NDC.
The suppression continues with the 1992 constitution which upholds NLC decrees which criminalises Kwame Nkrumah. Similarly in GES approved syllabi anti Nkrumah references are included and students across the country are even examined on them by the West African Examination Council (WAEC).
The Ankrah led NLC presided over a bogus election that handed over power to their UP collaborators in 1969. However in 1972 the NLC came back this time as NRC, led by Acheampong. After three years Acheampong changed NRC to SMC1 ostensibly to keep himself in power longer. But he only lasted till 1978 when his own Chief of Defence Staff, General FWK Akuffu, overthrew him in a palace coup and formed SMC2.
On June 4, 1979 Rawlings entered with AFRC, lined up former heads of state and shot them in broad day light. This was a move by Rawlings to prevent the former heads of state from staging any surprise come back. It’s important to note that Rawlings was recruited into the Officers class of the Military through the help of his Uncle, Harley, the vice chairman of the NLC, and this was almost a year after the illegal overthrow of Kwame Nkrumah.
Rawlings handed over power to the PNP in 1979 after an unpredictable election that gave the perceived pro-Nkrumahist Party a comfortable win, only to take power back in 1981 with the PNDC. After many years of increasing pressure both internally and internationally, the PNDC metamorphosized to NDC.
The assertion that the NDC is somehow pro-Nkrumahist, therefore, is false and not supported by the facts of our history as we have seen; neither is it supported by their policies and programmes in government.
If we want to know the NDC’s true ideology we have to examine their policies in relation to Kwame Nkrumah’s ideas and policies. We will then in no time realise that the NDC only uses the Nkrumahist tag to secure the support and votes of the CPP and Nkrumahist constituencies, and position itself as the legitimate opposition to the UP tradition.
The NDC’s real fear is the re-emergence of a true Nkrumahist force that will reclaim its rightful place as the bona fide resistance to the UP tradition.
Meanwhile the suppression of Nkrumahism continues. February 24, 1966, the day of the illegal overthrow of Kwame Nkrumah and the CPP government is ironically recognized by the NDC as the day of Ghana’s liberation. Evidence of this was the unveiling of a memorial stone at the independence square by President Mills in recognition of 24th February, 1966, as Ghana’s Liberation Day.
Kwame Nkrumah remains a wanted criminal in the P/NDC 1992 constitution; all properties of the CPP remain confiscated to the state; Accra International Airport continues to be named after the hero of Rawlings, Kotoka. Nkrumah remains vilified in GES textbooks.
The NDC dons the Nkrumahist cloak to hide their real neo-colonial puppet status. Is it not the NDC that has signed the EPA with Europe? Is it not the NDC that pushed for the passage of the GMO Plants Breeders Bill in Parliament? Is it not the NDC that implemented the IMF’s so-called Structural Adjustment Program that has made it impossible to achieve economic independence? Is it not the NDC that sold state assets including ECG either to themselves and foreign multinational Companies? Is it not the NDC that betrayed Africa by supporting the NATO bombing of Libya and the killing of its leader?
We must no longer be confused. Anytime the NDC comes out with pro- Nkrumahist propaganda we must expose them. No one else can do our work for us but ourselves. “Revolutions are brought about by men who think as men of action and act as men of thought”.
Revolutionaries are not lazy, they are fearless. We must act courageously and speak plainly. Amandla????
Ernesto Yeboah,
National Youth Organiser (CPP)
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