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On the Systematic Erasure of Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah in the Ghanaian Public Sphere
The reason why Nkrumah’s memory in the Ghanaian imaginary has been systematically erased is because of the work that the Danquah-Busia tradition did to erase it. One of our biggest revolutionaries is barely taught extensively in schools and that is how the NPP and their ancestors designed it.
The average Ghanaian does not know that Nkrumah wrote many many books because his contributions to knowledge on revolution, independence, governance etc. have been silenced and erased. You can barely find Nkrumah’s numerous books to buy even in university bookstores in Ghana. I learnt more about Osagyefo from my Nkrumahist father than the entire educational system taught me.
No government in recent memory has been blatant about this Nkrumah erasure more than the ruling NPP. Remember, it was the NPP’s ancestors who did not want us to liberate ourselves from colonial rule. Nkrumah said independence NOW and UGCC said independence “in the shortest possible time.” If it were up to them, we might still be waiting for that shortest possible time which could mean decades.
We need more political education about Nkrumah, his legacy and everything he stood for. Osagyefo was a staunch socialist who dreamt of an Africa where the African masses led their own self-determination. He understood oppression even within the nation-state and worked to support the liberation of marginalized communities e.g. the Northern Territories which had been systematically disenfranchised by colonial regimes.
As the descendants of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Susanna Al-Hassan, Hannah Cudjoe etc., it is up to us to ensure that his and their legacy is not erased from our histories and memories.
Let’s fight the structural erasure of our liberation fighters by elite politicians who have captured the state and are looting our coffers. Elite politicians who were and still are in bed with colonizers to serve their selfish ends.
Nkrumah never dies! Forward ever, backward never! Aluta Continua!
By Wunpini F. Mohammed, PhD, Assistant Professor at Cornell University
