Life In Ghana Under An Nkrumaist President

By Banji Ojewale

Here in Anyaa, Accra, capital of Ghana, I’ve come across some of the country’s leading newspapers. Their contents—news reports, opinions, vox pop, book reviews, cartoons, (dearth of these), sports, photo stories, advertorials etc.--give me a larger-than-life image of the Ghanaian society.  The two oldest journals, Daily Graphic and Ghanaian Times, with their sister weeklies, The Mirror and The Spectator respectively, are on parade.  The later appearances, Daily Guide, The Ghanaian Chronicle, Modern Ghana (Online), The Insight, Finder, Business Ghana, Statesman etc. have also been consulted, considered or captured for this short essay. 

Ghana no longer has evening sheets. Kwame Nkrumah, the country’s founding president, introduced an Accra evening paper in the late 40s to fight colonial rule and give a voice to the local population. In the 60s, there was also the popular Evening Times. Since then, there’s been no serious contention for a comeback.

The national broadcaster, Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, GBC, together with a rash of a mixed multitude of FM stations and TV outlets across the Black Star country, constitutes bottomless depths of resources to guide a sweeping view of life in this former Gold Coast land.

Therefore, whether what you get from them comes down as skewed or straight, embellished or exposed, some wandering warts would rebel and escape through to settle the argument. So you can’t but end up with a fair grip of the unhidden state of the society. This is in defence of the media—of any hue. I don’t believe we should be paranoid about perceptions of the media’s so-termed anti-system or antisocial bent. They are better to be with us, than not to have them. A necessary ‘evil’, some might conclude. An iconoclastic American president, Thomas Jefferson, said long ago that he preferred a society with newspapers without a government to one with a government denied the media.

So, from the press, I have observed Ghanaians welcoming their new leader, John Dramani Mahama, a left of centre Nkrumahist. He swept the ballot last December with the flag of National Democratic Congress, NDC, the party formed by the very much admired Jerry Rawlings. At most campaign scenes, Mahama told wild ecstatic crowds that he’d return to what Nkrumah stood for: developing a progressive and organic society, freeing the grassroots from elite control, pursuing Pan-Africanism, reviewing Ghana’s relationship with Western financial institutions, International Monetary Fund, IMF and the World Bank etc. He says also that Founder’s Day, as Nkrumah’s birthday is called, would receive more national acclaim.

The point critics are raising, however, is that although this great African seems to have been fully rehabilitated over the decades after the 1966 February 24 coup overthrew him, there remains the ideological business of rebuilding the Convention Peoples Party, CPP, Nkrumah formed to propel Ghana into history. For many, it’s not enough that we already have Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah’s totems of homage all over: Mausoleum, a university, streets, intersection, research centres etc. But many wonder why all who were nostalgic about Nkrumaism went on to form their own political parties instead of simply going back to their hero’s dear old organization. A military ruler and closet Nkrumah sympathizer, Ignatius Acheampong, frittered the opportunity to recall Nkrumah from exile in Guinea in 1972 for his reinstatement.

Then there’s the Kotoka International Airport, Accra, matter. The hawks want the president to rename the facility. They argue that you can’t claim to honour Nkrumah and still celebrate Emmanuel Kotoka, the military officer who led the United States’ Central Intelligence Agency-inspired putsch against the revered Ghanaian leader.  

Meanwhile, when Ghanaians celebrated their nation’s 68th Independence in March this year, the new government came up with this mantra: Reflect. Review. Reset. It is the charge that the citizens must reflect on the past; they would then review it, and reset it. Partly, it’s a huge and disconcerting admission that Ghana isn’t where the founding fathers projected it. Hence, there’s urgent need to reset (redirect) the journey. The administration just displaced didn’t face these challenges squarely, Mahama says. It left behind a lot of rot. Fiery cabinet member, Sam Nartey George, says the old government operated on legislation that ‘’belonged to the museum.’’ The sitting government has also alluded to a frenzy of embezzlement under the ancien regime. It has set up Operation Recover All Loot, ORAL, whose ruthless agents crash into bedrooms seizing cash and jewelry of ex-public officers.

The government is in high spirits, saying its policies and new budget would truly ‘reset’ Ghana to the vision of the Nkrumah era. Ernest Kofi Adu, who covers the Parliament for the Daily Guide newspaper says the ‘’2025 (projections) present a blend of ambitious policies and potential challenges.’’ The opposition New Patriotic Party, NPP, has acidic comments on the budget, however. It says it’s lopsided, as it gives more funds to satisfy the palatial palate of the Presidency than it has given the youth and women ministries put together.

The government has dismissed the charge, referring to its 24-Hour Economy Agenda, 24-HE, as the magic lever ‘’ensuring that employment opportunities are not dictated by location, but talent and competence… equitable employment, economic flexibility and sustainable business growth.’’

Ghanaians are also debating the petitions said to have been sent to President Mahama for the removal of the Chief Justice. What she’s accused of, is still shrouded. But there are strong indications she would go. Liberal watchers want Mahama to be gender-smart. His NDC has been accused of not being friendly towards the fair sex, despite having a female as his Vice. They are pointing at Namibia where a woman has just been sworn in as the president. They are also reminding him of the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Affirmative Action on women this year.

Ghana under an Nkrumaist is still at war with galamseyers, the armed illegal miners destroying the forests and water sources of the land. The Bawku communal crisis in the far north hasn’t abated, in spite of security intervention and pleas by Mahama.

The stakeholders on the religious front are not missing from the media watch. There’s Reverend Tayo Aremu of Mark Hayford Memorial Baptist Church on Hansen Road, Accra. He refuses to be addressed as the shepherd of the assembly, preferring to be called undershepherd. His Master Jesus Christ, he says, is the Shepherd. It was the first time I saw such ecclesiastical self-effacement in Ghana. Elsewhere, on the other hand, another ‘man of God’ asked his audience on the radio to come for coins that would lead them to breakthroughs. At a session, when a caller said his ailment was addiction to akpeteshie (ogogoro), the ‘servant of heaven’ asked the drunkard to come along for healing with a bottle of the drink!

On the sports scene, Ghana under an Nkrumaist is returning to old-time blaze in football. In two 2026 World Cup qualifiers, home and away, the Black Stars have scored eight goals, conceding none. For a country once hosting the best of African football, the citizens are not composing new victory songs. They are going into the archives, looking for what the people sang to hail the all-conquering Black Stars of old.

*Ojewale, an author, sent this article from Accra, Ghana.