Nkrumah Ghana by Hadjor

Author:Hadjor [Hadjor]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Anthropology, General, Regional Studies
ISBN: 9781136148743
Google: DXcsBgAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2013-10-28T05:53:23+00:00

Notes

1 Nkrumah, Autobiography.

2 Ibid., p. 61.

3 Nkrumah, Towards Colonial Freedom, p. xiv.

4 Nkrumah, Autobiography, p. 78.

5 Ibid., p. 82.

6 Ibid., p. 92.

7 Ibid., p. 93.

8 Ibid., p. 94.

9 Ibid., p. 97.

10 Ibid.

11 Ibid., p. 115.

Chapter 5

The Painful Transition

By all rights the 1951 general election should have settled matters once and for all. The people had made their position clear: they wanted independence immediately. The British officials in Ghana knew that independence could not be indefinitely postponed. What they wanted was time – time to organise and time to strengthen their hold over Ghana. This was the real meaning of the term ‘transfer of power’. Power can never be transferred. It is not divisible; you either wield it or you do not. The aim of ‘transferring power’ is to prolong the process of decolonisation and give the imperialists time to strengthen their local allies and if possible to domesticate the nationalist leadership.

Nkrumah was well aware of what the colonial authorities were up to. He was determined not to become a harmless figurehead and fall into the trap set up by the colonialists. In March 1952, the Governor, Sir Arden-Clarke, announced that henceforth Nkrumah’s title of ‘Leader of Government Business’ should be replaced by that of ‘Prime Minister’. Many politicians would have been carried away by this honour, but Nkrumah kept his head. He understood that in a colonial framework an African prime minister would be restrained from fully promoting the interests of his people. It was for this reason that Nkrumah always emphasised the need for not losing sight of his movement’s final goal. In December 1952 he wrote:

Need we remind ourselves that the struggle is not over? The struggle still continues and intensifies as the end approaches. We have India, Ceylon and Burma to draw inspiration from. Ours, therefore, at this hour of our struggle, is to keep on organising and disciplining our forces for the final blow against imperialism in our country, so as to make Ghana take her rightful place among the community of nations.1

Nkrumah argued that Ghana could not achieve freedom if it relied merely on the good will and generosity of the colonial authorities. He argued for a strategy of Tactical Action, based on vigilance and pressure. It required the CPP to monitor carefully the activities of the imperialists. At the same time pressure had to be exerted on the colonial authorities so that positive steps were taken towards decolonisation. Nkrumah argued that if this strategy was to be successful then the CPP had to maintain a high level of mobilisation. A strong CPP enjoying popular support was the precondition for allowing Nkrumah to retain the initiative.

Through the application of Tactical Action, Nkrumah was able to push through a number of significant reforms. The Volta hydroelectric project was initiated this way. Significant progress was made in extending education. Improvements were made in housing and health facilities. New roads, railways and bridges were constructed. Although far from satisfying the needs of the people, the new projects represented a major gain for Ghana.

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