The Socialist Forum has commemorated the 49th Anniversary of the martyrdom of the first President of the Republic of Ghana, Dr Kwame Nkrumah.
In a statement issued by the Forum, it indicated that 27th April was a significant day in the global anti-imperialist calendar since Ghana and the world anti-imperialist movement suffered a tremendous blow some 49 years ago.
It said, events leading to the murder of Dr Kwame Nkrumah could not have been understood better than Osagyefo, and that“the universe of missed opportunities for planned transformational development that the coup-makers and their sponsors in the so-called “Danquah-Busia” tradition were inflicting on Ghana as they barbarically set out to loot and dismantle the integrated scientific and industrial foundations that Ghanaians had laid from 1957 to 1966.”
Below is the full statement:
49th ANNIVERSARY OF THE MARTYRDOM OF CDE KWAME NKRUMAH
49 years ago today, Ghana and the world anti-imperialist movement suffered a tremendous blow. At the intellectually productive age of 62, in a hospital in faraway Bucharest, Kwame Nkrumah, principal architect of Ghanaian and African liberation and first President of our country passed away.
The Socialist Forum of Ghana joins hands with millions of people in Africa who commemorate 27th April as a significant day in the Global anti-imperialist calendar.
Osagyefo died just 6 years after his sub-Saharan Republic was destroyed and its self-reliant economy and society disrupted by the CIA and well-placed Ghanaian traitors.
Even by the time of Osagyefo’s death, the counter-revolution was in tatters and the so-called “Danquah-Busia” elements behind it had started reaping the whirlwind.
The genie of military intervention that they unleashed in 1966 had already devoured their short-lived and the ineffectual Second Republic and plunged Ghana into a period of instability that would last 26 years and a period of economic and social decline that has not ended.
The last 6 years of Osagyefo’s life must have been hugely traumatic as he saw the chaos imposed on his beloved Ghana by clueless NLC, Progress Party, and NRC administrations.
No one could have understood better than Osagyefo the universe of missed opportunities for planned transformational development that the coup-makers and their sponsors in the so-called “Danquah-Busia” tradition were inflicting on Ghana as they barbarically set out to loot and dismantle the integrated scientific and industrial foundations that Ghanaians had laid from 1957 to 1966.
No one could have understood better than Nkrumah the continental, if not world, significance of the destruction of the Ghana project and the desperate destruction Imperialism would cause across the continent to consolidate the counter-revolution and destroy any political movements that might seek to emulate Ghana’s example.
Nkrumah’s death was an assassination and a second US coup – this time against the people of Guinea where Nkrumah served as co-President. Imperialism was not satisfied with toppling Nkrumah from state power and dismantling Ghana’s socialist experiment and its support for continental liberation.
The West sought to silence Nkrumah forever. They sought to deny the pan-African cause one of its most important symbols – a living, breathing rallying point for the intensification of struggles against colonial and neocolonial arrangements.
The US, UK, Germany, and France were not willing to tolerate an independent Africa that was not controlled by neo-colonial regimes and that would not guarantee the continued exploitation of our natural resources and labour established at the end of the 19th century.
Nkrumah, in exile, remained a powerful rallying point for united and anti-imperialist Africa.
Agents of the CIA, therefore, worked tirelessly to eliminate Dr. Nkrumah in Conakry where, after his overthrow in Ghana he had continued to write and broadcast and mobilise for the African revolution. Today half a century later despite Imperialism’s plotting, sabotage, coups, militarisation, and murders the cause for which Osagyefo gave his life is back on the table as the principal political agenda of the African people – a united socialist Africa.
And amongst the ordinary folk of Africa from Cape Town to Cairo and from Morocco to Madagascar, Osagyefo’s name stands tall as an inspiration of our struggle.
Truly Nkrumah never dies! And the days of imperialist exploitation of Africa are numbered.
Long Live Nkrumah!
Long Live the Ghana Revolution!
Long Live African Unity
