On 24th February, 1966 which is some 56 years ago, The National Liberation Council (NLC) overthrew Ghana’s first President, Kwame Nkrumah and his Convention People’s Party (CPP) led government in a militarized operation while the then president was on a peace mission in Hanoi, Capital of Vietnam.
Nkrumah’s journey was at the instance of the President of Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh to help in bringing to an end to the Vietnamese war. The Operation Cold Chop Coup led by lieutenant General Emmanuel Kwasi Kotoka, was said to have been largely influenced by the Central Intelligence Agency CIA of the United States of America. This was captured in Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah’s book, ‘Dark Days in Ghana’.
The believe was that Dr. Kwame Nkrumah was tilting towards the then Soviet Union and Eastern Europe in the wake of the ‘Cold War’. Allegations the ousted President who led Ghana to attain Independence in 1957 would later deny.
Several functionaries of the CPP following the coup were arrested while those in detention at the behest of Dr. Nkrumah were released. A Statue of Nkrumah placed outside the Parliament of Ghana that proclaimed him as the Founder of Ghana was subsequently destroyed.
There was an announcement on radio disbanding the Convention People’s Party (CPP) and this probably explains why the CPP is still struggling to gain popularity in modern day Ghana. The party has been disintegrated with the People’s National Convention, (PNC) and the Progressive People’s Party, PPP all emanating from the CPP yet still recognize themselves as Nkrumaists that is, people who believe in the ideals of Dr. Nkrumah.
Dr. Nkrumah who died in Bucharest on April 27, 1972, remains the only African leader to have been offered a role in another country to serve as a Co-President.
In a Press Statement by the Social Justice Movement Ghana (SJMG) to mark the day, the movement described the 1966 coup as an irreparable catastrophe that befell Ghana.
According to the movement, the CPP government’s policies of industrialization through import and export substitution industries that created employment and provided goods and services for Ghanaians were aborted with viable state enterprises sold out to foreign interests.
The movement is therefore using the day which they say destroyed anything progressive in Ghana to revive and continue with the progressive programme of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.
“Fifty-six years ago, an unretrievable catastrophe befell Ghana, precisely on 24th February 1966. Local collaborators, from the privileged classes of landed property and individuals affiliated with the feudal establishment and the top echelons of the army and police corroborated with foreign imperialist interests (teleguided by American and British Intelligence agencies) and overthrew the progressive government of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah and the Convention People’s Party (CPP). They were determined to destroy and prevent Ghana from emerging as a beacon of hope for the African continent.
The polices of CPP of industrialization through import and export substitution industries that created employment and provided goods and services for Ghanaians were aborted. Viable state enterprises were sold out to foreign interests. Those that were considered not viable were abandoned”. The statement indicated.
