Today marks exactly 57 years when the former president of Ghana Dr. Kwame Nkrumah was unconstitutionally ousted from office through a military and police coup d’état on February 24th, 1966.
Undoubtedly the most important indication of Nkrumah’s lasting impact is how much better he has done in retrospect than those who overthrew and succeeded him.
He left a stamp on Ghanaian history that continues, long after his death, to fascinate and inspire many people all over the world, especially of African descent.
John Dramani Mahama, former president of Ghana has once again reacted to this in a statement below;
“57 years ago today, 24th February 1966, the Danquah-Busiah political tradition conspired with external intelligence agencies to initiate Ghana’s first coup d’etat, which toppled the government of our first President, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.
This coup was achieved through a conscious and constant campaign of falsehood and calumny.
As a former President of Ghana who has also been at the receiving end of the Danquah-Busia tradition’s campaign of slander and sabotage, I can empathise completely with the quandary President Nkrumah found himself in.
In 1966, I was a young boy still in primary school. But I remember highlights of the dark days that followed the February 24, 1966 coup.
The perpetrators woefully failed to liberate Ghana as they had promised. They instead initiated a long nightmare that destroyed Nkrumah’s vision for Ghana and Africa.
As today marks 57 years of that coup d’etat, I call on all fellow Ghanaians and our patriotic security agencies and armed forces to mark this day as one of reflection and to remain loyal to the 1992 Constitution as we begin the task of rescuing our dear nation from the dark pit the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has plunged us into.
I further urge all Africans to give meaningful democracy a chance, the very reason for which I am presently here in Nigeria as Head of the West African Elders Forum on an election mediation mission, as the country votes on Saturday.
About The 1996 Coup D’etat
On February 24, 1966, the National Liberation Council (NLC) overthrew Ghana’s first president, Kwame Nkrumah and the Conventions People’s Party (CPP) in a military coup d’état while he was on a peace mission in Hanoi the capital of Vietnam at the invitation of the president, Ho Chi Minh to resolve the Vietnam War.
Lt-Gen Emmanuel Kwasi Kotoka, was one of the leading members of the NLC who staged the most talked about “Operation Cold Chop” coup.
“Fellow citizens of Ghana, I have come to inform you that the Military, in co-operation with the Ghana Police, have taken over the government of Ghana today. The myth surrounding Nkrumah has been broken. Parliament has been dissolved and Kwame Nkrumah has been dismissed from office. All ministers are also dismissed from office. The C.P.P. is disbanded with effect from now. It will be illegal for any person to belong to it,” Emmanuel Kwasi Kotoka announced the successful overthrow of Kwame Nkrumah on Radio Ghana.
Kwame Nkrumah in his book, ‘Dark Days in Ghana’, wrote that the Central Intelligence Agency (C.I.A) of the United States of America aided the Ghana Army at the time to overthrow his government. He died on April 27, 1972, in Bucharest, Romania after being diagnosed with prostate cancer.