Nkrumah, The Man - A Friend's Testimony
THE VOICE of the army officer who announced the overthrow of President Kwame Nkrumah over Radio Ghana in the early hours of 24 February, 1966, said: "The myth surrounding Nkrumah is broken forever".
Nkrumah died in Bucharest, Romania, in April 1972 of cancer after a seven-year sojourn in Sekou Toure's Guinea. And throughout his exile period nobody, not even Nkrumah himself, could explain the 'myth' that made him more enemies at home and abroad - a situation that eventually led to his overthrow.
Genoveva Kanu (formerly Genoveva Marais), Nkrumah's girlfriend during the nine years he was Ghana's Head of State, has released a book Nkrumah, The Man: A Friend's Testimony. The 143 page paperback published by Delta Publications of Nigeria gives a vivid account of Nkrumah - His Credo, His Loneliness, His Courage and Colleagues. Genoveva tells all, as intimately as possible, about Nkrumah's emotions, his amusements, his women and his marriage.
It is interesting how the author, who is not a Ghanaian (she is a South African), became the only person to whom Nkrumah 'revealed' himself so much even more than Fathia, the woman he later married.
Genoveva writes: "In fact he wanted to marry me and I could have been his wife. I preferred instead to be his special confidante, in the widest sense”
A few months before independence, Genoveva had come to Ghana (then Gold Coast) to take up appointment as Inspector of Schools. At the State Ball to mark independence, she had been spotted by Nkrumah, then a young Prime Minister. That began a period of intimate relationship between her and Nkrumah.
Despite this relationship, Genoveva has been quite "honest and objective" in revealing the human characteristics of the man who has been greatly maligned. Nkrumah's enemies have made him out a 'dictatorial devil', his friends have pictured him as a 'god'. But she simply writes, He was a man.
Nkrumah was an idealist. His eventual aim was the total liberation and unification of Africa. Towards this he worked hard and ate very little and it was this "idealism which was to end in political failure for him". The core of Nkrumah's personality, that is his vision of a united Africa playing its special part in world affairs, is universally known. We should, therefore be interested in the 'other sides' of Nkrumah.
We have already learnt he ate very little, the author says further that Nkrumah hated alcohol principally because of a stomach ailment. Even though Nkrumah had a number of trusted and loyal friends, he was lonely. This loneliness became a barrier between him and other Ghanaians. He therefore relied on 'progress reports' from his Ministers and party officials about his people's welfare and their reactions to his policies.
These ministerial informants were, at best, sycophants who, as the author puts it, wanted to impress Nkrumah that they were working hard. They also did not want to encounter his displeasure by telling him the truth about how the people felt socially, politically and economically. It is unfortunate, however, that Nkrumah who was acclaimed to be the 'Man of the People' should alienate himself from the people.
But Genoveva explains that assassination attempts on Nkrumah was responsible for his total alienation from the people. He felt he had no friends. The author admits this was bad and contributed immensely to the fall of Nkrumah.
Nkrumah's ability to dismiss from office even his most trusted and loyal friends and political lieutenants made people fear him. For instance, Kojo Botsio and Krobo Edusei were dismissed and later re-instated. Upon the least suspicion, and largely due to fabrications from jealous partymen, Tawia Adamafio, Ako Adjei and Coffie Crabbe were dismissed, tried and convicted for 'plotting against Nkrumah'.
Others close to Nkrumah who wanted to 'save their skin' kept singing praises of Messiah and god to him. But it is unfortunate, as Genoveva writes, that even though Nkrumah knew the adulations were not genuine he did nothing to discourage them. This made him what he was not a suspicion that made him and the people poles apart and eventually contributed to his downfall.
A few of his partymen, however, had the courage to warn their colleagues about the dangers in telling Nkrumah lies about himself and what the people felt about him and his government.
Today, eighteen years after his overthrow, and twelve years after his death, the 'destroyed' image of the man who fought so hard for Ghana's independence has been restored and accorded its proper place in the political praesidium. Three Ghanaian youth organisations are principally responsible for the 'purification' of Kwame Nkurmah Revolutionary Guards (NKRG), African Youth Command (AYC) and the New Democratic Move- ment (NDM).
The leadership and rank and file of these organisations consist of people who were mostly members of the defunct Ghana Young Pioneer Movement which was established after independence.
