Dr Sekou Nkrumah and John Agyekum Kufuor
Politician and son of the late, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Sekou Nkrumah has taken a swipe at ex-president Kufuor for calling his father and first president of Ghana visionless.
The first president’s son, Sekou Nkrumah was responding to an online article in which ex- president Kufuor described Osagyefo as lacking vision and planning, blaming him for Ghana’s economic woes.
In the article, former president Kufuor says Ghana would have been developed like China and Korea, but for Nkrumah’s mismanagement and rush to industrialize the country, it collapsed.
“When we gained independence, we just zoomed into industrialization, so we started building factories. If your memory serves you right, in the first republic, there were several factories scattered across that involved a lot of money, money which was at the first bank of Ghana. At the time, there were 6 million people in Ghana, and the reserves compared to now would have been billions because, in 1957, it was about 450 million dollars.”
He added that Ghana would have been developed by now like Korea and China but that the late Kwame Nkrumah mismanaged the country’s reverse in just four years.
“Just four years after independence and even before Ghana’s population got to ten million, all the reserves were gone because we wanted to build factories. Shoe factories, leather factories, and we did not take our time to plan and make the treasury gain some capital interest. We just started chopping our capital; you do not chop your capital. That’s why the economy collapsed.”
Reacting to the report, politician and son of the late president Nkrumah, Dr. Sekou Nkrumah, described ex-President Kuffour as out of his mind.
“He has lost his mind. I think it is rather unfortunate for ex-president Kufuor to make such comments about Nkrumah. Osagyefo built a strong infrastructure for Ghana. The Akosombo dam is a fine example of his vision to industrialize Ghana. A project built in 1965 that has managed our energy sector for so many years”.
He added that the factories the ex-president is referring to were strategically built by Nkrumah to advance Ghana’s economy but were abandoned after the 1966 coup or sold off.
“Go to the industrial area, and you will weep to see the food silos Osagyefo built years ago. What are they used for now? Travel through Tema township, and you will have goosebumps in admiration to Nkrumah’s visionary leadership and the plans he had for Ghana,” He indicated.
Sekou Nkrumah also stated that ex-president Kufuor did little to build Ghana’s economy but was instead engaged in corrupt activities during his presidency.
What has ex-president Kufuor done for Ghana? Ghana @50 celebration? Or a jubilee house? He questioned
“It was Kufour’s corrupt leadership that pushed me to join the NDC in 2007. He has lost his mind to think Osagyefo is to be blamed for Ghana’s current situation and economic woes,” he said.
Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of Ghana held office for 5 years 9 months when he was overthrown by a coup in 1966.
Ghana’s presidential history.>
Ghana has had 5 presidents under the 4th republic.
The longest-serving president of Ghana with executive powers began with the late Jerry Rawlings.
He ruled under a military regime and later served two terms as the democratically elected leader making him the longest-serving president for 19years.
Jerry John Rawlings was succeeded by John Agekum Kufour who did 8 years.
The late John Atta Mills sadly died during his presidency after doing three and half years of his first term.
He was then succeeded by the fourth John, John Mahama who served the remaining term of the late Atta Mills and another one-term making it five and a half months.
The current president Nana Akufo -Addo is in his four and half years in office.