Tonight we return to the hot debate that we started last month on Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah’s legacy in Afrika.

When we dealt with this issue on 28/09/15 our guest Bro. Kilimanjaro not only affirmed that Nkrumah did indeed set the stage for tyrant dictators in Afrika, he added that his driving Ghana to bankruptcy was a clear example of how he “destroyed leadership qualities inside of Afrika.”  Our other guest Dr Osei dismissed this as “Bunkum” and cited GlobalSecurity.org’s list of 11 coups in Afrikan between 1960 and the one that overthrew Nkrumah in 1966 (http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/report/1985/WJ.htm) as evidence of the trend being well established before it happened in Ghana.  He also suggested that the coups cannot be considered outside of the context western imperialist intervention.  Bro. Kilimanjaro countered that Kwame Nkrumah should be considered differently and is more influential due to his status as the pre-eminent status on the international arena.

Whatever the cause, military coups have become something of a way of life in Afrika.  Research published by the African Development Fund, Political Fragility in Africa: Are Military Coups d’Etat a Never-Ending Phenomenon? By Habiba Ben Barka and Mthuli Ncube, indicates that there are only 7 years since 1966 (a year that had a record eight) with no coup d’états (1970, 1988, 1995, 2000, 2004, 2009 and 2014 – but all of these years witnessed attempted coup d’états).  Academics like Horace Campbell of Syracuse University attribute this to the (“exhausted”)” patriarchal model of liberation.”  Campbell  argues that while the current outdated and exhausted models of liberation will never produce prosperity, human rights, political tolerance, peace or stability. Although Campbell specifically targets post-independence Zimbabwe, many of his arguments (perhaps inadvertently) dovetail with critiques of Nkrumah. For example, Obi Egbuna Jr’s 06/03/15 appraisal of Campbell’s work In The Zimbabwe Herald (Pan-Africanism isn’t that cheap) could be readily applied to an assessment of the Danquah-Busia tradition fifty years ago: “The role that Prof Campbell has played in both political and academic circles in discrediting Zimbabwe’s President Mugabe, is without question in absolute harmony with US-EU imperialism’s desire to force an illegal and racist regime change in Zimbabwe.”  It is a view also in harmony today’s leading imperialists the USA. President Barack Obama extolled this sentiment when he addressed, as it happens, the Ghanaian parliament in 2009: “Africa doesn’t need strongmen, it needs strong institutions.”

For all of his acclaim, few Afrikan leaders appeared to have the appetite for emulating Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah’s vision of a united Afrika since his ousting.  Some have suggested that this may be confirmation of Nkrumah’s flawed  and impractical ideas. Conversely, a different rationale is that those that are part of Pan-Afrikanist trajectory (e.g. Amilcar Cabral, Agostinho Neto, Samora Machel, Thomas Sankara, etc.) fall victim, as Bro. Ldr. Mbandaka argued “to a conspiracy between the forces of global white supremacy, Euro-American imperialism and interlopers from within…”

So we ask the question,

Did Nkrumah’s one party state set the stage for tyrant dictators in Afrika? Part 2

1.    Does Kwame Nkrumah’s global status require him to be evaluated differently to other, less well known Afrikan leaders?
2.    Has Nkrumah’s vision not taken root due to impracticability or “western conspiracies”?
3.    Does Afrika not need strong men?
4.    Are there any Afrikan coups not orchestrated by European powers?
5.    Does the interim National Afrikan People’s Parliament advocate the one party state model?

Our special guests are:

Bro. Ldr. Mbandaka: Resident guest who is Spiritual Leader of the Alkebu-Lan Revivalist Movement and UNIA-ACL Ambassador for the UK.  A veteran activist of over 30 years standing, a featured columnist in The Whirlwind newspaper and author of Mosiah Daily Affirmations and Education: An Africentric Guide To Excellence.

Dr. Kwame Osei:  is a well-travelled Afrikan Historian, Writer, Political Commentator and Entreprenuer that has been on study tours to Kemet, Australia and India.  He has written over 100 articles that have appeared in a range of international publications and outlets including BBC, Black Britain, New African Magazine, as well Ghanaian journals The Daily Graphic, The Catalyst and Public Agenda. Bro. Kwame also presenter on Insite Radio (www.insiteradio.info), where he hosts a weekly magazine show on Saturday afternoons called Inside Afrika.

Bro. Mutta Kilimanjaro: is a historian, trader, broadcaster and colunmist.  He possesses an BA Hons in Politics and an Msc in both Politics & Society and Global Politics.  Bro. Mutta currently serves as Executive Advisor to One Aim, an Afrikan-Centred development organisation.  Bro. Mutta co-hosts (with Bro. Mbuta Anu) the Street Chat on Umoja (Sun) nights and The Global African Connection (with Bro. Ayo) on Ujima (Tues) mornings on Galaxy Radio, 102.5FM / www.galaxyafiwe.com and he is also a contributor to Dotun Adebayo’s Umoja (Sun) night show on BBC London.

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