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Commentary
We invite commentaries from writers all over. The subject is about
Ghana and the world. We reserve the right to accept or reject
submissions, but we are not necessarily responsible for the opinions
expressed in articles we publish......MORE
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Only mad 60-year
olds fault Kwame Nkrumah for Ghana's development
quagmire
By: Prof Lungu
May 15, 2016
"....The
theses...circulating in magazines, books, online
publications, and presses over the last 30 years that...
Kwame Nkrumah's Ghana failed to develop at the same rate
as Singapore, that... Kwame Nkrumah is responsible for
Ghana's development quagmire, are bunkum theses. They
are theses without facts and data... They are the
concoctions of mad 60-year old men with little data, but
crazy old men nonetheless...", (Prof Lungu, 10 May 16).
Published on Ghanaweb 8 May 16 as, "RE Ghana:
lessons from Nkrumah’s fallout with his economic
adviser", our critique of Professor Robert Tignor's
"foundation essay" that appeared in "The Conversation"
in March of this year made the point that Professor
Tignor's essay did not quite do justice to the lofty
goal of providing a relevant "wider look at a key issue
affecting society". As we discussed, this is because
Professor Tignor did not provide any data to backup his
points. Also, Prof. Tignor's conception of Arthur Lewis
as a rationalist technocrat (while Kwame Nkrumah was
none other than a mere politician) was as well, not
supported by data, the record of history, or the
artifacts of philosophy.
Our Ghanaweb paper
garnered several comments, including multiple discursive
points from Kwabena Yeboah.
According to Kwabena
Yeboah:
(1) Kwame Nkrumah is partly responsible for
Ghana's development quagmire
(2) Kwame Nkrumah's
style of governance (versus that of Lee Kwan Yew of
Singapore) guaranteed political and economic failure for
Ghana all the way into 2016
(3) Singapore's Yew never
had any use for regional associations.
The
problem is, Kwabena Yeboah did not offer data to prove
any of his points.
Here is our response for the
record.
The theses that have been circulating in
magazines, books, online publications, and presses over
the last 30 years such as those being sold by Kwabena
Yeaboah, that during 1957-1966 Kwame Nkrumah's Ghana
failed to develop at the same rate as Singapore, that
even today, Kwame Nkrumah is responsible for Ghana's
development quagmire are bunkum theses.
They are
theses without facts and data at bottom, same as those
carried by the matemeho confederates who fortunately,
failed in their resistance to a Unitary Ghana that Kwame
Nkrumah championed to success, and under whose benefits
they can now claim their "property-owning" placards,
much of which is pilfered state resources.
They
are the concoctions of lazy minds whose only beneficial
attribute, if we can find one, is their love affair with
Cold War-era newspaper headlines.
They are the
concoctions of mad 60-year old men with little data, but
crazy old men nonetheless, old men full of venom and
mischief against Kwame Nkrumah, the singularly most
successful African leader who ever lived.
It is
all propaganda.
So, tell us, crazy old people
and "lost- adolescents"!
What are the
responsibilities of those from your/our "native-country"
who took up the banners of foreign governments engaged
in a "Cold War" by proxy on your own Father's Land. What
are the responsibilities of those from your/our
"native-country" who collected and concealed fat bank
checks from the embassies of those same foreign
governments.
What are the responsibilities of
the NLC (Nonentities, Liars, and Crooks), among them
rascal civilians like Dr. Kofi Abrefa Busia, who took up
arms and overthrew a democratically elected government,
who lied to your/our "native-country" and
mis-represented the true powers behind the coup d'état
that overthrew your father's house, his authority, and
his government?
Constitutions and laws, even
those adjudicated in the highest courts, including
common laws and those employed as precedents, are
nothing but rules and sanctions that give people reason
to pursue GOV (Objectives, Goals, and Visions), and to
hope for their achievement, whatever they are, whether
through the courts, politics, business, social living,
etc.
This is applied rationalism.
If you
are purposely critical, you cannot forget your data and
descend into the gutter to blame Nkrumah for your
problems now, the 60-year old man you are today.
To blame Kwame Nkrumah for Ghana's problems today is to
cruelly abuse your father.
You are abusing your
father who sent you to the schools and colleges he
caused to the funded, the father who enrolled you to go
further in education, even to other civilizations, as
you face problems he knows not about because your
father, the same man who was chased from office by
foreign governments and adolescent
country-native-traitors, that same father has been dead
going on 2 generations, and you an old man.
Now,
as a sad 60-year old man, with children and
grand-children, your still have at least nominal control
over the many assets your father left you that you have
not cheaply auctioned off, and other assets you have
discovered on this earth that Providence has allowed
your beloved country to discover, to claim, and to sell
however you and your contemporaries want.
You
fail to properly apply a critical perspective on
critical-rationalism and its implication for policy
analysis, governance, and the multi-disciplinary foray
of planning (economic, physical, political, economic,
etc.).
Today's professional Geographers,
Architects, Urban and City Planners, and Economic
Development gurus. etc., worth their salt understand it
perfectly well, exactly 100 years after the birth of
Jane Jacobs, and 55 years after publication of her
seminal book, "The Death and Life of Great American
Cities".
So, you pen abusive commentaries about
your father, commentaries sold willy-nilly by
politicians with mighty axes to grind.
Today,
you tell us you are proud of the "African personality
achievements" of Kwame Nkrumah, saying, "...no African,
present or past, has been able to match this attribute,
not even Mandela....".
Yet, from the other side
of your mouth you want us to know about "Nkrumah's
propensity to share Ghana's wealth with other ungrateful
Africans", forgetting that rationally, you cannot have
your egg and eat it, too.
You tell us Singapore's
Lee Kwan Yew was a "rationalist" and Nkrumah wasn't,
because Mr. Yew:
"...did exactly opposite of
Nkrumah...Think of how Lee Kwan Yew treated his
political enemies vis-a-vis Nkrumah during the cold war
era, and only one conclusion looms out that our own
Nkrumah was not astute as compared with his compatriot
in Singapore...Lee Kwan Yew was not interested in
regional associations, confabulations and continental
ambition..."
What a gross mis-representation of
the history, and of the economic and political records.
Here are some data and records for you.
To be continued.....
SOURCES:
1.
The Conversation. Ghana: lessons from Nkrumah’s fallout
with his economic adviser, 1 Mar 16,
(https://theconversation.com/ghana-lessons-from-nkrumahs-fallout-with-his-economic-adviser-53233/).
2. Prof Lungu. RE: Lessons from Nkrumah’s fallout
with his economic adviser, Ghanaweb, 8 May 16,
(http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/RE-Lessons-from-Nkrumah-s-fallout-with-his-economic-adviser-436894/).
3. Jane Jacobs. The Death and Life of Great American
Cities. 1961. New York: Random House.
Visit
for more information:
www.GhanaHero.com.
Read
Mo'! Listen Mo'! See Mo'! Reflect Mo'!
Prof Lungu is
Ghana-Centered/Ghana-Proud!
Subj: Only mad 60-year
olds fault Kwame Nkrumah for Ghana's development
quagmire.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/professorlungu
Support Fair-Trade Oil Share Ghana Campaign/Petition
https://www.change.org/p/ghana-fair-trade-oil-share-psa-campaign-ftos-gh-psa/
Brought to you courtesy www.GhanaHero.com©14 May 16.
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Yellow fever: World on brink of global emergency
over deadly outbreak, academics warn
IndependentUK, May 10, Ghanadot -
Urgent action is needed to combat a yellow fever
epidemic in Africa amid signs it is turning into
a global health emergency and a severe shortage
of the vaccine, academics have warned
...More
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Diversion Of US $250m..Ato Ahwoi To Sue Top NPP
Lawyer For Defamation
PeaceFM, May 14, Ghanadot - The issue
regarding government’s decision to divert 250
million dollars of the total proceeds from the
$1 billion Eurobond issued in 2015 to the UBA is
sure not to die anytime soon.
......More
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Only mad
60-year olds fault Kwame Nkrumah for Ghana's
development quagmire
Commentary, May
16, Ghanadot
- (T)hat... Kwame Nkrumah is responsible
for Ghana's development quagmire, are bunkum
theses. They are theses without facts and data
They are the concoctions of lazy minds whose
only beneficial attribute, if we can find one,
is their love affair with Cold War-era newspaper
headlines.....More
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David Cameron
calls Nigeria and Afghanistan 'fantastically corrupt'
BBC, May 11, Ghanadot
- David Cameron has described Nigeria and
Afghanistan as "fantastically corrupt" in a
conversation with the Queen....The PM was
talking about this week's anti-corruption summit
in London.....We got some leaders of some
fantastically corrupt countries coming to
Britain... Nigeria and Afghanistan, possibly the
two most corrupt countries in the world," Mr
Cameron said....
.More
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