DAMNABLE! General Afrifa's Claims On The 1966 Coup

General Akwasi Afrifa

General  Akwasi  Amankwa Afrifa, one of the key conspirators who organized the February 24,1966 Coup against Nkrumah claims that it was a conspiracy of two ethnic groups.

In his book “The Ghana Coup” Afrifa fails to mention the fact that the Coup was sponsored by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the United States of America.

He also disagrees with his co-conspirator Commissioner of Police A.K Deku that the Coup was largely plotted at the 37 Military Hospital in Accra.

 Afrifa claims that the plot was hatched in Kumasi and that Colonel Emmanuel Akwasi Kotoka was the central figure in it.

 Excerpt of Afrifa’s book is published below;

A few days after our eventful trip to  the north, I visited Colonel Kotoka in his house and we conversed about Nkrumah's forthcoming visits to Hanoi.  We agreed that during his absence, a coup should be staged.  It seemed that the colonel had been thinking about a coup for some time.  He was so happy that we stayed up until the early hours of the morning drinking beer and making plans.  I felt so relieved and excited on my return from the colonel's house that I could not sleep that night. 

The following morning he called me to his office and put certain facts before me to enable us to assess the situation. Without wasting time, the colonel went to Accra to meet Mr Harley, then commissioner of police.  The broad plan of the coup was drafted In Colonel Kotoka's office at Kwadaso in Kumasi.

After this, the Colonel and I swore to each other that in the event of anything happening to either of us, the one left alive would  see the coup through. The Colonel told me that if he was killed or captured in Accra in the course of our preparation, I should continue with our mission and carry it through to the end. So far as I know, the only other person who knew the details of the plan was Mr Harley, whom I had not met at that point.  We all agreed that Major-Gen Ankrah should lead our Revolutionary government.

I was Colonel Kotoka's Brigade Major, and his staff officer in charge of training and operations.  Whatever contribution I made to this exercise was on my Commander's orders. But I would not say this if the Coup had failed.  I was prepared to take my place at the gallows and leave my name in history.

To us the exercise commenced at 04.00 hours on Wednesday 23rd February 1966 when 600 men representing all the units in our Garrison in Tamale started moving.  They were moving to the south and to an unknown destination for a  test exercise in connection with the Rhodesian operation. Since November 1965, we had been in the high state of readiness to move into Rhodesia at short notice. We exploited this situation to deceive the intelligence system.
Colonel Kotoka and I met the troops between Ejura and Atebubu at 12 hours, and there I was left in Command while he proceeded to Accra  to confirm to Mr Harley and Brigadier Ocran that the exercise was going ahead.

Meanwhile,  Major Coker- Appiah, my trusted friend from Sandhurst, had been assigned responsibility for the arrest of the director of Military Intelligence, Brigadier Hasan, and the Commander of P.O.G.R. Colonel Zanerigu, before the H-hour. The arrest of the late Major -General Barwah was a separate exercise. The director of MI surrendered on orders, and the P.O.G.R. Commander escaped through a window. As for Barwah, he resisted arrest, most unwisely and thereby compelled an officer to adopt other methods which he himself knew would be adopted if he was stubborn.

By 06.00hrs on 24th February the Accra police had rounded up most of the Ministers.
Not a single shot was fired at the Castle. At the Flagstaff House, our casualties would have been very heavy if the opposition had been trained properly, and by this time most of our men were wounded.

We captured the Ghana Radio Station without much incident and at 05.25 hours we were in full control of the studios.  I went on radio and asked the now awakened Ghanaians to stay by the radios for important announcements at 6 a.m., and I told them, there would not be the usual news.

Just before six o'clock, Colonel Kotoka arrived at the radio station. He shook my hand and said "Well-done, Akwasi". He then went on air and in these words told the nation what had happened.

"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 is dissolved and Kwame Nkrumah is dismissed from Office. All ministers are also dismissed. The CPP is disbanded with effect from now. It is illegal for any person to belong to it.

We appeal to you to be calm and cooperative; all persons in detention will be released in due course. Please stay by your radios and await further details”

Thus, for the first time we told Ghanaians and the whole world what we had done.  This in brief, heralded our new era.

At Kumasi, a funny incident happened. At the end of Colonel Kotoka's broadcast, the Ashantis flocked to the bars, drinking and singing the praise of the Armed Forces. Then someone said, "You don't know Kwame Nkrumah. This is one of his wicked plans to test the loyalty of the masses.  He wants to find out who is with him, and deal with those who are not".  And as if they had been ordered to disperse at gun point, the gathering crowd disintegrated as they run into their houses. This was at Ashanti New Town, one of the United Party's strongholds.

Our coup has been described elsewhere as one of the Ashanti invasions. If indeed it was, we hope this will be the last. This description is correct to the extent that the coup was planned in Kumasi, by Colonel Kotoka and Mr Harlley and myself. But Colonel Kotoka and Mr Harlley are not Ashantis. The Ashantis and the Ewes, their tribes, are, however, traditional allies.

Editorial

SHAMEFUL

Yesterday,  the Convention Peoples Party (CPP) and the Socialist Forum of Ghana (SFG) jointly organized a grand symposium at the Accra International Conference Centre to mark the 50th anniversary of the overthrow of the Government of Osagyefo Dr kwame Nkrumah, by the Central Intelligence Agency of the United states of America.

The momentum the activity generated is perhaps one of the surest indicators that the conspirators  who organized the coup have failed.

 After years of burning Nkrumahs books and criminalizing the circulation of his photographs, the people of Ghana still gather to celebrate his politics and to pledge to implement his ideas.

The Insight has always been convinced of the relevance of the ideas and ideals of the Osagyefo and we will play our part in this struggle.

On this occasion we call on all progressive forces to rally together to defeat the forces of neo-liberalism.

The shameful treachery of February 24 1966 must never be allowed again.

YAO GRAHAM SPEAKS

Dr Yao Graham

Dr Yao Graham of the Third World Network will join a panel of academics to discuss the theme “Ghana’s Day of Shame,50 Years On, Pursuing A National Development Agenda” at the Accra International conference Centre tomorrow.

 The other panelist will be Professor Raymond Osei of the University of Cape Coast.

The event which marks the 50th anniversary of the infamous 1966 Coup sponsored by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the United states of America will be chaired by comrade Kwesi Pratt, Jnr of the Socialist forum of Ghana (SFG).

 It is being co-sponsored by the Convention Peoples Party (CPP) and the SFG and is scheduled to start at 4:00pm.

 This year’s anniversary has been marked with seminars on the emancipation of women and women’s organizations and Trade Union Movement, the role of youth and students in the national development effort and the promotion of arts and culture.

The speakers are highly respected left wing intellectuals and activists with a long history of participation in the struggle against neo-liberalism.

Organizers say they have invited diplomats from progressive countries, all political parties, members of Parliament, workers’ organizations, youth and student, as well as Ministers of state.

There is now conclusive evidence that the coup was master- minded by the CIA with active support of other western intelligence agencies.

Nkrumah is universally acknowledged as the foremost advocate of national liberation in Africa and one of the loudest voices in the anti racism campaign.

He was a founder of both the Non – Aligned Movement and the Organization of African Unity (OAU)

Editorial

PLEASE LEAVE HER ALONE

It is now obvious that some political forces in the country have decided that by hook or crook, especially by crook, they have to destroy the credibility of the chairperson of the Electoral Commission.

No opportunity is spared in the grand effort to link the chairperson either to President John Mahama or the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

 Even decisions taken collectively by the Commission are deliberately attributed to the chairperson as part of the on-going demonisation exercise.

The Insight strongly believes that if this clearly partisan enterprise is not brought to an end, the credibility of the entire electoral process would be damaged without sound reason.

This will have serious consequences for elections in Ghana and general governance.

Let’s not sacrifice the credibility of national institutions for the convenience of some political parties only for today.

Please leave Charlotte Osei alone!

TUC SPEAKS OUT

Kofi Asamoah (L) Justice Henaku (R)

By Duke Nii Amartey Tagoe

Brother Kofi Asamoah, Secretary General of the Trades Union Congress has called for a complete structural transformation of the national economy in order to rescue Ghana from the crises of underdevelopment.

He was speaking at a public forum held at the Hall of Trade Unions on “The Impact of the 24^th February Coup Detat on Trade Unionism in Ghana” as part of activities marking the 50^th anniversary of the overthrow of Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, first President of Ghana by the Central Intelligence Agency of the USA and its local collaborators.

According to him, the coup detat of 24^th February 1966, brought in its wake a ferocious swing in government economic policy from “development” to “management”.

This he noted, ushered in the period when employment concerns of many Ghanaians were relegated to the background and vigorous efforts towards employment creation were halted.

The Role of the NLC in the Sabotage of Workers

Kofi Asamoah recounted with pain that by the time the National Liberation Council handed over power in 1970, “more than 64,000 direct public sector jobs had been cut” adding that “registered unemployment by late 1970 had jumped to between 350,000 and 600,000”.

The result of this dastardly act was that whilst there was a drastic reduction in the membership and influence of the unions, many labour leaders had to take refuge under beds for fear of persecution and several others simply fled the country. This man hunt and intimidation continued right under the Busia regime.

The role of the Coup in the Ideological degeneration of Trade Unionism

Trade Unions the world over are formed and made to function on the basis of ideology. Kofi Asamoah therefore holds that the 24^th February Coup made a conscious effort at the elimination of ideological manifestations of the activities of trade unions in Ghana, adding that “this loss of an ideological grounding has led to the festering of the fragmentation within the trade union movement”.

Prof. Sawyerr, Ebow Tawia, Prof Delle &Algerian Ambassador

Worse still, critical historical documents of the Congresses of the TUC cannot be found and might have been lost forever in what the TUC Secretary General has likened to “ISIS destruction of archeological material and historical sites”.

In a brief remark, Kwesi Pratt Jnr, a leading member of the Socialist Forum of Ghana stated that on the 31^st of December 1963, J.W Russel, British Ambassador in Addis Ababa sent a cable to the Foreign Office in which he made some ghastly comments about Kwame Nkrumah.

Mr Pratt said: “the coup of February 1966 was not about bad governance or dictatorship of Nkrumah and the CPP, but was a crime committed against an independent people striving to break away from the yoke of colonialism.”

According to him, the forces that overthrew Nkrumah did so purely because they wanted to hold back Ghana’s progress in the continuing domination of Africa in the fashion of classical colonialism.

In the cable sent to the Foreign Office, J.W Russel said “Nkrumah is our enemy, he is determined to complete our expulsion from an Africa he aspires to dominate absolutely. We must find blacks who can, and although it would be counterproductive publicly to damn them with our old colonial kiss, yet surely it is not beyond our ingenuity to find effective ways of affording them discreet and legitimate support? I cannot for the life of me see why we should subscribe our conscience to help the Saltimbance of Accra engross the rest of Africa”

Nana Frimpongmaa Sarpong Kumankuma, also called on progressive forces to unite in their effort towards the building of a new society based on the principles of equality for all.

“ 50 years after that sordid incident that halted the rapid transformation of our dear country, the time has come for each and every one of us to move on and to work towards the realization of the State we yearn to see. Every single day must count in the mobilization of the disadvantaged and the workers of this country towards national reconstruction” she said.

The Trades Union Congress says it will continue to engage and build alliances with progressive forces to ensure that the alternative path to development is realized in the shortest possible time.

Mr Kofi Asamoah has thrown a challenge to progressive forces to mobilize and build alliances to galvanise public support for an alternative development paradigm in the face of neoliberal hegemony.

The public forum which was jointly organized by the Convention Peoples Party and the Socialist Forum of Ghana was chaired by Mr Justice Kofi Henaku, SFG Secretary.

SECRET 3

How Britain Tried To Get Nkrumah To Change

Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah

The letters contained in Britain’s Foreign Office Secret Files make it clear that Britain identified Nkrumah as a threat to its strategic interests and therefore sought means to make him change course.

The problem however was what to use to put pressure on Nkrumah.

 Britain had already cut its aid to Ghana drastically, but that had not moved Nkrumah.

An exasperated British official, Douglas Carter wonders “indeed the question we have to ask ourselves is whether it is any longer possible for the British government to influence President Nkrumah in such a way as to cause him to alter the basic orientation of his policies. I believe that short of a boycott of Ghana’s cocoa, would be damaging to us as well as contrary to our whole trade policy, there are no economic levers which we can effectively use to influence Nkrumah”.

”Any attempt on our part to exercise pressure through economic action would probably harm our interests more than him”.

After all, Britain was still Ghana’s biggest customer and supplier.

Interestingly, the documents reveal that at some point the British establishment considered the Asantehene as a possible replacement for Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah.

The documents also list close associates of Nkrumah, who was working against him and his project of unifying Africa.

Editorial

BRITAIN AND AFRICAN UNITY

That African states continue in their non-viable conditions dictated by the Berlin Conference is partly because the leaders on the continent have refused to serve the interests of their people.

As revealed by the recently declassified documents of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, part of the reason for the failure to unite Africa is the direct sabotage of western countries especially Britain.

The West rightly saw the unification of Africa as a threat to its stranglehold on Africa and did everything possible to sabotage the continental project.

At one stage the British establishment even tried to use one of Nkrumah’s own men to write a book which would discredit the Osagyefo’s effort at continental unity.

The Insight is publishing these declassified documents as part of the effort to learn the important lessons of history.

The African people need to organize themselves to prevent anti-African forces from sabotaging the forward march of the progressive forces.

SECRET (2): British Files Reveal Efforts To Sabotage Africa Unity Project.

Nkrumah led effort to emancipate Africa from colonial rule

Secret files from the British Foreign office show that Britain was preoccupied with ensuring that President Nkrumah’s efforts to create a union government for Africa were sabotaged.

The letters from British foreign affairs officials, but particularly from British diplomatic missions across Africa, show that one duty common to all British senior diplomats in Africa was to frustrate Nkrumah at every turn.

In one of the files a letter written in 1963 by the British Ambassador to Addis Ababa, Mr.J. W. Russell, the Ambassador notes that using the Commonwealth as a tool to sabotage Nkrumah’s efforts in Africa does not work as “At the summit here last May (the founding OAU summit) he could not see the faintest trace of Commonwealth solidarity or operational unity of purpose. We made in fact a sorry show,” he wrote.

Therefore, the Ambassador suggested that as Nkrumah was their enemy, they should “find blacks who can [...], although it would be counter –productive publicly to damn them with our own colonial kiss”, overthrow the Osagyefo.

Dr Kwame Nkrumah.

In another letter to the British Ambassador in Lagos R.W.D Fowler, a British official writes…. “I am delighted with your sticking up for Nigeria, for which I have the highest regard. Nothing would give me more pleasure than to believe that Nigeria is the St George who is going to slay the Ghanaian dragon.”

Another letter on the first OAU summit from the Secret File notes….. “Nyerere and Sekou Toure had the most influence on the other delegations and were largely responsible for the final result, which was to reject the largely Nkrumahist doctrine of immediate overall political union.”

The letter adds, “Anything we can do, without attracting attention, to build up Nyerere would undoubtedly be useful – and he looks as though he needs it because in my view he is coming off second best in his struggle with Nkrumah.”

Finally, the British High Commissioner in CG, Collins sends a paper, summing up what Nkrumah gained and lost  at the Summit, noting that while Nkrumah did not get most of the things he asked for, the meeting itself, the largest meeting of heads of government ever held in Africa was in itself a triumph for Nkrumah.

Editorial

HOW AFRICAN UNITY WAS TORPEDOED

Secret files on Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah from Britain ‘s Foreign office clearly show that whilst Western diplomats did not speak at the first organisation of African Union summit in Addis Ababa, they were more than busy ensuring that the African Continent did not unite.

As letters from the British diplomats show they recruited and propped particular African heads of states at the time to make sure that they countered Nkrumah’s arguments for a Union Government in Africa, where they found their chosen leaders not persuasive enough they recruited others for the same purpose.

 They also sowed the idea that the main aim of Nkrumah was to head United Africa.

These were in the early 60s.

It is ironic that soon after the colonial masters themselves, found the wisdom of forming a union for themselves and implemented some of Nkrumah’s suggestions such as a common foreign policy and common diplomatic missions.

This must be useful lessons to those who think that Western countries know what is best for us.