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| Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah |
When constable Ametewee attempted to assassinate Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah at the Flagstaff House, the British High Commission in Accra was beside itself with glee.
A
report it dispatched to London is being reproduced below only as an
illustration.
British
High Commission, Accra
Dispatch No.5 (13 pages long)
Dated 24 January 1964
Dispatch No.5 (13 pages long)
Dated 24 January 1964
Marked: SECRET
Written by D. L. Cole
To: Rt Hon. Duncan
Sandys, MP
Secretary of State for
Commonwealth Relations, Commonwealth Relations Office, Downing St, London, SWI
The attempted shooting of President Nkrumah:
Ghana
enters 1964 At about 1.15 pm on Thursday, January 2nd, President Nkrumah of
Ghana left his office at Flagstaff House to return to Christianborg Castle for
lunch. As he moved towards his car, across the courtyard, he was accompanied by
two security guards - one Salifu Dagarti, a veteran British-trained police
professional, the other an amateur provided by the President's own party, CPP.
A rifle shot rang out. It had been fired from behind some sort of cover -
perhaps about 50 yards away - by Constable Ametewee, one of the policemen on
guard at Flagstaff House who had been transferred for duty there only a day or
two previously. The driver of the President's car immediately disappeared. The
CPP security guard hid for his life behind the car. The President and Salifu
dived for cover.
Salifu
got up to see what was going on and was instantly shot through the head. Two
more shots were fired. One or both of them ripped through the President's shirt
but were apparently deflected by his bullet-proof vest.
Constable
Ametewee then attempted to fire his fifth and last round, but the bullet was
accidentally ejected. The President, perhaps seeing what had happened, got up
and ran. The distance he covered was considerable. And, as he ran, he shouted
for help. A number of armed policemen apparently watched with interest to see
how the incident would end but did not move.
Senior officials similarly watched from the windows of nearby offices, one of them confining himself to the single comment: 'They've bungled it again'.
As
the President approached the kitchen of Flagstaff House, the Constable caught
up with him and tried to club him with his rifle butt, but the rifle slipped
from his hands. Inside the kitchen, the President and the Constable finally got
to grips. The Constable bit the President's cheek. The President kicked the
Constable in the groin and the latter momentarily collapsed. At that stage,
other policemen arrived on the scene and decided the time had come to
intervene.
Constable
Ametewee was quickly knocked out and left lying on the ground. The President,
having changed his shirt and had his cheek dressed by a Russian doctor, had his
photograph taken crouching over his assailant, as he might have done had he
just overpowered him. He then left for the Castle, from which he has not since
emerged.
From
1.45pm onwards, it was clear to any casual onlooker that something serious had
happened at Flagstaff House around which a cordon of troops had been thrown. It
was not till 4pm that a brief announcement was made on Ghana Radio to the
effect that an unsuccessful attempt had been made on the President's life, that
he was unhurt and that the assailant was in custody. For over 12 hours, neither
press nor radio had any further light to throw on the subject, although the
same evening the Russian ambassador was already telling his diplomatic
colleagues that the President had 'overpowered his assailant' ...
What the interrogation of Constable Ametewee revealed, we do not know. There is a strong presumption that the President himself is thought to be suspicious of all the policemen who stood idly by when he was being chased. The minister of the interior, Mr Boateng, has come in for a strong attack from the press. Dr Danquah, the verteran opposition leader, has again been taken into detention. The former chief justice, Sir ArkuKorsah, was also taken in for questioning but later released. But despite all this, and despite the fact that the Constable was an Ewe - the same tribe as the exiled Ghanaian leader, Mr Gbedemah - we do not ourselves have grounds at present for thinking that the attack was the result of a political plot with serious opposition backing. Almost certainly, the intent was to kill the President and very probably one or two senior police officers (but no more) were involved. But that is all we know.
The
most immediate practical effect of the attack, was that the personal protection
of the President was taken completely out of the hands of the police and given
to the Army. This meant in effect that the Presidential Guard (a battalion,
trained and equipped by the Russians) took over, complete as opposed to partial
guard duties at the Castle. But other units of the Army were also involved. Two
battalions were put on alert and a Brigadier placed under the President's
direct command.
On
5th January, the commissioner of police, two deputy commissioners,
six assistant commissioners and one superintendent - over half the higher
command of the police force - were dismissed (the first of the 'purges') and
the whole force began to be disarmed, their armories being taken over by the
Army. The Police Force was put under the acting command of the former head of
Special Branch - Assistant Commissioner John Har1ley.
As
this dispatch issue, the present situation is that the President has still
never (not even in the company of Chou en-Lai) publicly emerged from the
Castle, where he is closely guarded by heavily armed troops and that the police
force, having been stripped of their senior officers and arms, are disorganised
and demoralised ...
Inevitably,
excesses of power and fear have brought with them over the years the attitudes
and instruments of repression. It is, of course, true - and one of the mercies
for which we must be truly thankful - that Dr Nkrumah does not like killing: he
probably does not even like violence in any form. But he shows no compunction
at all about locking people up in prison, if necessary without any charges and
if necessary for years. It is the fear of the police coming in the night and
removing the head of the household without any explanation to disappear into
Preventive Detention for goodness knows how many years that is the most
powerful instrument of intimidation in Ghana today.
It is not known how many people are in preventive detention in Ghana at present. No names or figures are ever published, but the number is certainly considerable. But, beyond that, hundreds more are taken away from time to time for 'questioning' and held incommunicado for weeks or months ... There is still laughter and easy talk amongst this inherently happy people, but before they start their conversations, they now tend to take a good look over their shoulders to see who is listening.
Wherever
and however it started, President Nkrumah has become entangled with communism
to an extent that can no longer be written off as a mere flirtation. This is
not to suggest that he is in any sense a 'satellite' of the Russians or the
Chinese. He is an African first and Kwame Nkrumah above all.
There is little doubt he prefers the Russians: he probably admires their more flexible political approach and their great material advances ... To some extent too the Russians seem to have got him under their influence. Their ambassador here is a most effective operator and spends much time with the President ...
Though
President Nkrumah appears to have largely lost the mass appeal which originally
swept him to power, he still has a considerable personal magnetism, conveyed
through bright eyes and an infectious smile, which can affect not only
individuals but on occasions groups of people like Parliament. He often appears
to agree with anyone who is talking to him - thus at least temporarily
ingratiating himself - only to adopt or get others to adopt for him a totally
different course later on.
Though
he still, therefore, deludes the few with 'charm', he is, in fact, for this and
other reasons a most dangerous man. He is exceptionally vain. He is spiteful,
impatient of argument, and deceitful. He gives an impression at times of
helplessness and weakness and of being pushed around by his advisers. Part of
this is due to muddle in his own mind - he is not a good administrator and does
not understand economics: part of it is undoubtedly a pose.
There
is in fact an extraordinary consistency in some of his long term objectives,
e.g African Unity and an exceptional ruthlessness in pursuing them. It is
indeed really he who pushes others around playing one aspirant for influence
off against the other. He lives now in a state of acute fear. President
Kennedy's death following his own escape at Kulungugu were bad enough.
But after the latest shooting, he is so frightened that, according to the most reliable sources, he dare not even take a walk in the gardens of Christianborg Castle. But perhaps his most conspicuous characteristic is that he regards himself as what Hegel described as a world-historical individual'.
Though
he passes it off with an easy and almost modest smile, he has become obsessed
with a sense of destiny. In this respect, a doctor who has had an opportunity
of observing him at close quarters for more than a week, has described him as a
paranoiac.
In short, there is very little in the Nkrumah character of today either to attract or to offer hope for the future. Whatever he said to be like, he is now thoroughly corrupted by power.
Editorial
SHAKE
UP
The
handing of the programme for the 59th independence anniversary of
Ghana has been so sloppy that some people must be made to answer for the
embarrassment caused to the nation.
The
petty errors in the programme and its handling suggests that officials did not
exercise due care and as a result of their clear incompetence the dignity of
Ghana has suffered.
One
of the effects of this gross incompetence is that the impact of the celebration
itself and the speeches delivered by President Mahama and Uhuru Kenyatta have been lost.
The
Insight joins many Ghanaians to ask the President to take very firm action to
end the gross incompetence exhibited by some of his people.
Those
whose acts of commission and omission reduce Ghana to a laughing stock have to
answer for their behavior.
We are waiting for the president to take
action this time
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