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Dark Days in Ghana | |
|---|---|
| Author | Kwame Nkrumah |
| Publisher | Lawrence & Wishart |
| First published | 1968 London |
| Type | Book |
| Source | archive.org |
Author's note
Ghana's experience since 24th February 1966, costly but priceless, must be viewed in the context of the African Revolution as a whole.
It is with this in mind that I have written, in Conakry, about Ghana's "dark days" in the hope that publication of the facts may help to expose similar setbacks in other progressive independent African states.
Conakry, Guinea.
24th August 1967.Letter to Kwame Nkrumah from Richard Wright: Black Power
Richard Wright: Black Power
(London and New York, 1954)*I say to you publicly and frankly: The burden of suffering that must be borne, impose it upon one generation! Do not, with the false kindness of the missionaries and business-men, drag out this agony for another five hundred years while your villages rot and your people's minds sink into the nicrass of a subjective darkness ... Be merciful by being stern! If I lived under your regime, I'd ask for this hardness, this coldness ...
Make no mistake, Kwame, they are going to come at you with words about democracy; you are going to be pinned to the wall and warned about decency; plump-faced men will mumble academic phrases about "sound" development; gentlemen of the cloth will speak unctuously of values and standards; in short, a barrage of concentrated arguments will be hurled at you to persuade you to temper the pace and drive of your movement ...
But you know as well as I do that the logic of your actions is being determined by the conditions of the lives of your people ...
There will be no way to avoid a degree of suffering, of trial, of tribulation; suffering comes to all people, but you have within your power the means to make this suffering of your people meaningful, to redeem whatever stresses and strains may come. None but Africans can perform this for Africa. And, as you launch your bold programmes, as you call on your people for sacrifices, you can be confident that there are free men beyond the continent of Africa who see deeply enough into life to know and understand what you must do, what you must impose ...
*This extract is reproduced by the kind permission of the author's London agents, John Farquharson Ltd., and of Harper and Row, New York.
1. Peking to Conakry
The word "coup" should not be used to describe what took place in Ghana on 24th February 1966. On that day, Ghana was captured by traitors among the army and police who were inspired and helped by neo-colonialists and certain reactionary elements among our own population. It was an act of aggression, an "invasion", planned to take place in my absence and to be maintained by force. Seldom in history has a more cowardly and criminally stupid attempt been made to destroy the independence of a nation.
When the action took place, I was on my way to Hanoi, at the invitation of President Ho Chi Minh, with proposals for ending the war in Vietnam. I had almost reached Peking, the furthest point in my journey. The cowards who seized power by force of arms behind my back, knew they did not have the support of the people of Ghana, and therefore thought it safer to wait until I was not only out of the country, but well beyond the range of a quick return.
The news was brought to me by the Chinese Ambassador in Accra who had gone on ahead to Peking to meet me, and to be with me during my visit to China. He had just accompanied Prime Minister Chou En-lai, Liu Shao-chi and other officials when they welcomed us at the airport, and he had come straight on out to the government house where I was staying. I remember his exact words:
"Mr. President. I have bad news. There has been a coup d'etat in Ghana."
I was taking a brief rest after the long flight from Rangoon, and wondered if I had heard him correctly.
"What did you say?"
"A coup d'etat in Ghana."
"Impossible," I said. "But yes, it is possible. These things do happen. They are in the nature of the revolutionary struggle."
I learned later that the Chinese welcoming party had known about events in Ghana when I stepped from the aircraft at Peking, but with characteristic courtesy had waited to break the news to me privately.
My first reaction was to return immediately to Accra. If the VC10 of Ghana Airways in which we had travelled most of the way had been at Peking I would have embarked at once. But we had left it behind in Rangoon and had continued to Peking in an aircraft sent by the Chinese government.
I knew that to avoid unnecessary bloodshed I would have to be back in Ghana within 24 hours, and this was clearly impossible. I decided, therefore, to make an immediate statement to the Ghanaian people, and to fight back on African soil just as soon as my hosts could make the necessary travel arrangements.
What had happened in Ghana was no more than a tactical set-back in the African revolutionary struggle of a type which I had often predicted. At the very first conference of the O.A.U. in Addis Ababa, I had warned my fellow Heads of State that none of us was safe if we remained disunited. For this reason, I considered that the overall strategy remained unchanged but what had happened in Ghana made it all the more necessary to press on by revolutionary means to secure a united Africa.
The following is the text of the statement I released to the press:
"On my arrival in Peking, my attention has been drawn to reports from press agencies which allege that some members of the Ghana armed forces supported by some members of the police have attempted to overthrow my government-the government of the Convention People's Party.
I know that the Ghanaian people are always loyal to me, the Party and the Government, and all I expect of everyone at this hour of trial is to remain calm, but firm in determination and resistance.
Officers and men in the Ghana armed forces who are involved in this attempt, are ordered to return to their barracks and wait for my return.
I am the constitutional head of the Republic of Ghana, and the supreme commander of the armed forces.
I am returning to Ghana soon."
I followed this up with a cable to all Ghanaian embassies:
"Be calm and remain firm at your posts. Send all messages and reports to me through the Ghana Embassy, Peking, and not, repeat not, through Accra until further notice."
As I discussed the news from Ghana with the 22 officials accompanying me, among them A. Quaison Sackey (Foreign Minister), Kwesi Armah (Minister of Trade), M. F. Dei-Anang (Ambassador Extraordinary, in charge of the African Affairs Secretariat), J. E. Bossman (Ambassador to the U.K.), F. Arkhurst (Ghana's Permanent Representative at the United Nations), I was somewhat disappointed to note their reaction. At a time like this, I would have expected them to show courage and fortitude. But most of them were frightened. Quaison Sackey, for example, developed diarrhoea, and must have visited the lavatory about twenty times that day. Their obvious dismay was in striking contrast to the calmness and courage of the 66 other personnel—the security officers and members of my personal secretariat. These were men. Compared with them, the politicians were old women.
With Alex Quaison Sackey, I will deal later. Kwesi Armah settled down in London where it appeared that he had considerable funds of money available to him. The rebel regime, on the basis of this, attempted to have him extradited on the grounds that he had stolen the money in question. His many trials before the English Courts exposed at least the falsity of the allegations which these authorities had made. I am glad that he was acquitted since I am sure that the particular charges made against him were false. Nonetheless, I believe that he brought his misfortunes on himself by failing to take a positive political stand. His various court cases however prove the nonsense contained in many of the allegations of corruption against my government.
Enoch Okoh and Michael Dei-Anang were old British trained civil servants. They had made their way up through the colonial structure. They had been among my most trusted officials but they chose to return to Ghana, presumably in the hope that they would be accepted by the counterrevolutionaries.
Enoch Okoh, as head of the civil service and as the person who knew therefore which promotions had been made and why, was treated with leniency and was appointed to be in charge of the Housing Corporation. Since the new regime did not intend to build any houses for the people this was perhaps the appropriate punishment for his desertion. Michael Dei-Anang was not so treated and, much to his surprise, was thrown into prison.
Fred Arkhurst, after his treachery, returned to his former position at the United Nations but was eventually removed by the 'N.L.C.' who could not trust someone who had, at least, ability.
Naturally, we were all of us anxious about the safety of our families in Ghana, but I suppose the official members of the party were also thinking about their bank accounts and their property. It is said that a man's heart lies where his treasure is. But even allowing for the fact that they had more to lose than the other personnel, I still find it hard to understand how they could have lost grip of themselves so easily. It was as though they had put their hands up at the first whiff of danger.
However, they did manage to pull themselves together sufficiently for me to be able to discuss the next moves with them. It was not until later, after they had left Peking, and were on their own, that the full depth of their defeatism became apparent, and they deserted.
We agreed that for the next day or two, while arrangements were being made. I should carry out official engagements as planned.
This was also the wish of the Chinese government. The Chinese made it clear that they regarded the military and police action in Ghana as no more than a temporary obstacle in the long struggle against imperialism, the kind of event to be expected, but which had no effect whatsoever on the final outcome. "You are a young man," Chou En-lai told me, "you have another forty years ahead of you!"
At the banquet held in my honour on 24th February, Liu Shao-chi spoke of Afro-Asian solidarity, and the African peoples' revolutionary struggle:
"Most of the African countries have won independence, but the African peoples' revolutionary struggle against imperialism is by no means completed. They still have to carry on this struggle in greater depth. The imperialists headed by the United States are more active than ever in pressing forward with their policies of neo-colonialism in an attempt to subvert independent African countries and suppress the anti-imperialist revolutionary struggle of the African peoples. In his latest book, 'Neo-Colonialism—The Last Stage of Imperialism', President Nkrumah gave a detailed description of neo-colonialism and explicitly pointed out that 'foremost among the neo-colonialists' is the United States, which is 'the very citadel of neo-colonialism'. However hard the imperialists may whip up revolutionary adverse currents, the anti-imperialist revolutionary struggles of the African peoples can never be suppressed but are bound to win final victory. The Chinese people have unswervingly stood on the side of the African peoples and resolutely support their just struggles.''
He went on to condemn U.S. policy in Vietnam, and to expose the hypocrisy of American so-called peace moves. No direct mention was made of the news from Ghana, or the possibility that I might not proceed to Hanoi.
In my reply, I also attacked neo-colonialism, and said that final victory would rest with the common man. I went on to condemn U.S. aggression in Vietnam, and called for the complete withdrawal of all American forces from Vietnam so that peace negotiations could begin.
I knew that I could not now go to Hanoi. My duty lay first with the people of Ghana, and I was determined to return to Africa as quickly as possible. But I was sorry to have to abandon mv mission as it was the second time that President Ho Chi Minh had asked me to go, and I wanted to do anything I could to help end the war. I was, and as far as I know, still remain the only head of state or government that the President of North Vietnam has invited to Hanoi to discuss the war since the American phase began. When I informed him of my decision, he replied that I would be welcome in Hanoi at any future date.
During the next two days, while I continued to carry out official engagements and to deal with the messages which began to pour in from abroad, the Chinese could not have shown greater care for my safety. If anyone near to me so much as put his hand in his pocket he was instantly pounced upon by security officers. They trusted no one, not even the Ghanaians who were with me.
Messages of encouragement and support continued to arrive from heads of state and governments all over the world. Many African leaders offered me immediate hospitality. Among them were President Sékou Touré of Guinea, President Nasser of Egypt, President Nyerere of Tanzania and President Modibo Keita of Mali. I was very touched that they should declare their solidarity so quickly and with such generosity, and it was only after deep thought that I decided to accept the invitation of President Sékou Touré and the Political Bureau of the Guinean Democratic Party. I sent the following note to President Sékou Touré:
Peking.
25th February 1966.My dear Brother and President,
I have been deeply touched by your message of solidarity and support I have received today. It is true, as you say, that this incident in Ghana is a plot by the imperialists, neo-colonialists and their agents in Africa. As these imperialist forces grow more militant and insidious, using traitors to the African cause against the freedom and independence of our people, we must strengthen our resolution and fight for the dignity of our people to the last man, and for the unity of Africa. It is heartening to know that in this struggle we can count on the support and understanding of Africa's well-tried leaders like yourself.
I know that our cause will triumph and that we can look forward to the day when Africa shall be really united and free from foreign interference and the intrigues of saboteurs and puppets.
I am safe and well here in Peking, and I have sent my special emissary who will deliver this message to you to let you know the plans I am making for my early return to Africa. I trust that you will give him every possible assistance for the fulfilment of his mission. I shall visit you in Guinea soon.
With sincere and brotherly affection,
Shortly afterwards, I received a further message from President Sékou Touré:
The Political Bureau and the Government after a thorough analysis of the African situation following the seizure of power by the instruments of imperialism have decided:
1. To organise a national day of solidarity with the Ghanaian people next Sunday. Throughout the length and breadth of the country there will take place popular demonstrations on the theme of anti-imperialism.
2. To call on all progressive African countries to hold a special conference and take all adequate measures.
We think that the time factor is vital here, since it is important to make a riposte without further delay, by every means. Your immediate presence would be very opportune, it seems to us, and we are therefore impatiently waiting for you.
Yours very fraternally,
Ahmed Sékou Touré.
I do not propose to publish in full all the messages I received from Heads of State and governments. But I would like to quote from the messages of two other African leaders. First, the note from President Modibo Keita of Mali:
I am happy to hear that you are well. Please thank our comrades of the People's Republic of China for this important contribution to Africa's struggle for liberty and progress.
Yesterday, the 24th of February, we learned of the serious events which took place in Ghana and which do no credit to those who have provoked them.
For us, the authors of the coup d'état have committed an act of high treason. ... This is one phase of the unremitting struggle waged by neo-colonialists and imperialists against Africa which wishes to live in freedom and dignity and in friendship with all peoples who are peace-loving and who wish to build a just society. All Africans, conscious of the grave dangers posed to our peoples and our continent, should mobilise themselves to bar the way to neo-colonialism and imperialism.
The Malian people consider themselves engaged in this struggle.
Secondly, I quote from the message from Albert Margai then Prime Minister of Sierra Leone:
Whilst we are conscious of the many and divers forces working in Africa which daily and constantly strive to foil our struggle for the final emancipation of those still subject to colonial rule and our ultimate claims to unity, I have nevertheless formed great hope and fortitude in the courage of your convictions and determined efforts to defy ill odds in refusing to accept the results of the recent revolt as a fait accompli. Please accept, my dear Brother, the assurance of my highest consideration, esteem and prayers for your personal well-being and safety.
Apart from the fact that Guinea and Ghana formed a union in 1961, and a strong bond of friendship exists between President Sékou Touré, the Political Bureau of the Guinea Democratic Party, the people of Guinea and myself, I wanted to go to a country as near to Ghana as possible.
This would leave no one in any doubt about my intention to take up the neo-colonialist challenge and to restore legal government in Ghana. Guinea is only some 300 miles from Ghana. Jet flying time between the two countries is a mere 30-40 minutes. From Guinea I knew I would be in a good position to carry on the African revolutionary struggle. I decided that we should all, with the exception of Quaison Sackey and Bossman, go to Guinea via Moscow.
Quaison Sackey as foreign minister was entrusted with a very important mission. He was to go to Addis Ababa to represent the legal government of Ghana at the O.A.U. conference of foreign ministers due to open there within a few days. Instead of rising to the occasion, and accepting this great challenge and responsibility, he went to Accra and offered his services to the neo-colonialist puppets, the so-called National Liberation Council. The latter, it seems, made little use of him. Traitors have no friends.
I heard of his betrayal when I arrived in Moscow on the first of March, and it was there that I was also told of Bossman's defection. By then, Kwesi Armah and other officials had left Moscow to deal, as they said, with "urgent private matters." They were to return to Moscow, and we were all to travel together to Conakry. Instead, they defected. I then decided to proceed at once to Guinea with my personal entourage and members of my Guard Department. I wanted no one with me who was faint-hearted or two-faced. Every member of my party knew he was free to leave at any time. The security officers and other members of my personal staff decided to remain with me.
The Russian government sent an aircraft to Peking to fetch me, and I left from an air-strip near Peking on 28th February. Before leaving, I made the following statement to the press:
I think you all know that certain members of my armed forces have attempted to usurp political power in Ghana while I was on the way to Hanoi. What they have done, in fact, is to commit an act of rebellion against the Government of the Republic. I am determined to crush it without delay, and to do this I rely upon the support of the Ghanaian people and of Ghana's friends in the world.
By the arrest, detention and assassination of ministers, the Party's civil servants, and trade unionists, and by the massacre of defenceless men and women, the authors of these insane acts of robbery, violence and anarchy have added brutality to their treason.
Never in the history of our new Ghana have citizens, men and women been assassinated in cold blood. Never have their children become orphans for political reasons. Never before have Ghanaians, our people, been shot because of their political convictions.
This is a tragedy of monstrous proportions. The excessive personal ambition and the insane acts of these military adventurers, if not stifled now, will not only destroy the political, economic and social achievements of the last few years, but will also obstruct the course of the African revolution.
All that has been achieved by the Ghanaian people with the assistance of all our friends is in jeopardy.
I am returning to Ghana; I know that the friendly nations and people of good will everywhere will support me in restoring the constitutional government of Ghana.
I take this opportunity to express my sincere condolences to all the families whose valiant sons and daughters have given their lives in the defence of Ghana.
At this moment, as I leave Peking, the capital city of the People's Republic of China, I express my profound gratitude to the Chinese people and to their leaders for their support and their kind hospitality.
We landed near Moscow at dawn on 1st March, after a brief stop at Irkutsk in Siberia, and were met by leading Soviet government officials. After a busy day of talks I re-embarked at midnight for the flight to Guinea.
We touched down briefly in Yugoslavia, and in Algeria, and reached Conakry in the afternoon of Wednesday, 2nd March. It was wonderful to be on African soil again. Guinea was agog with excitement. President Sékou Touré and members of the Political Bureau of the Democratic Party were among the huge crowd at the airport to welcome me. A twenty-one gun salute was fired.
At a mass rally in the packed sports stadium in Conakry the following day, President Sékou Touré announced that I had been made Secretarv-General of the Guinean Democratic Party and Head of State of Guinea. "The Ghanaian traitors," he said "have been mistaken in thinking that Nkrumah is simply a Ghanaian. ... He is a universal man." It looked as though the entire population of Conakry was in the stadium that afternoon and I shall never forget the reception they gave to Sékou Touré and myself as we were driven round the arena in an open car. The crowds rcise to their feet, cheering, shouting anti-imperialist and anti-neo-colonialist slogans, and waving placards: "Long live the African Revolution," "Long live Kwame Nkrumah," "Long live Sékou Touré," "Down with neo-colonialists," etc. It was a deeply moving experience, and I found my thoughts turning to similar mass rallies held in the Polo Ground, Accra. The people of Ghana were now being made to suffer for something which was not of their own making. They had been overcome by powerful external forces, and by the plotting and deception of a few selfish and ambitious reactionaries.
President Sékou Touré made a long speech. I did not know at the time exactly what he said. He spoke in French, and my knowledge of that language was then sketchy. I understood that I had been presented to the people of Guinea, but had no idea that I had been made President. It was not until after the ceremony, when I heard the press reports, that the full realisation of my new appointment became clear to me.
Such a gesture of political solidarity must surely be without historical precedent. When our historians come to record the events of 1 966 they will doubtless consider the action of the Guinean Government as a great landmark in the practical expression of Pan-Africanism.
In this way began one of the most fruitful and happiest periods of my life—the time I spent in Conakry, about which I shall write later in this book.
2. 24th February, 1966
One of the first things I did after my arrival in Guinea was to establish an efficient communications system so that I could be kept fully informed of what was happening inside Ghana. Almost at once I began to receive detailed eye-witness accounts of what actually took place on 24th February and in the dark days which followed the army and police usurpation of power. At the same time there began a steady flow of Ghanaians to visit me in Conakry, to tell me about what had happened in Ghana and to express their loyalty. Some of them had walked all the way; others had found quicker means of travel. But all came at great personal risk to themselves and their families. Letters also began to pour in, and gradually the full, terrible story of violence and bloodshed took shape, and has since been confirmed to me over and over again by innumerable people who were there at the time of the military and police action and saw what took place. Several of the eyewitnesses who came to me still bore the marks of the brutal attacks made on them.
The true account of the seizure of power in Ghana by traitors and neo-colonialists does not make pleasant reading. But the facts must be faced and put on record so that the enormity of the crime committed against the people of Ghana can be accurately assessed.
I left Accra on 21st February 1966. I was seen off at the airport by most of the leading government and Party officials, and by service chiefs. I recall the handshakes and the expressions of good wishes from Harlley, Deku, Yakubu, and others. These men, smiling and ingratiating, had all the time treason and treachery in their minds. They had even planned my assassination on that day, though they later abandoned the idea. I remember shaking hands with Major-General Barwah-to be murdered in cold blood three days later when he refused to surrender to the rebel army soldiers. I little thought then that l would never see him again, or that Zanerigu, Command1:r of the Presidential Guard Regiment, Kojo Botsio. Kofi Baako and other ministers who were there at the airport, would be shortly seized by renegade soldiers and policemen and thrown into prison.
After a week of so-called "manoeuvres," the operation began early in the morning of Wednesday, 23rd February 1966 when the garrison at Kumasi, numbering 600 men, was ordered to move southwards to Accra. On the way, the convoy of some 35 vehicles was met and halted by the two arch-traitors Colonel Emmanuel Kwesi Kotoka, Commander of the Second Infantry Brigade Group, and Major Akwasi Amankwa Afrifa of the Second Brigade. Kotoka had only recently been put in charge of the Kumasi garrison, and I had not yet confirmed his appointment.
Afrifa was left in command while Kotoka went to Accra to report progress to Commissioner of Police, John Willie Kofi Harlley and to find some soldier better known than himself to be the nominal head of the revolt. The man chosen was Major-General Ankrah even though the conspirators had thought so little of his abilities than they had not previously troubled to consult him. He was, however, one of the few officers who had held even the rank of major in colonial days and had seen service in the world war if only as a quartermaster. In the Congo he had shown some bravery and, at least, routine ability and I had decorated him for his services but essentially he was of mediocre calibre. He held the post of second in command in the armed forces after independence through seniority, not ability. He would not have been appointed even to this post but for the death shortly before of another senior officer. In 1 965 I retired him. Undoubtedly, it was his lack of understanding of what was going on around him which recommended him as a figure-head to those manipulating the 'coup'.
The troops were then told that I intended sending them to fight in Vietnam and in Rhodesia, and that I had deserted Ghana taking with me £8 million. There was, they were told, no government left in Ghana, and it was their duty to assume control of the country to maintain law and order. Already, it was said, Russian planes were landing on a secret airstrip in northern Ghana. Furthermore a secret tunnel had been made from Flagstaff House, the presidential residence, to Accra airport, and for days Russians had been arriving. The only way to save Ghana, and to avoid being sent to fight in Vietnam, the troops were told, was to take Flagstaff House.
Several days after the military seizure of power, Kotoka and Afrifa appeared on Ghana TV congratulating themselves on their easy success. One remark stood out unmistakable and clear: "And you know, we didn't find any Russians at allnot one! Nor could we find any trace of that tunnel." This was followed by peals of laughter at the poor soldiers who had believed their story.
The first object of the military operation was to force the surrender of Major-General Barwah, Army Chief of Staff and Deputy Chief of Defence Staff, who was in command of the Ghana Army in the absence from the country of the Chief of Defence Staff, General Aferi. At the same time, Brigadier Hasan, Head of Military Intelligence, and Colonel Zanerigu, Commander of the Presidential Guard Regiment, and Owusu-Sekyere, former head of the C.I.D. and in charge of the Special Branch. were to be arrested.
This stage of the operation was badly bungled. Hasan was arrested, but Zanerigu, when confronted, escaped through a window of his house and drove to Flagstaff House to warn the Presidential Guard Regiment. Barwah could not be intimidated. Woken from his sleep in the early hours of the morning of the 24th by the arrival of Kotoka and some 25 men, he courageously refused either to join the traitors or to surrender. Thereupon, Kotoka shot him dead at point-black range in cold blood in the presence of his wife and children. The seven security officers who were stationed at Barwah's house were also murdered on the spot on Kotoka's orders.
Kotoka subsequently boasted of his killing of Barwah but said because he was protected by a "juju" he was able to catch the bullets which Barwah fired in his defence and to throw them back at him. When the counter coup of April 1967 took place Kotoka's "magic" could not save him. Unlike Barwah he surrendered without protest or struggle to those who had captured him at his headquarters. His "juju" did not prevent him being shot in his turn.
Barwah's murder was one of the most disgraceful and ghastly crimes ever committed in Ghana's history. In an attempt to wipe the blood from their hands the so-called "N.L.C." gave Barwah and the security officers a military burial a few days later. What a mockery, and what hypocrisy! Yet these terrible, cold-blooded murders were only the first of many which occurred on 24th February and during subsequent days. They set the tone, as it were, of the whole operation which was characterised throughout by cowardice, bloodshed and criminal stupidity.
By 6 a.m. on the 24th, the Accra police, acting on Hadley's orders, had rounded up most of the ministers and other key political figures, and fighting had broken out at Flagstaff House between members of the Presidential Guard Regiment and rebel army units. There were about thirty members of the Guard Regiment at Flagstaff House when the alarm was raised. These were soon joined by others who managed to slip in by a back entrance to reinforce their comrades. Although heavily outnumbered they successfully held up the rebel detachment sent to seize the Ghana radio station a short distance from Flagstaff House. Only eight of the 124 detailed for this operation managed to get through. These captured the radio station, apparently without incident, and at 6 a.m. Kotoka arrived to broadcast that the army and police had taken over the government of Ghana.
The announcement was premature. At 7 a.m. resistance was actually increasing at Flagstaff House, as the defenders, less than a hundred of them, fought fiercely back against some 600 rebel troops. By this time a battalion in Accra under Ocran had joined them, not knowing what the fighting was all about. Thus the rebels were able to gain control of the airport, cable office, radio station, and all the approach roads to Accra.
Kotoka had established a combined HQ. with the police at Police Headquarters, and from there the order was given for the 2nd Battalion to go into action at Flagstaff House. The Guard Regiment fought on. though their position was now hopeless. The outside walls of Flagstaff House had been blasted open, and the defenders had retreated behind the second gate. Still they refused to surrender. It was only after the rebels threatened to blow up the family residence at Flagstaff House in which my wife and three young children were sheltering that they finally gave in.
The fierce fighting at Flagstaff House at this time was in striking contrast to the failure at the time of the April I 967 counter-coup of Kotoka's body guard to defend his headquarters. He had made Flagstaff House into a strong point from which he commanded the armv. Yet when it was attacked by a small detachment of some 25 men the garrison immediately surrendered as did that of the Broadcasting Station which was also only attacked by a force of similar size. Again a small group of soldiers, not more than 50 in all, were sufficient to capture the Castle at Osu from which the "N.L.C." conducted their government. Ankrah 'the Chairman' of the "N.L.C." was the first of its defenders to run away, jumping over the Castle wall, plunging into the sea and wading down the shore.
What followed the fall of Flagstaff House on 24th February 1 966, has been concealed from the world. But the people of Ghana know, and will never forget.
It may be explained in part by the fact that the soldiers who had carried out the 'coup' were frightened men. They had been told that there was a great store of arms beneath Flagstaff House and a hidden Russian army was concealed there which would suddenly emerge to attack them. They were jittery and fired on anyone on the slightest suspicion. They so frightened officials of the Japanese Embassy that they put placards on all their cars saying "We are NOT Chinese". There was also potential indiscipline. Despite the fact that Ghanaian armed forces in the Congo were regarded as the best of the African troops stationed there, the habit of drug-taking and excessive drinking which some of the soldiers had acquired there led to a mutiny in one battalion in which the Commanding Officer was so badly injured that he was left for dead, and in which the mutinous soldiers took over for two or three days complete control of the camp. In order to restore discipline it had been necessary to disband this battalion.
The officers who organised the "coup", having deceived their men, were now in no position to discipline them.
Rebel troops, many of them almost mad from the effects of Indian hemp which had been issued to them, others intoxicated with alcohol looted from ransacked houses and trigger-happy, carried out the most cruel and senseless attacks on innocent men, women and children. Thousands of pounds worth of damage was done to government property, and valuable historical documents and records were destroyed.
At Flagstaff House itself, troops dashed from one room to another, smashing windows and furniture, tearing up papers, ripping telephones from desks, and destroying anything they could lay their hands on. My own office was singled out for special treatment. The full extent of the loss of books and manuscripts I shall discover on my return. I am hoping that by some miracle the precious notes I was compiling for a history of Africa may have been spared. If not, years of work will have been wasted, and the labour of collecting and sorting material and writing it up will have to begin again from scratch.
The stupidity of this needless destruction of government property, and the failure of the rebel officers to exercise any control over their men, demonstrates the quality of their leadership.
In the six-roomed two-storey house where I lived with my family, troops were allowed to run riot, seizing clothes and other intimate personal possessions including rare old books and manuscripts. My wife and children, although not physically harmed, were not permitted to take a single thing with them when they were turned out of the house and forced to take refuge in the Egyptian Embassy.
My mother, 80 years old and almost blind, who was staying at Flagstaff House, was forcibly ejected and told to go "where you belong". I understand some friends took her to Nkroful where I was born. Later, the actual house in which I was born was burnt down on "N.L.C." orders.
My mother was forced to appear before a 'commission of enquiry' with the idea of making her admit that I was not her son and indeed was not a Ghanaian at all. I am proud to know that she resolutely refused to say anything of the sort and conducted herself with the utmost dignity.
From Flagstaff House, the troops went to Kanda Estate where many security officers have their quarters. There they hurled grenades into the compounds, broke into houses and flats, tossed furniture out of the windows, and carried off radios, refrigerators and other property. Anyone who resisted them was brutally shot. Women, children and old people were driven out into the streets. Many of the women were raped. Even young children were hit with rifle butts. A woman with a child on her back was shot, and both mother and child were thrown to the ground from a three-storey window.
The rank and file police who had taken no part in the 'coup' were horrified at what was taking place and did their best to restrain the soldiers and this led in some cases to actual fighting between the two forces.
Meanwhile, the soldiers had been reinforced by a new element. It was part of the propaganda against Ghana abroad and internally that my government had detained thousands of individuals. There were, of course, political detainees but their number, for state security, was fortunately small. Most of these detainees under the Preventive Detention Act were the so-called "criminal" detainees. As industrialisation developed in Ghana so. as in all countries. organised crime increased and at one stage in the immediate post-independence period we were faced with a situation which, if we had not dealt with it, would have resulted in the country being terrorised by organised criminal gangs. The view of the police was that it was not possible in many cases. any more than it was in the United States at some periods of its history, to secure convictions in courts of the gang leaders or of their supporters. The Preventive Detention Act was therefore extended to cover habitual criminals suspected of gangsterism.
If the rebels had only released the genuine political detainees the total would have been so small as to discredit them and in any case they required the prison accommodation occupied by the criminal detainees in order to lock up anyone suspected of being a C.P.P. member or supporter. In the days following the 'coup' the criminal detainees were not only released but were able to represent themselves as "the heroes of the counter-revolution". By day they joined. naturally, in the demonstrations against my government and at night returned to their old activities to such an extent that even the strictly controlled "N.L.C." press demanded that they should be returned to prison.
Accra was handed over to lawless elements which the rank and file police had no means of controlling. Bar owners were forced at gun point to sell free beer to soldiers and to the "heroes of the counter-revolution", the criminal detainees. These people assaulted women, thieved, and looted. It will be only after the return to legal government in Ghana that it will be possible to assess exactly the number of those who died in fighting against the rebel soldiers or were subsequently killed in the looting and robbery which followed. The casualties in the fighting were certainly heavy. The number of civilians killed, it is more difficult to estimate. Two members of Parliament certainly lost their lives and a number of people in no way connected with politics died. Among those shot dead near Flagstaff House was an air hostess on her way to the airport. In all, the total was probably around 1 ,600 dead and many more injured. So much for the "bloodless coup"!
One thing is clear. Never before in the cherished history of our new Ghana had citizens, defenceless men and women, been assassinated in cold blood by their own soldiers. Not a single Ghanaian life was taken during the whole fifteen years of my administration. There are few, if any, governments in the world which can say as much. Yet here was this handful of traitors at one blow spoiling our proud record, and dragging Ghana's name through the mud.
In the days which followed the insurrection, hundreds of patriotic Ghanaians were thrown into prison. All ministers. M.P.s, officials of the Party and of all its subsidiary and associate organisations including the trade unions were arrested and detained. The same applied to branch officers throughout the country. In fact, the entire leadership, except for the few who managed to escape or go into hiding, was at one swoop rounded up and thrown into prison.
The prison authorities, with some exceptions, continued to act in the humane and considerate way which we had insisted upon in the prison service, since the establishment of independence. The Director of Prisons, in particular, saw to it that no one, insofar as he could prevent it, once inside the prison, was ill-treated. It is significant that subsequently he was pronounced by the "N.L.C." to have become insane and taken to a lunatic asylum where he died, mysteriously electrocuted.
Professor Kojo Abraham, Fellow of All Souls, Oxford, and a former Governor of the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, was mercilessly beaten when soldiers arrived to arrest him. He was flung unconscious into the police van. Abraham, at the time of his arrest, was an M.P. and Acting Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana. His only crime was that he was a leading member of the Party. The manuscript of a new book he was writing was among the first of a pile of papers and books publicly burnt. Nazi-style, by the mutinous soldiers who arrested him.
Geoffrey Bing, Q.C., a distinguished British lawyer, and one of my legal advisers, who had come to Ghana at Government invitation to help in our legal and constitutional work, had his clothes and shoes torn off him and was made to walk up and down barefoot and to stand up and sit down in repeated succession without being able to use his hands. Bayonets were stuck into his back, and it was not until a Commander of the Ghana Navy arrived on the scene that they stopped torturing him.
Typical of the sort of thing which happened was the wounding of the Deputy Manager of one of the hotels in Accra. He was being driven by his driver on hotel business but suddenly was shot by a soldier. The explanation subsequently given was that as be was sitting at the back of the car the soldier thought he must have been a minister in my government.
These are only a few examples of the countless acts of brutality carried out within the first week or so, by the traitorous renegades and cowards who seized power in Ghana on 24th February 1966. The people of Ghana were stunned. Nobody outside Accra knew what had happened, or was happening. In some cases, particularly in the remoter districts, it was days before they realised what had taken place. Even then, the full implications of the am1y and police action dawned only slowly as they began gradually to see through the lies poured out over the radio and in the press, and saw with their own eyes the way in which the independence and progress of their beloved country was being destroyed, and its assets sold to foreign interests.
In Accra, military police and soldiers in full battle dress and armed with sub-machine guns patrolled the streets. In such circumstances, and with all the Party leadership arrested, it was not surprising that there was no immediate and open resistance. But secret, underground resistance began at once.
It grew by leaps and bounds.
While a number of the ministers hastened to ingratiate themselves with the rebels, others remained firm. Nothing for example has been heard of N. A Welbeck, Minister of Information and Party Propaganda who resolutely refused to make any cringing retraction of his past political activities. And the same is true of other ministers such as I. K. Chinebuah, Minister of Education and former Headmaster of Achimota School. The most heartening demonstration, however, came from the resolute attitude adopted by many of those in the intermediate and lower ranks of the Party.
The journalists, regional commissioners, district commissioners and party secretaries were imprisoned in the central block of Ussher Fort prison. Almost from the first day of their imprisonment onward they were singing in chorus Party songs so loudly that they could be heard well outside the prison and this despite the fact that their block was patrolled by armed soldiers.
Ghanaians are not a timid people as has been suggested in the foreign press. Far from it. They may be slow to anger, and may take time to organise and act. But once they are ready they strike, and strike hard. It pays no one to tamper with Ghanaian freedom and dignity. Ghana is out of the gambling house of colonialism, and will never return to it.
The American, British and European press has made much of the "demonstrations" which occurred in Accra in celebration of the 'coup'. It is interesting, however, that even in the Ghanaian papers there were no reports of any such demonstrations in the villages or in the country-side where one would have expected them. if the revolt had been genuinely popular. It is understandable however that certain elements, particularly in Accra, should demonstrate in favour of the new regime. The criminal detainees naturally led the celebrations but they were joined by more sober citizens. The intellectuals and the professional classes had always been against my government which they felt, quite rightly, was challenging their position of privilege. The lawyer and the clergyman thus found themselves joining in the same processions through the streets as the criminal. There was a section of the market women who had been exploiting the shortage of goods due to the measures which we had to take for the control of non-essential imports. They had been exposed by the Abraham Commission and they naturally were delighted that its Chairman should have now been thrown into jail. In addition to this there were at the start a number of people who were genuinely deceived by the revolt.
The disastrous fall in the world price of cocoa had led to inevitable import shortages of consumer goods. These people really believed that the 'coup' would change all this, and so they joined the gangs in the streets. Others joined them out of curiosity. Even so it was necessary for the army to force children from their school rooms and to dragoon demonstrators in order to make a satisfactory show. A small number of students from the university at Legon, wanting to demonstrate in favour of the new regime, asked for and were given police protection, so fearful were they of the reaction of the people of Accra. It was not until instructions were issued from police headquarters that the first street "demonstrations" took place.
Banners and posters, most of them prepared beforehand in the U.S. Embassy, were pushed into the hands of the unwilling "demonstrators". Many of the slogans and words used on them were quite foreign to the Ghanaian people, and in some cases completely incomprehensible. The same kind of thing was noticeable in the newspapers and news bulletins issued immediately after the seizure of power. Words and phrases were used which had never been seen in a Ghanaian newspaper before. The same discrepancy occurred on the radio as bulletins and news flashes were broadcast. The voice was Ghanaian, but the unfamiliar words and the glib expressions were foreign, and often caused the announcer to hesitate and falter.
Clearly, the polished editorials, news bulletins and unfamiliar slogans had been devised by experts trained in the art of overthrowing "undesirable governments'', but who had not taken the trouble to familiarise themselves with the Ghanaian way of thinking or expression.
I understand that the Uganda government in its investigations following the abortive coup which took place in Kampala on 26th February, only two days after the action in Accra, discovered prepared news bulletins, posters and newspaper editorials which were strikingly similar in style and content to those actually used in Ghana. I leave the reader to draw the obvious conclusions.
In the Makola market, a woman who had a large picture of myself above her stall was shot dead by an army officer after refusing three times to hand it over for destruction. This kind of incident, not seen by foreign journalists, who obediently and very willingly photographed and reported only the staged demonstrations and rigged press interviews, was typical 01 many other pathetic but deeply moving acts of heroism performed by the ordinary men and women of Ghana during those dark days.
Much publicity was given in the imperialist press and on T.V., to the pulling down of the statue of myself in front of the National Assembly building in Accra. It was made to appear as though angry crowds had torn the statue from its pedestal and had carried off chunks of it. But it was not for nothing that no photographs could be produced to show the actual pulling down of the statue; and the few women seen carrying away portions of the statue on their heads were photographed backview. In fact when the statue was pulled down the Parliament building where it stood had been cordoned off by the military and no unauthorised person was allowed into the area. All those who were there at the time had been those brought in by the military, who had closed to all civilians the whole of the High Street onto which the statue faced. When the statue had been pulled down about half-a-dozen terrified young children were forced to sit on it as it lay on the ground. Even the Jubilant imperialist press evidently saw nothing strange in publishing photographs of bewildered toddlers, tears running down their cheeks, sitting on a headless statue, while the same imperialist press extolled what it described as a "most popular coup". Since even the women shown carrying away pieces of it on their heads were photographed from behind, it is impossible to be certain whether they were from a group of the market women condemned by the Abraham Commission or as was widely rumoured in Accra, "soldiers dressed up as women''.
There are many other incidents which could be recorded, but sufficient has been written to show the manner in which the military and police action of 24th February 1 966 was carried out.
Of course there were some who were happy at the turn of events. In any country there are always elements glad to see a change of government, and the traitors among the army and police who seized power in my absence could not even have attained the degree of success they d id manage to achieve without support. The nature of this support, internal and external, I now intend to examine.