February 24, is regarded by many Ghanaians as the Waterloo in the history of Ghana, and Ghanaians would not like it to be mentioned so as to rekindle old wounds considering the hardships the country went through from that period until accepting democratic rule in the early s.
Kwame Nkrumah, was on a peacemaking mission in Vietnam. Most Ghanaians and Africans continue to point accusing fingers at the United States for this unfortunate incident that brought not only the newly born nation to the brink of collapse but also brought the dream of a united Africa into jeopardy.
Ghana after independence soon became a Cold War battle ground in the propaganda warfare between the East and the West. Skip Nav Destination Article Navigation. Close mobile search navigation Article navigation. Volume 20, Issue 4. Previous Article Next Article. Article Navigation. February 01 This Site. Google Scholar. Author and Article Information. Natalia Telepneva. Building the Ghanaian Nation-State pp Cite as. During his presidency as mentioned in chapter 6, an Asante man had threatened violence against the construction of a new statue of Nkrumah in Kumasi in , while his Accra statue was actually bombed in There were also several unsuccessful assassination attempts against Nkrumah himself.
During this unsuccessful attack, several people lost their lives, including a child, and 55 people were injured. Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF. Skip to main content. This service is more advanced with JavaScript available. Nkrumah's own staff was dead set against the mission, but his determination to go ahead with it was an indication of how desperate the Osagyefo had become for a diplomatic triumph. The coup itself was welcomed in Ghana with far more enthusiasm than had been the case for independence.
Only the Presidential Guard put up a brief resistance, and within 24 hours the coup was over. Nkrumah's statue outside Parliament House, which proclaimed him the founder of the nation, was battered to the ground and smashed into pieces. The bars were jammed with celebrants the night after the coup. Even members of the man delegation that had accompanied Nkrumah to China deserted their former leader. Foreign Minister Quaison-Sackey, who Nkrumah had sent to protest the seating of the new Ghanaian government's mission at the OAU meeting in Addis Ababa, flew instead to Accra, where he pledged his loyalty to the new government.
The prisons emptied of Nkrumah's detainees and began to fill with new political prisoners. The CPP, with its 2-million strong membership and , militants, offered no resistance, and the party allowed itself to be disbanded by a single radio announcement. As for Nkrumah, his friend and sometimes rival President Sekou Toure offered him refuge and made him the honorary co-president of Guinea.
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