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Kwame Nkrumah is considered to be the father-figure of Pan-Africanism, liberating Ghana from British rule at the beginning of the 1960's at a time when most other African countries were under the overseas yolk. Nkrumah was a visionary, representing a view of Africa that others dared not dream about, espousing a United States of Africa, a model which other African leaders have since discussed, if not pursued.
Nkrumah's vision was one where African countries became not just a source of the world's raw materials, but an economic powerhouse with its own industrial bargaining power.
A highly educated man, Nkrumah believed from an early age that the African continent had its own economic legacy divorced from the vision of the west which, during the early twentieth century, tended to view the continent as a reservoir of mineral wealth as opposed to a distinct entity.
Kwame Nkrumah was born in Nkroful in the country known at the time as The Gold Coast and subsequently renamed Ghana.
Initially he was educated in Gold Coast Schools but subsequently went to the US where he obtained a doctorate from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania.
The US experience convinced Nkrumah that a united landmass of African countries, similiar to the United States of America would be the best way to build a powerful economic entity, exploiting the natural resources for the good of Africa and not overseas powers.
This formed the basis of his Pan-African concept of neo-colonialism.
Nkrumah's membership of the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC) preceeded the formation of Nkrumah's own political party, the Convention Peoples Party (CPP) in 1948.
The CPP aimed to remedy the limitations of the UGCC who largely ignored the workers, the interest group with the most to gain from an overthrow of the ruling colonial powers.
The CPP, swayed by Nkrumah's emotional speeches and visionary ideas, grew at a logarithmic rate. Its motto, "Self-Government Now", was a direct threat to the ruling British government who imprisoned Nkruman in 1951. This of course, only served to fire public support for Nkrumah, making him into a martyr and encouraging sympathy from other foreign powers.
The British Government, facing opposition from other international powers and faced with Nkrumah-inspired campaigns of non-violent protest, decided to withdraw from the country, granting the Gold Coast its independence.
Nkrumah was released from prison and was the overwhelmingly popular choice as Prime Minister, a post he assumed on the 6th of March 1957.
If the story of Nkrumah had ended there, his untarnished legacy would have been assured. The price of cocoa, one of the country's main exports, was stable and the country was unergoing a period of economic prosperity. Unfortunately, the legend which had built up around him was destroyed in less than a decade. The initial signs were positive; mass support for Nkrumah's industrial initiatives, state-sponsored construction of schools, clinics and roads meant huge expenditure but were well recieved.
Once the cocoa price fell at the beginning of the 1960's, the currency in turn floundered and inflation began to increase. Indeed, food prices increased 250% over 1957 levels and economic growth dropped from 9% to 2% in the space of a five years.
In response to this, Nkrumah imposed socialist-based economic reforms with high-levels of taxation upon an increasingly disillusioned public.
In 1965 Nkrumah declared himself President for life, a sharp about-turn from the earlier indications of democracy, and his increased personal paranoia resulted in the imprisonment of thousands of innocent Ghanain citizens.
In addition, Nkrumah passed legislation eroding - and in some cases suspending altogether - the power of traditional chiefs who had been effectively running the country until the advent of the British.
With the army and police being sidelined and alienated by Nkrumah, the stage was set for the eventual coup which happened on the 24th of February 1966. Ghanian armed forces, along with the National Police announced over radio services that the government had been taken over by a National Liberation Council. Parliament was suspended, Nkrumah's CPP was banned and the President himself dismissed from office.
On the whole, this coup was supported by the citizens, although resistance flowered from the Nkrumah Cult among others, a group established by Nkrumah himself to eternalise his legacy of pan-Africanism.
Despite this coup and the increasing body of evidence testifying to its necessity, Nkrumah continued to maintain a strong following amongst academics who valued his contributions to the eradication of African colonialism.
Nkrumah continued to preach his vision of Africa until his eventual death in 1972, six years after the coup ended his reign as the Ghanian premier.
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