The prized visions of Kwame Nkrumah: Reflections from Kofi Awoonor and Agyeman Badu Akosa

Widely known as Lawrence of Arabia, T.E. Lawrence (1888 – 1935), noted in his book, Seven Pillars of Wisdom that “there are many other leaders or lonely fighters [who] will miss their share of credit, as they must do, until they can write the despatches”.

In teaching language skills, poetry, and writing - both in the United States and Ghana – Lawrence’s incisive preamble incited me to prompt my students to compose their own “despatches”: to define who they were, to capture their moments of epiphany, and to articulate their visions and lives’ purpose. Greatness is already there to be nurtured by people and owned: Also, what can be more sorrowful to the soul than to be defined by others – regrettably, by some insidious hate mongers with axes to grind?

Kwame Nkrumah (1909 – 1972) knew his mission intensely. As Lawrence might put it, “His ambition was patent.” He could feel his greatness in his soul; he saw, in his mind’s eye, a providential instinct to play a most decisive role in Africa’s freedom movement. And he wavered not a drop from that gallant cause! Like his many books, GHANA: The Autobiography of Kwame Nkrumah happens to be a most prized possession. The preface is particularly stirring:

“In 1934 when I applied to the Dean for admission to Lincoln University, I quoted Tennyson’s In Memoriam, ‘So many worlds, so much to do,  so little done, such things to be.’ This was then to me, as it still is today, an inspiration and a spur. It fired within me a determination to equip myself for the service of my country.” At that pivotal time, Nkrumah was merely in his mid-twenties.

Another prized possession is The African Predicament: Collected Essays by Kofi Awoonor (1935 – 2013). I had met Awoonor at a wedding at the Kama Centre (Nyaniba Estates, Accra) where we had been seated together by the hosts. I was later to give him a gift, my book, Leadership: Reflections on some movers, shakers and thinkers. He reciprocated with his book of Essays, autographed: “For Anis Haffar, a fellow traveller in the difficult forest of words and ideas. Warmly, Kofi Awoonor. 14/12/09.”

On scanning the first few pages, I wrote the following in the inside cover: “Not a book on Africa; / It is an African book / Talks for Africa, To protect the continent / Does not explain Africa / As if Africa were some kind of a large misunderstanding.” Written on the spur of the movement, the wordage simply sprang from its own root.

Awoonor titled one essay, Why Was Nkrumah Overthrown? He wrote: “Nkrumah’s work in Ghana was subjected to the entire cold war strategy of the imperial powers [and his] domestic programme had as its centerpiece an active cultural renaissance agenda as a compelling aspect of total decolonisation. This agenda covered the establishment [of] tens of secondary schools, training colleges, two new universities in Kumasi and Cape Coast, an Academy of Science and Letters, a Science City based on an atomic Energy Programme

“but also, direct institutions to decolonise the African mind [including] the Institute of African Studies at Legon, the invitation of W.E.B. DuBois and the commencement of work on the Encyclopedia Africana, [the] installation of Ghana television, and the expansion of Radio Ghana with an extensive short-wave system that broadcast to the entire Africa and also to the rest of the world.”

Awoonor continued, “Unlike most of his African contemporaries who went to Britain to study and were well-funded by rich merchant or kingly relations, Nkrumah had to wash dishes, sell fish in Harlem and wait tables on cruise-ships that plied the Caribbean seas in the summers.” He ended the essay as follows: “The next discourse should be, How relevant is Nkrumah to us today in Africa and Ghana?”

In writing this column I was most grateful to Prof Agyeman Badu Akosa for the following contribution (edited), titled, Agriculture under Nkrumah. He wrote: “At Ghana’s independence, Nkrumah placed agriculture on a scientific footing. The Food Research Institute under the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) was created to inculcate scientific principles into agriculture. Agricultural mechanisation was greatly enhanced with the importation of tractors, combined harvester and many mechanised farming implements.

“Large tracks of land were acquired for the state farms, and the Workers Brigade - described as the greatest social mobilisation force ever created - was formed as a paramilitary agricultural organisation. The Grains Development Board was created to deal with the price and storage of maize, rice, millet.

“The Tema Food Complex - with 22 branches - produced canned sardines, mackerel and tuna, and the byproducts were used to produce poultry and animal feed. The State Fishing Corporation was established to deal with our fish stocks; the Dry Docks and boat building for the fishing industry.

“Meat from the Ayetime cattle ranch went to the Bolgatanga meat factory, horns and hoofs to the Kumasi Glue factory to produce glue for the Kumasi Shoe Factory and of course the hide also to the shoe factory. Amrahia Dairy farm was established to produce milk and yoghurt.

“Pomadze Poultry was the largest poultry farm in West Africa with the largest hatcheries for the poultry industry. ‘Dansoman Akokofoto’ was so called because of the large poultry there. The Yankpala Agricultural school, now the University of Development Studies, was to produce the middle level technicians.” The way we were!

September 21 rings two bells: One, the birth of Kwame Nkrumah; and Two, coincidentally, the passing of the literary ambassador, Kofi Awoonor. Two illustrious sons of Africa!

[Email: anishaffar@yahoo.com]