NOW DECLASSIFIED: CIA PLOTTED COUP AGAINST NKRUMAH

Ghana's president, John Dramani Mahama, says that newly declassified documents from the US archives implicate the CIA in the coup that ousted the nation's first president, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.

Mahama made the significant announcement on 6 March during the celebrations marking Ghana's 68th Independence Day. Nkrumah, a prominent pan-African figure during Africa's decolonisation, envisioned an industrialised Ghana that would lead the continent towards self-sufficiency. His aspirations were abruptly halted when a military and police coup took place on 24 February 1966, while he was on a diplomatic mission in China.

As a pan-Africanist and socialist, Nkrumah launched initiatives aimed at achieving political and economic independence for Africa during a period when much of the continent remained under colonial rule. He dreamed of a united Africa liberated from imperialism, a vision he actively pursued by organising the first All-African Peoples’ Conference in Accra, Ghana, in 1958. In 1963, he was instrumental in founding the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), the forerunner of the African Union (AU).

Due to his dedication to socialism and pan-Africanism, his willingness to work with the Soviet Union and China, and his efforts to foster anti-imperialism across Africa and beyond, Nkrumah increasingly became perceived as a threat by the US government, which initiated plans to depose him.

The coup in 1966 disrupted Ghana's path to industrialisation and led to prolonged political turmoil. Today, the West African nation grapples with substantial foreign debts owed to imperialist institutions such as the IMF, while ordinary citizens face rising living costs - an unfortunate departure from Nkrumah's original vision.

Additionally, Western powers have similarly undermined other influential African leaders, including Patrice Lumumba of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Amílcar Cabral in Guinea-Bissau and Sylvanus Olympio of Togo.

Video credit: CITI FM 97.3

Sources

https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP80-01601R000500200001-7.pdf

https://www.nytimes.com/1978/05/09/archives/cia-said-to-have-aided-plotters-who-overthrew-nkrumah-in-ghana.html

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/poverty-matters/2011/jan/17/lumumba-50th-anniversary-african-leaders-assassinations

https://liberationnews.org/cia-overthrow-kwame-nkrumah-neocolonialism-west-africa/

https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/DOC_0000572911.pdf

https://debtjustice.org.uk/countries-in-crisis/ghana-debt-crisis-rooted-colonialism#:~:text=Ghana%20is%20in%20a%20debt,external%20debt%20payments%20each%20year.