Workers World, Vol. 3 No. 19
The long trip by President Nkrumah to the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe and China was bound to have serious repercussions both at home and abroad. The State Department and the British Foreign Office were not standing idly by while the Ghanaian President traversed the long track from Moscow to Peking, gathering on his way commercial credit and contacts.
But when Nkrumah finally arrived in Accra, he moved with firmness and quick decision. The subsequent announcement that he booted out Maj. Gen. H.T. Alexander of Britain as Ghana’s Chief of Staff was of great significance, as was the dismissal of Geoffrey Bing, another Briton, from his post of Attorney-General.
For an American to assess the full meaning of these two ousters, one must imagine that the post now occupied by Attorney-General Robert Kennedy, and that of Joint Chief-of-Staff Chairman Lemnitzer, were occupied by appointees under the control of a foreign power.
Both Washington and London were stunned by the dismissals. Plans were immediately set afoot to put on the usual economic squeeze. At this writing, it does not seem to have worked too well. On the contrary, it impelled Nkrumah to carry out some long overdue purges of right-wing elements in his cabinet. He forced the resignations of K.A. Gbedemah, Minister of Health, and Kojo Botsio, Agricultural Minister.
Their elimination from the cabinet was a far reaching move and a challenge to the business elements in Ghana. There is no doubt that this action will give the government another thrust forward in its drive to nationalize industry and give it greater freedom from dependence on the West.
The imperialist press sees this as a dark conspiracy concocted by the Soviet Union and China. The truth of the matter is that these developments stem from the internal situation in Ghana, and are intimately connected with the fact that vast segments of industry, trade, agriculture, finance, and especially the rural economy, are in the hands of private business interests. These have shown very little inclination to develop the country economically, and even less to raise the standard of living of the masses. The recent wave of strikes is a symptom of the discontent of the masses with an economic system that is half-way between socialization and private ownership of the means of production.
It is this situation which has induced Nkrumah to get help from the East. In sharp contrast to what has been offered by the Soviet Union and China, is the role of the U.S. Washington last year promised to put $30 million into a power dam on the Volta. And the World Bank (jointly controlled by the U.S., Britain and some others) offered to give another $45 million. The deal was slated to be signed October 5th. But the giant aluminum companies led by Kaiser, Alcoa, and Reynolds Metals are financial pirates who aim to utilize whatever technical and industrial construction they offer Ghana as a means of recolonizing the country – only in a more subtle way than the British – or perhaps in partnership with them.
Ghana is in the throes of a great transition. Its economy is still a mixed one. It is badly hampered by the existence of British and U.S. oriented private industry. From them stems the principal right-wing political opposition to Nkrumah. The recent wave of arrests was an effort to stamp them out. There is wide-spread speculation that the long arm of the CIA has stretched out to this sub-Saharan country.
If Ghana continues to steer in the direction of complete socialization based upon centralized planning, its influence in all of Africa will be truly monumental. It will accomplish for Africa what Cuba is accomplishing for Latin America. If Ghana could achieve a socialist revolution on the Cuban pattern, it would enormously influence the Afro-American liberation movement – and give it a type of direction and political orientation which is so lacking at the present time.
Last updated: 11 May 2026