[ 2017-03-24 ]

Paul Adom-Otchere giving a brief background of the documentary

Documentary on Ghana’s political history stirs controversy
A documentary on Ghana’s political history
screened last Wednesday as part of the country’s
60th Independence anniversary has generated a
heated debate between the Convention People’s
Party (CPP) and producers of the film.

But the Speaker of Parliament, Prof. Michael Aaron
Oquaye, has said cocoa and education played a key
role in mobilising the masses, as well as
providing the needed funds to push the cause of
the independence struggle.

While the Nkrumahists insist that some of the
facts depicted in the film are selective and
twisted to pursue a certain agenda, the film
producer, Mr Paul Adom-Otchere, has discounted
their claims and said the film is based on
available facts.

The documentary, titled: “From Gold Coast to
Ghana: A Glorious History of
Self-Determination”, sets out to highlight the
efforts of key individuals who laid the foundation
for this country’s independence.

Broadly, the documentary provides a political
history from the then Gold Coast to modern Ghana.

It was produced as part of activities marking
Ghana’s 60th anniversary.

Key issues, including cocoa politics and players
in the country’s anti-colonial struggle and
latter-day leaders, including John Mensah Sarbah,
James Kwegyir Aggrey, Casely-Hayford, Dr J.B.
Danquah, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, Paa Grant, Otumfuo Sir
Agyeman Prempeh and J.J. Rawlings, had their roles
dissected by legal luminaries and historians,
including Prof. Emeritus S.O. Gyandoh, Prof. S.K.
Date-Bah, Prof. Garth Austin of the University of
Cambridge in the UK and a daughter of Paa Grant,
Madam Sarah Grant.

Founders’ Day vs Founder’s Day

Earlier, Prof. Oquaye had stated that although he
had a lot of respect for Nkrumah and would want a
day set aside to celebrate him, it was wrong for
the country’s independence to be credited to
him.

“Nkrumah was a visionary with a lot of ideas for
Ghana and Africa, but we should not teach our
children that someone (Nkrumah) had the magical
wand. It was also about a battle of the intellect,
industry and skills,” he said.

He said when the history of the country was told
that intellectual minds had a role in the
struggle, Ghanaian children would be inspired to
take their education seriously.

The former Political Science lecturer said he
hoped for the a day the nation would celebrate
Founders’ Day in appreciation of the numerous
leaders who put their shoulders to the wheel even
before Nkrumah arrived on the scene.

Inspiration

A Senior Research Fellow of the IEA, Dr Michael
Ofori-Mensah, observed that the documentary
“reminds us of the enormous sacrifices that have
been made for us to experience our current
freedom”.

“It also inspires us to shape our country for a
better future, so that generations unborn may look
back and say, ‘when it was our time we did our
bit’,” he said.

Disputed

After the show, hosted by the Institute of
Economic Affairs (IEA), ended last Wednesday
night, the Second National Vice-Chairman of the
CPP, Ms Susan Adu-Amankwah, and the Director of
Elections of the CPP, Mr James Kwabena Bomfeh,
were livid over some aspects of the documentary
which they said sought to downplay the
achievements of Dr Nkrumah, Ghana’s first
President and founder of the CPP.

But the film producer insisted that the
documentary was based on facts and evidence
available and not concoctions, as its narrative
depended on the various constitutions which had a
sequence of events and were without the bias of
the documentary maker.

While watching the film in the packed IEA
Ambassador Birgit Storgaard Conference Room in
Accra, the CPP stalwarts, as well as the Chairman
of the party, Prof. Edmund Delle, shook their
heads in disagreement with some of the
narrations.

One of the disputed narratives was the fact that
Dr Danquah, one of the country’s nationalists
who were later to be known as the Big Six, had
died for the country he created.

That appeared to have tickled the nerves of Mr
Bomfeh, who accosted Mr Adom-Otchere outside with
the question, “How can you say Dr Danquah died
for a country he created? It is not true. This is
a deliberate attempt to downplay Nkrumah and
project Dr Danquah. You can’t twist history like
this.”

Dr Danquah’s research

But Mr Adom-Otchere stood by the narration,
insisting that it was Dr Danquah’s research and
suggested name that Dr Nkrumah used to change the
name of the country from Gold Coast to Ghana,
adding that the issue was well documented.

For Ms Adu-Amankwah, it was remarks by Prof.
Oquaye that Ghanaians would not have loved to live
under what he described as the repressive Nkrumah
regime today that got her turning in her chair.

Outside the conference room, she said the comment
was not fair, as the two periods could not be
compared, especially when Nkrumah’s life and his
government had been threatened on a number of
occasions.

Prof. Delle agreed with that assertion, adding
that the filmmakers had been selective in choosing
their facts and their interpretation.

He also had issues with claims in the documentary
that members of the Young Pioneers, a national
youth movement, became spies for the Nkrumah
regime, to the extent that while employees
reported their bosses, children were reporting
their parents.

“I was a Young Pioneer and I can say on
authority that it is not true that Young Pioneers
were reporting even their parents. It cannot be
true,” he told the media.

Lapses?

Although the film is rich in detail, as it takes
the viewer on a historical journey, touching on
the significance of the Bond of March 6, 1844, the
suffocating military regimes and subsequent
transition to multi-party democracy, some of the
patrons were of the view that it had attempted to
project Dr Danquah as a victim of Nkrumah’s high
handedness.

Others too were of the view that the documentary
was largely silent on the role of Nii Kwabena
Bonnie III, the Osu Alata Chief, who led the
boycott of European goods in 1948, as well as the
work of the late Komla Agbeli Gbedema, who was
instrumental in mobilising the masses while the
members of the Big Six were in prison.

Source - Graphic.com.gh

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