On the occasion of the 55th anniversary of the overthrow of Kwame Nkrumah, veteran journalist Kwesi Pratt Junior has moved to clarify what he assumes to be ‘deliberate misinformation’ aimed at tarnishing the image and reputation of Ghana’s first president.
Pratt on Saturday, February 27 edition of the Alhaji and Alhaji show on Pan African TV dismissed notions that some political figures who suffered imprisonment under the Nkrumah government had to go through that experience because Nkrumah considered them a threat to his political career.
Pratt said that all the people who went to jail were troublemakers who were bent on turning the country upside down.
“These terrorists and hoodlums who like to call themselves as opponents of Nkrumah, they were not opponents of Nkrumah. They were criminals and they had to be dealt with according to the laws of Ghana.
“They were arrested and detained because they were bomb-throwers and saboteurs. They were criminals perpetrating crime against the people of Ghana. They were persons sabotaging the interest of Ghana. That is why the law dealt with them,” he said.
Pratt mentioned Obestsebi Lamptey, a member of the Big Six and father of the late member of the NPP, Jake Obestsebi Lamptey, as one of the ‘hoodlums’ who undertook ‘terrorist’ activities.
Pratt narrated that Obestsebi Lamptey was found guilty by three judges who include Edward Akufo-Addo, the father of President Akufo-Addo as being a terrorist.
“One of them was Obetsebi Lamptey. When they criticize Nkrumah for jailing Obetsebi Lamptey, they forget that the three judges that heard the case all came from the UP tradition. All the three judges came to the conclusion he was a terrorist deserving to be sentenced to prison. Those three judges were Van Lare, Sir Aku Korsah and Akufo-Addo. None of the three judges were allies of Nkrumah. They all came from the Dankwa-Busia-Dombo tradition,” he said.
Source: www.ghanaweb.com
