Ghana’s journey as a nation is shadowed by a troubling lack of objective history, a point sharply raised by Professor Ernest Kofi Abotsi in a recent Ghana Web feature. This historical dishonesty, rooted in pre-independence rivalries, continues to fuel self-deceit and dishonesty, undermining the nation’s ability to confront its past and build a unified future. Abotsi’s critique, shared via X, zeroes in on the contested legacies of Kwame Nkrumah, JB Danquah, and Jerry John Rawlings—figures whose roles in Ghana’s story remain mired in partisan spin rather than fact.
The independence movement saw Nkrumah and Danquah initially united under the United Gold Coast Convention, only to split over strategy—Nkrumah’s radical “self-government now” clashing with Danquah’s gradualism. Post-1957, Nkrumah’s Convention People’s Party dominated, sidelining Danquah, who faced arrests and died in detention in 1965. Rawlings, decades later, reshaped Ghana through coups and democratic transitions, yet his legacy too is debated—hero to some, tyrant to others. Abotsi argues this selective storytelling, born from pre-independence greed and historical appropriation, distorts Ghana’s national identity and stalls progress.
This self-deceit has tangible costs. Without a clear historical narrative, Ghana struggles with nation-building, as political factions wield Nkrumah’s Pan-Africanism, Danquah’s liberalism, or Rawlings’ populism as weapons rather than lessons. The education system reflects this gap—students learn fragmented tales, not a cohesive Ghanaian history. Economic policies falter too, chasing short-term gains over long-term development, a legacy of prioritizing power over truth.
PowerAfrika confronts this head-on with its petition to rename Kotoka Airport (https://powerafrika.com/rename-kotoka-airport), a call to reclaim historical clarity and honor Ghana’s roots. Signing it amplifies the push for truth—100K signatures by 2026 could spark a reckoning. Meanwhile, climate change compounds these woes, with floods and outages testing resilience. A solar charger (https://amzn.to/3Ri0MIB)—portable, reliable—offers a practical fix, powering homes when grids fail, a small step toward self-reliance amid historical chaos.
Abotsi’s solution? Face the past squarely—teach objective history in schools, stripping away dishonesty. This means dissecting Nkrumah’s achievements and flaws, Danquah’s vision and setbacks, Rawlings’ reforms and excesses. It’s about reconciliation—not glorification—building a national identity that fuels progress. Ghana’s development hinges on this: a people united by truth, not divided by myths.