History, come back! February 24 et al.,

Monday, February 24, 2025, was the 59th anniversary of the 1966 coup that overthrew Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah.

The coup has been variously described as “Ghana’s Day of Shame” or “Ghana’s darkest day” because it halted Ghana’s fast trajectory towards development.

This reminded me of my 2023 article titled “24th February” in which I stated as follows:

Minutes after I left home on February 24, 2023, for my morning walk, I saw two cocks fighting around a nearby preschool compound.

They reminded me of a similar cock-fight close to my home in Kampala, Uganda in 2009 early in the morning as I went for my walk.

For the world, February 24, 2022, will be remembered as the day Russia started its “special military operation” when it attacked Ukraine.

February 24, 2023, therefore, was the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

From what Russia expected to be a quick surgical strike against Ukraine lasting only a few weeks, the war has seen a first anniversary, with tens of thousands of casualties on both sides, with no end in sight.

For us in Ghana, however, February 24, 1966, will always be remembered in our history as the day when Ghana’s confident and optimistic quick-march into the future as a beacon of Africa was halted with the overthrow of Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah’s First Republic.

Ugandan cock-fight

When I came out of my gated community in the suburb of Ntinda, Kampala early that morning of February 24, 2009, for my walk, I saw two cocks engaged in what I reckoned was a temporary duel.

So, with the few stones I threw at them, I thought I had brought an end to their fight.

On my return an hour later, I was surprised to see them still fighting and bleeding from their injuries.

Once again, I separated them with stones I threw at them.

As I drove out to my office around 8 am, I saw them still fighting. 

This time, I chased them away. With my peacekeeping role over as I thought, I left for the office.

To my utter surprise, when I returned home that evening, the two cocks were still fighting.

This time, it was like two heavyweight boxers in the twelfth round of a world title fight.

Both were exhausted and bleeding profusely but continued to fight with the little energy left in them.

It was a clear case of “the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak!” The following morning, when I got to the “matadorial-arena” they had converted the school football field into, both cocks were lying next to each other, dead!

I asked myself, what would cocks whose ultimate destination is the soup pot be so angry about to fight bitterly to death?

Ghana, February 24th 1966

In Term Two of our first year in secondary school on the morning of February 24, 1966, our teachers broke the news to us that there had been a “coup d’état” in Ghana.

Even though coups were not the common phenomenon they subsequently became in Africa, the bloody Nigerian coup of January 15, 1966, only a month earlier had taught us that coups were violent and deadly.

The 1966 Nigerian coup d'état happened on January 15, 1966, when mutinous soldiers led by Maj. Chukwuma Nzeogwu killed 22 people, including the Prime Minister of Nigeria Alhaji, Sir Tafawa Balewa, the Premier of the Northern Region, the Sardauna of Sokoto, Sir Ahmadu Bello, and the Prime Minister of the Western Region, Chief Akintola. Many senior politicians, and senior Army officers and their wives as well as their guards were also killed.

This coup provided the spark for the Biafran War in 1967.

Earlier, West Africa’s first coup took place in Togo. On January 13, 1963, President Sylvanus Olympio was overthrown by Sgt Eyadema, who led a group of old Togolese soldiers demobilised by France after service in French Indo-China in World War Two. Eyadema subsequently made himself Togo’s President and ruled till 2005 when he died. He was succeeded by his son Faure Gnassingbe.

On  February 24, 1966, Ghana experienced her first coup. Led by then Col. EK Kotoka, Commander 2 Infantry Brigade Group, and his Brigade Major, Maj. AA Afrifa, Police Commissioners JWK Harlley and AK Deku were the main local architects.

Declassified documents showed the input of foreign powers in masterminding the overthrow of Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah for his Pan-Africanist stance.

He was on his way to Hanoi, North Vietnam, ostensibly to broker peace for the Vietnam War between Vietnam and the US.

The coupists cold-bloodedly murdered the Army Commander, Maj. Gen. Charles Mohammed Barwah, for not cooperating with them.

The nine soldiers guarding the General at his home in Burma Camp were also killed. Significantly, in a counter-coup on April 17, 1967, Gen. Kotoka was also killed.  

Stranded outside Ghana, President Nkrumah was granted asylum in Guinea by his friend President Sekou Toure. President Toure made Osagyefo co-president of Guinea until he died in Romania on April  27, 1972, aged 62.

Discussion

Some dates like January 13 and February 24 appear to have had a few significant happenings in recent history.

While Sgt Eyadema’s coup in Togo took place on January 13, 1963, Gen. Acheampong’s coup in Ghana took place on January 13, 1972.

The first fight between the two cocks I saw was in Uganda on February 24, 2009.

So, when again I saw two cocks fighting on February 24, 2023, I just could not help laughing at the coincidence!

Again, while Ghana’s first coup happened on February 24, 1966, the Russian invasion of Ukraine started on February 24, 2022.

An observation is the fact that perhaps except for Gen. Acheampong’s January 13, 1972 coup, all others have been bloody. Having accused the governments they overthrew as corrupt, Maj. Nzeogwu and Col. Kotoka all killed brutally in their coups. 

Perhaps, one of the bloodiest has been the coup of June 4, 1979, in Ghana when generals were executed by young revolutionaries for allegedly taking bank loans, which they were servicing, for three-bedroom houses!

Again, in a replay of the killing of the Army Commander Maj. Gen. Barwah on February 24, 1966, Maj. Gen. NA Odartey-Wellington, an Army Commander, was also killed on June 4, 1979, when he fought the coupists.

For the younger generation now who think violence solves problems, please be reminded that some of your parents shouted “let the blood flow” loudest in 1979 and 1982. Ask them how clean they are and how well they sleep at night!

But has my generation not given the young ones cause for despair by our actions, inaction and disrespect?

Let us not add more to dates like January 13, February 24 and June 4! Perhaps, without them, Ghana would have been a developed country, given our human and material endowment! Let us treat one another with respect and not behave like the two Ugandan cocks.

History must come back as a subject in secondary schools to educate Ghanaians correctly about Ghana’s history.

This will prevent Ghana’s history from being rewritten and coupists from being sadly celebrated as heroes. 

Leadership, lead by Example. Fellow Ghanaians, wake up!

The writer is a former CEO, African Peace Support Trainers Association, Nairobi, Kenya/Council Chairman, Family Health University, Accra.                        

E-mail: dkfrimpong@yahoo.com