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Talk about
symbolic manipulation
E.
Ablorh-Odjidja
Myths are
necessary for history. It is through them that nations express
their history and the paths that fate has led them through.
When we build statues, name our streets and buildings, we are
branding ourselves and creating paths for the imagination of
posterity to follow.
In one sense,
we have Jubilee House that the NDC claims clouds Nkrumah’s
history and achievements.
In another, we
have the Kotoka’s name on Accra International Airport that has
done far worse, and continues to do so globally, to the image
and mysticism of Nkrumah as a virtuous leader.
"The voyage of
discovery” said Marcel Proust “is not in seeking new landscapes
but in having new eyes."
Myths can
provide those eyes. For now, and for ideological reasons, as a
nation, some of us have been blind to this tool as an aspect of
history creation.
So now the NDC
government has come to the defense of Nkrumah. They seek to
rename Jubilee house; reverse the name back to Flag Staff House.
Flag Staff
house, the NDC insists was where Nkrumah lived. They forget to
add that that was true until he was overthrown by Kotoka and his
gang of mutineers. And that the name Flag Staff House itself
was a leftover from colonial occupation.
But the reason
for the bold reversal is given as, Kufuor’s government, in
applying the name Jubilee House to what was the Flag House, was
in reality seeking to obliterate the name and memory of the late
President Nkrumah.
Also forgotten
is the fact that Jubilee House, as instituted and understood,
contains “Nkrumah Heritage House.”
This sudden
mood to preserve the name Flag House to conserve Nkrumah’s
memory is surprising. Since 1966, the location known as Flagg
Staff House had remained unremarkable until Kufuor. Through an
astute policy maneuver, he managed to obtain a loan from the
India government, which in reality was a gift, to complete the
Jubilee House structure, now recognized as one of the ten most
beautiful presidential palaces in the world.
Perhaps, at
this time, we should also note that the name Kotoka on the Accra
International Airport has been allowed to remain through the
long years of NDC rule, allowing its presence to obliterate
Nkrumah’s memory as a good leader.
But it must be
conceded, the NDC has now picked a fight they know they can
win. To use the name Flag Staff House is to rouse the Kufuor’s
administration. And it is a game winner with Nkrumah as cover.
To fight the change is a sentiment that popular opinion will not
accept.
Nkrumah as a
great man is an idea that is settled in the minds of many in
Ghana and Africa. But many in the NPP party don’t like that
idea.
Perhaps, the
effective response to NDC is to ask about Kotoka. But NPP
stalwarts, some members of the party of Kufuor and their
ideological dislike of Nkrumah allow no room to strike this
pose; not even a lateral one.
Sadly, the way
to stop the NDC onslaught now is simply to give the name Jubilee
up! And as counter to ask the NDC government this: what is the
name Kotoka doing on the Accra International Airport; glorifying
Nkrumah or the coup that overthrew him?
The idea of
Kotoka’s name sitting on Accra International Airport is a
monstrosity to many who revere Nkrumah. The NDC for years has
allowed this insult to carry on. Should it now feel really
offended by such an innocuous name like Jubilee House?
After all, what
is in the name Jubilee other than to signify the year 50 and our
history to date (forgive the irony)? The Kufuor administration
has already named the house Nkrumah lived in within the complex
“Nkrumah’s Heritage House.” And it is a museum. But if that is
not enough just give the Jubilee name up.
Fortunate for
the NDC, when it comes to assure the preservation of Nkrumah’s
honor as a great man, many NPP stalwarts will lack the
enthusiasm for the purpose. The removal of Kotoka’s name from
the airport, therefore, will remain as a non issue for them,
even if a controversial one.
While the NPP
is currently caught in a serious struggle with the NDC, a party
that is obviously seeking to reverse the achievements of the
Kufuor administration, some NPP members still see Nkrumah as a
virulent opponent whose memory must be opposed at all cost.
Thus in an
eerie and unbelievable ways, the NPP has opened up two fronts in
the fight for political power - one against the memory of
Nkrumah and the other against the NDC. Whether this is
deliberate policy or not, the effect may not be too sanguine for
this political party’s health.
The case of
Jubilee House is illustrative of the above point.
E. Ablorh-Odjidja, Publisher
www.ghanadot.com, Washington, DC, October 6, 2010
Permission to publish: Please feel free to publish or
reproduce, with credits, unedited. If posted at a website,
email a copy of the web page to
publisher@ghanadot.com . Or don't publish at all.
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