Celebrated statesman and founding member of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr Nyaho Nyaho-Tamakloe believes that Ghana has struggled to progress beyond First President, its Dr. Kwame Nkrumah’s regime.
In an exclusive interview on e.tv Ghana’s Fact Sheet, Dr. Nyaho Tamakloe shared some insightful thoughts on the state of Ghana’s development since its independence over six decades ago.
Dr. Tamakloe admitted that Ghana’s woes began after Kwame Nkrumah’s regime mainly due to instability in governance and lack of foresight.
“During that particular (Nkrumah’s regime) era was the same era that the Chinese were trying to get themselves organized. So if you sat down and thought of where the Chinese have reached in less than 40years and where we are now tells you there’s a problem,” he said.
Dr. Tamakloe recounted Nkrumah’s achievements in filling societal gaps by building institutions like the Ghana Law School and medical school. He noted that Nkrumah had a clear vision for the country’s development and made significant strides in modernizing the nation’s infrastructure.
“When Nkrumah put in place and built completely the Tema new township and moved them because he wanted the harbor to be there. So we had a complete new harbor and at the time it was only the Takoradi harbor built by Gordon Guggisberg. Then he put in place a Ghana law school so clearly this was a man with vision because if you wanted to do law at the time you needed to go to Europe and if you don’t have the money you’re stuck. Then he brought the Ghana medical school which he started from the base and now look at the number of medical schools we have today,” he explained.
However, Dr. Tamakloe also suggested that Nkrumah’s overthrow may have contributed to Ghana’s lack of progress over the years. He referred to a book by the late Singaporean leader, Lee Kuan Yew, who wrote about the importance of political stability in a country’s development.
“Looking at Nkrumah’s overthrow, there might be reasons people gave but if you had read the book from the legend of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew, then you see exactly what’s happening. Maybe it was the same formula Nkrumah wanted to use but he didn’t have the opportunity. After his removal, we’ve been having coups and civilian governments and as a result of that, this nation is not progressing. A nation that was born is far backwards even after 65 years,” he said.
By: Jude Tackie