They may not have been the closest of friends, but one unique thing puts them in the same room of similarities;they both experienced military overthrows of their governments.
And while that should have served as a reason for them to be able to share ideas and interact on the same level, Ghana’s first president, Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, rather found a cheeky, mocking way of ‘consoling’ Dr Kofi Abrefa Busia after the latter tasted his overthrow.
In 1966, Kwame Nkrumah was the first to experience a military takeover while he was away in Hanoi, Vietnam, on national assignment for Ghana.
His government had, until then, been suffering from criticisms from the likes of Dr Kofi Busia, many of which had led to the army taking over power from Nkrumah when they had the chance.
Having completely lost faith with the people of Ghana, the overthrow of Nkrumah was received across the country with a lot of joy, and so when Busia, one of the major critics, also experienced the same surprise of a coup d’état much later, Nkrumah could just not hold back speaking about it.
In a letter that Kwame Nkrumah wrote to Dr Busia in 1972, right after the 1972 overthrow, he reminded Busia of all the similarities in their plights.
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Nkrumah wrote that “It is rather significant that most of the evils of which my government and I were accused and which were the main reasons for the overthrow of my administration were apparently the same reasons that motivated the army takeover of your regime.
“I am sure that you realise that those who criticise other people without bothering to assign good reasons for their criticisms eventually end up as victims of their own circumstances.
“You will also appreciate the fact that those who sow a wind reap a whirlwind, and after you have finished spoiling other people, you will be surprised to find out that you have spoiled yourself.”
As if to add more fuel to the fire, Kwame Nkrumah went on to detail some of the exact things that he felt Busia and other critics used against his administration and that have come back to haunt him.
He also detailed some of the observations he had made of the Busia government and why he believed that the people of Ghana had lost affection for their style of rule.
Read letter below:
