Ghana: Accra’s God

Nkrumah never dies, never dies, never dies,

He forever lives.

Nkrumah will make you fishers of men

If you follow him.

These lines are from an official anthem of Ghana’s youth movement, the 500,000-strong Young Pioneers, who are the pride of President Kwame Nkrumah. Though all Ghanaians are now accustomed to adulation of Ghana’s Osagyefo (Redeemer), the indoctrination of small children with such a parody of Christian teaching (Matthew 4:19) was too much for the Right Rev. Richard Roseveare, 60, Anglican Bishop of Accra. Fortnight ago, the bishop rose before a Christian gathering in Cape Coast to declare solemnly. “It is a truism to say that the future will be in the hands of the boys and girls of today.

Not only myself but all heads of churches in Ghana are shocked by the godlessness of this movement and by some of its phrases and songs prescribed for the children to repeat or to sing.” This was heresy indeed in Ghana, where Osagyefo’s image is everywhere—on stamps and coins, on the big statue that carries the mocking motto: “Seek ye first the political kingdom.” The Ghanaian Times, Nkrumah’s party paper, promptly-denounced Roseveare and hinted that the bishop was running an arsenal for Nkrumah’s enemies. This carried special significance since the attempt on Nkrumah’s life three weeks ago had focused attention on every possible opponent.

Roseveare’s superior. Archbishop of West Africa Cecil J. Patterson, defended Roseveare’s criticism as “temperate and necessary.” But last week Interior Minister Kwaku Boateng called Roseveare on the carpet, ordered him to leave the country within nine hours; then for bad measure he banished Archbishop Patterson as well. Sneered the Ghanaian Times as Roseveare departed: “His presence in our dear land was not conducive to the public good. Perhaps a knighthood from his imperialist monarchs and some violent falsehoods about Ghana will compensate for the egoistic propensities of this Lucifer of a priest.” Kwame Nkrumah likes to think of himself as the future boss of Africa. Time after time, he has tried to rally the other nations around his Pan African banner.

But to most of the continent’s other leaders, this latest extreme example of self-deification was simply confirmation of a growing suspicion that Accra today houses not Africa’s greatest man. but merely Africa’s biggest ego.