Watch a throwback video of Accra’s first taxi service under Nkrumah, using 50 brand-new Russian cars

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Accra's first taxi service under Nkrumah

A throwback video of Accra’s first public taxi service under Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah has surfaced on social media.

Reports suggest that Ghana’s first president, on September 7, 1965, requested that the Accra-Tema City Council establish a taxi service in Accra using 50 brand-new Russian cars.

Nkrumah personally inspected the vehicles before embarking on a tour of the city, during which he was driven by one of the service’s women drivers.

The 53-second black-and-white footage shared showed Accra’s first public taxi service with 50 new Russian GAZ Volga cars.

The video showed the drivers busily cleaning their cars and showed a female driver in one of the cars driving a passenger.

Some netizens reacting to the video stated, “I’m still trying to get a valid reason why he was overthrown, but none make sense. Our forefathers messop”.

“N.O.S.T.A.L.G.I.A. …..Hey! STOP. I remember VIVIDLY, even though I was a little boy back then! The cars were Russian and branded “VOLGA”: they were such big cars for public transport, and DARN WELL SPACIOUS …..I have never forgotten”, a netizen added.

A netizen added, “By now we should be having a transport museum with these vehicles and more showing our transportation journey”.

“The city of Tema doesn’t even boast a transportation system . The meridian road is an eyesore … a road that connects a major port in west Africa to inland countries”, one X user added.

The video has emerged at a time when Paul Adom-Otchere dropped the ills of Ghana’s first President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, which ended with Lieutenant Colonel Emmanuel Kwasi Kotoka masterminding a coup against him on February 24, 1966.

Adom-Otchere, over the weekend on JoyNews NewsFile, detailed his claimed terrible things Kwame Nkrumah did, which, according to him, warranted his overthrow in 1966.

He claimed that Nkrumah’s amendment of the Constitution of Ghana to make himself a lifetime president of Ghana, also changed the national flag of Ghana to his party flag and prosecuted his political opponents.

Speaking during a panel discussion on JoyNews’ NewsFile on February 7, 2026, Adom-Otchere stated, “The 1960 Constitution, which Nkrumah put together, which I have in front of me. Nkrumah’s name was buried in the Constitution, Article 10, where it talks about Kwame Nkrumah as president of Ghana.”

“There’s also a bit more… There was an amendment to the 1960 Constitution in 1964, and if you look at the amendment, it will interest you to know that the amendments provided in the 1964 amendment included the fact that Kwame Nkrumah was now able to dismiss judges. Yes, he was able to dismiss judges,” he said.

He added, “Now, there was nowhere else to go, because if you look at the amendment of the Constitution, Nkrumah had made himself a life president, and he had also made CPP the only legitimate party”.

“In fact, if you look at the usage of the PDA between 1958, when it was set up, and about 1961, it was minimal. But from 1961 to 1964, the PDA was railroading everywhere, and every home was afraid”.

“What we would like Ghanaians to see. And at the end of the day, the government will make its decision, and then we will have to decide whether it’s a political decision that we vote on the next time, or whatever we do”.

“But we cannot ignore history. We have to make obeisance to history. The history is that from 1960 up to the time Nkrumah was overthrown in 1966, he was a despot. He was not good for Ghana; he was terrible for Ghana,” he said.

However, Oliver Barker-Vormawor, a private legal practitioner, has tackled Paul Adom-Otchere, mounting a strong defence for Ghana’s first President, Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah.

Oliver Barker-Vormawor, in a series of posts shared on Facebook, debunked Paul Adom-Otchere’s claims.

Watch the video below: