“Claims Kotoka staged the 1966 coup against Nkrumah completely falsify history” – Kwesi Pratt

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Dr Kwame Nkrumah with some military officers

Kwesi Pratt Jnr, a Veteran journalist and Managing Editor of the Insight newspaper, has said that claims that General Emmanuel Kwasi Kotoka staged the February 24, 1966, coup against Kwame Nkrumah are completely falsifying history.

According to Kwesi Pratt, the coup against Kwame Nkrumah was planned, sponsored and activated by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the United States of America, with Kotoka, Afrifa and others being mere fronts.

In a post shared on X, Kwesi Prat wrote, “To claim that General Emmanuel Kwasi Kotoka staged the February 24, 1966, coup against Nkrumah is to completely falsify history.

The fact is that the coup was planned, sponsored and activated by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the United States of America and that Kotoka, Afrifa and others were mere fronts.

The facts have been made public in the declassified documents of the CIA on the coup which have been compiled in the book “The Great Deception – How the CIA Overthrew Nkrumah” authored by the Socialist Movement of Ghana (SMG).

Copies of this book are available at the Freedom Bookshop, 16 Laimomo Close, Asylum Down, Accra, Ghana. The Bookshop can also be reached on telephone, 050462184. Digital Address – GA 048-5576”.

However, some netizens reacting to Kwesi Pratt’s statement stated, “Seriously? I beg to differ, Kwesi. Yes, the CIA and M16 might have planned the overthrow of Kwame Nkrumah, but it was Kotoka and the guys who carried out the plan. The CIA did not bring soldiers to stage the coup; Kotoka and other Ghanaian soldiers did. Therefore, they are responsible”.

“CIA masterminded the coup, but they used a fellow countryman to stage it. There was not a single CIA guy with a gun in his hand on 24th Feb. She goes with sankara, lumumba etc. African’s are cheap and easily manipulated. We can’t for a billion dollars manipulate the whites”, another X user added.

Another Ghanaian added, “Nkrumah was a great leader; he liberated Ghana and Africa. But the CIA did not sponsor the coup; they knew about it but did nothing. There is a difference. They allowed the coup to happen because of Nkrumah’s ties and advocacy for the Soviet Union”.

One more netizen added, “But the cat’s paw, the quintessential variable without which none of the CIA plans on paper could ever be realized, was Kotoka and his cohorts. They are therefore responsible for the tragedy visited upon us from which we are yet to recover, some 60 years after the fact!”

Meanwhile, Retired Major General Kwamina Sam has said Lieutenant Colonel Emmanuel Kwasi Kotoka was considered a HERO when he toppled Ghana’s first President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah.

According to the retired Major General, he feels sad about plans to rename the Kotoka International Airport.

He stated Ghanaians have short memory, recounting that at the time Nkrumah fell, there were jubilations are Ghanaisn the could not be blamed for naming the Airport after Kotoka.

Speaking with Kafui Dey, in an interview, the retired General, when asked about the plans to change the name of Kotoka International Airport, stated, “I feel sad about it, because it is a question of history. Ghana, we have a very short memory at the time Nkrumah fell, if you were alive at saw what happened, you could not blame Ghanaians for naming the Airport after Kotoka; there was total jubilation”.

“It is only now that I have realised that part of the problem with Nkrumah was that he was not in sync with his collegues he meant well, but then he could not carry his people with him. The intelligencia did not follow him; they had been so brainwashed and didn’t see what Nkrumah was trying to do, so the Kotoka thing was a relief”.

“Somebody will take a bottle of whisky and pour it on the streets after the coup, thanking God for relieving Ghanaians from oppression, so there were extreme things, ban Nkrumah, ban his book, ban everything so naming the place after Kotoka was not difficult since he died at the Airport the champs that captured him, took him to the airport and shot him there”, he added.

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