President John Dramani Mahama, during the 68th Independence Anniversary celebration last year, announced that declassified documents from the United States archives reveal CIA plotted the removal of Ghana’s first president, the late Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah.
According to John Mahama, declassified US intelligence documents showed that the CIA was behind the coup that removed Nkrumah while he was out of the country.
Speaking at the 68th Independence Day parade at Jubilee House on March 6, 2025, stated, “The verdict of history is now loud and clear. Declassified documents from the United States archives reveal that this was a coup inspired and engineered by the CIA”.
“Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, the founder of our nation, envisioned an industrialised, self-reliant Ghana whose citizens have the highest standard of economic life and the greatest sense of self-esteem, rooted in patriotism and Pan-African unity.
He added, “But on February 24, 1966, a joint military and police coup d’état shattered that dream, plunging Ghana into decades of instability and military takeovers.”
In recent times, 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”.
Also, Historian Yaw Anokye Frimpong and Lawyer have disclosed that Ghana would have become a World Superpower if Dr Kwame Nkrumah had not overthrown as President.
According to Yaw Anokye Frimpong, Kwame Nkrumah was going to build an atomic bomb, which is known today as a nuclear bomb.
He detailed that Americans were afraid of Kwame Nkrumah and Ghana becoming a Superpower which led to the coup against him.
The Historian highlighted that Kwame Nkrumah’s overthrow had nothing to do with Democracy but the threat he posed at the time.
Speaking on UTV in a one-on-one interview, Yaw Anokye Frimpong detailed, “In 1960, Nkrumah was going to build a nuclear bomb in Ghana. In the olden days in was known as the Atomic Bomb. He was going to build some here, that is what is known as the Kwabenya Atomic today. If he had not overthrown, Ghana would have become a World power.
The Americans were afraid of him. When the coup happened, the Americans told Kotoka and Afrifa that they needed only two things. They wanted to know the mind of Nkrumah, so no one should touch his books or papers in his room. So, all of Nkrumah’s library at his home was ransacked by the CIA, and they also came for all the equipment he was going to use for the Nuclear weapon.
Kotoka and Afrifa gave the equipment to the CIA, which got the Russians mad because it was Russian technology”.
He further added, “A lot of people do not know that it was the UN that permitted Nkrumah to do it under the Atom for food, the UN passed it, and they were looking for one African country to give them the clearance to build the nuclear and Ghana won. South Africa wanted it, but they had the Apartheid, Egypt also wanted it, but they were Arabs, so Nkrumah bidded, and he won, so the whole world accepted it.
Later, they realised the Atomic Bomb will make Ghana a superpower, so they had to remove Nkrumah. The removal of Nkrumah had nothing to do with Democracy”.