A retired Public Works Department staff member, identified as Lawrence Frederick Asiamah Tenkorang, has said Ghana is suffering because of the blunders Kwame Nkrumah committed.
He argued that Ghana’s first president, Kwame Nkrumah, made significant mistakes in the administration of the country after Ghana gained independence in 1957.
Lawrence Frederick Asiamah Tenkorang cited Nkrumah’s decision to retire the Western administrators who, he argued, had accumulated valuable experience in running the country after ruling for 113 years from 1844 to 1957.
Speaking in an interview with media personality Kafui Dey, where he was asked whether he liked Kwame Nkrumah, Lawrence Frederick Asiamah Tenkorang stated, “He committed some blunders, and that’s why Ghana is suffering now”.
“Administration. The Western people had administered the country for 113 years, from 1844 to 1957. So, they had 113 years of administrative experience. How they were administering the country, it was alright, fine. That’s how I saw it. The country was being administered beautifully, and they handed over power to him, Kwame Nkrumah,” he said.
He further argued that Nkrumah’s decision to retire the Western administrators who had been involved in running the country negatively affected Ghana’s administrative system.
The retired PWD explained that Nkrumah was initially the Leader of Government Business before the country adopted the presidential system, adding that after independence, Nkrumah questioned why he should continue working with the Western administrators and subsequently retired them.
“Kwame Nkrumah was the Leader of Government Business; presidency hadn’t come yet. Then, one day, he announced that he had gotten independence, so why should he be seeing the whites? He retired them all. He collapsed the administration. There were 113 years of administration, and everything was going on smoothly,” he stated.
He claimed Nkrumah’s decision to remove the experienced Western administrators amounted to a collapse of the administrative system that had been built over the 113-year period.
Lawrence Frederick Asiamah Tenkorang claimed the disruption to the system had long-term consequences for the country and remains one of the reasons Ghana continues to face difficulties today.
He also raised concerns about Nkrumah’s political activities and ideology, saying, “Kwame Nkrumah formed the CPP underground, and the Big Six didn’t know about it. Later on, I got to know Kwame Nkrumah was a Communist. He got his training from Russia, and that’s why everything he did was contrary to what Western people were practising”.
In related news, Paul Adom-Otchere, a renowned broadcaster, has boldly stated that Ghana’s first President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, was a tyrant and terrible for Ghana.
The renowned broadcaster made these claims while commenting on the Kotoka International Airport name change debate as political score-settling.
Paul Adom-Otchere revisited Ghana’s history to justify why Kotoka was honoured, arguing that he played a heroic role at a time, he says, when Kwame Nkrumah had become a despot.
According to Paul Adom Otchere, Kotoka was a ‘rescuer’ for overthrowing Nkrumah’s despotism.
Paul Adom Otchere further claimed that plans to remove Lieutenant Kotoka’s name from the airport form part of a plan to restore Nkrumah’s image 100% before the 60th anniversary of his coup, which is on February 24, 2026.
Speaking on JoyNews’ NewsFile, Paul Adom-Otchere stated, “This Kotoka’s name on an important edifice like the airport is the remaining last leg of the nemesis of Nkrumah that must be taken away because they have been able to establish Nkrumah as the hero and the 100% hero since the BBC issue.
“Now, what we have been pointing out is that they started by arguing that Kotoka is a coup maker, and then that argument appears to be shifting. If you listen to Ambassador Kwesi Pratt, he was concerned that Mahama Ayariga (the Majority Leader) is turning this whole thing into a tribal matter… It’s not about a tribal matter. It is about removing the image of some coup maker,” he said.
He further highlighted that Ghanaians must know that the first president did some very bad things, which forced Kotoka to overthrow him.
Adom-Otchere added, “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.
Watch the video below:
@ghnow_ Nana Addo Danquah Akufo Addo and John Agyeman Kuffuor live at the burial rite of Mrs Alice Serwaa Manu #GHNow #fyp ♬ It Is Finished – Kofi Kinaata
@ghnow_ Nana Akuffo Addo arrives at the Burial Rite of Mrs Alice Serwaa Manu #GHNow #fyp ♬ original sound – GHnow
