INTRODUCTION

OON AFTER the 24th February Revolution which toppled the Nkrumah regime, the National Liberation Council, on behalf of the people of Ghana apologised to the African States against which Nkrumah used Ghana as a centre for his foolish and dangerous subversive activities. Nkrumah's excesses were so vast that action had to be taken to dismiss him, but the discoveries made by the Government of Ghana revealed that the danger to Africa was one hundred times more serious than anyone outside of a small circle had realized. It has taken a great deal of time to study and interpret the mass of vital documents found in the offices of Nkrumah and his hirelings. This study is still not completed, and now that Nkrumah is gone forever there may be no need to complete it. It was, however, necessary to follow up the initial statement of the Government of Ghana on the activities of Nkrumah in the fields of espionage and subversion with a special paper that could be distributed widely, containing actual evidence on these activities. Certainly one conclusion which can be drawn is that the peoples of the African States should prevent their own countries from being used as bases of subversion against other free nations.

The fatal flaw in Nkrumah's character was his megalomania which grew and found outlet in many ways that were disastrous both to Ghana and to the nations of Africa. This led him to scheme to consolidate his hold on the country through intrigue, blackmail, treachery and thuggery. He organised lieutenants, hangers-on and hirelings to go about publicising him as having supernatural powers.

Nkrumah spent huge sums of money to build the Nsawam Prisons where all Ghanaians whom he thought were a danger to his self-aggrandisement, dictatorship and inordinate ambition were carted away to languish in detention. In his maximum security prison the distinguished Ghanaian philosopher, Dr. J. B. Danquah, died in a condemned criminal's cell.

Nkrumah's security officers, both men and women, were placed everywhere-in factories, offices, drinking bars, political rallies and even in churches, not forgetting the taxi drivers, bus drivers, shop assistants, pedlars and seemingly unemployed persons who were all acting as informants.

Nkrumah encouraged rivalries and dissensions among officials in responsible positions, hoping in that way to discourage them from taking united action against him.

Whilst his economic policies brought the country to the brink of ruin, he himself succeeded in amassing fabulous wealth, although in his autobiography Ghana, he admits (page 51 para. 4) writing to Dr. Danquah that he "was without funds and that I would need about a hundred pounds to cover my passage and travelling expenses." He returned to Ghana after 12 years abroad with one battered suit case containing a few toilet articles and a faded gaberdine suit. The palaces and show places and the uneconomic state enterprises started by him remain as monuments to his folly.

Outside Ghana, Nkrumah posed as the champion of a united, "socialist" Africa, but as his megalomania increased he discarded the concept of working for African unity through the Organisation of African Unity. He began to dream of himself as the ruler of all Africa, or, at least, of all the continent except for the area along the Mediterranean. Naturally enough other leaders and other elected governments showed no willingness to turn over their powers to him, and so he began to plot against these countries, planning to replace their leaders with people who had been trained in Ghana in methods of violent revolution. The methods that were to be employed included guerilla warfare, sabotage, terrorism and assassination.

Nkrumah also sought to use existing organisations and to create new ones for his plans to dominate Africa. To other heads of state, he proposed a "Defence Plan for Africa," expecting that they would agree to his leadership in such an undertaking. Another of his schemes was to hold a conference of all political parties in Africa, with the aim of establishing a "cross-continental political party." At the same time he took the initiative in proposing a Union of Non-Independent African States.

In June 1965 the Bureau of African Affairs assumed responsibility for secret operations towards the achievement of continental government in Africa. The Bureau was also charged with working with the offices located in Accra of the Afro-Asian People's Solidarity Organisation and of the AllAfrican Trade Unions Federation to carry on espionage and propaganda to promote the above-mentioned schemes. The Bureau maintained separate files for each of these schemes and also a much more

comprehensive one under the title of African Unity. At the same time, Nkrumah was bitterly opposed to attempts by anyone else to promote regional unity. His files reveal that he used a variety of means to oppose the establishment of the East African Federation: his meddling became so apparent that on 6th August, 1963 President Nyerere of Tanzania wrote him a very angry letter on this subject.

After an attempt on his life in August, 1962, Nkrumah came to realise that he was so hated by so many citizens that he could not rely on more than a handful of base men to help carry out his plans. As a result, he appealed directly to the Communist States to provide him with personal protection, and to prepare detailed plans for spying on the citizens of Ghana and for espionage and subversive activities throughout the continent. To his appeal, the U.S.S.R., the People's Republic of China and the German Democratic Republic eagerly responded, while, somewhat later, numbers of Yugoslavs, Czechoslovaks, Poles, Bulgarians, North Koreans and Cubans flooded into the country. According to his orders, the immigration officials kept no record of these arrivals, although more than one thousand of them came and moved freely about the country. (See Appendix A).

The Communists were only too pleased to be invited by Nkrumah. Their interests were parallel to those of Nkrumah as regards the goal of overthrowing those African governments that were not inclined to Communism. While Nkrumah was making use of these Communist experts and advisers, they were enjoying a splendid opportunity to carry out plans that were only in their own interests. At this point, only a few examples will be cited as to the special interests of the Communists, and more details will be found in a latter section of this publication. The Russians and the East Germans recruited their own agents within the intelligence service of Ghana and instructed them in the secret ways of making reports to their new masters. The Russians and the Chinese who trained Freedom Fighters tried to make use of them in ways that were harmful to the cause of African freedom, while a large group of Cubans carrying diplomatic passports got in touch with the Freedom Fighters without asking permission of Ghana. In the same way, the Russian Embassy had its own arrangements with individuals coming from Congo/Kinshasa. Then, too, the Russians, the Chinese, and the East Germans selected members of the intelligence service who were to be trained in those countries in guerilla warfare and the techniques of espionage, expecting them to return to Ghana as devoted Communists.

The liberation of Ghana was a bitter blow to all these Communists. Like animals running in front of a forest fire they fled the country. Planes and ships took away 1,100 Russians, 430 Chinese and scores of people from the countries already named. Among these were 22 Russians and three Chinese intelligence officers, and 13 Chinese guerilla warfare instructors who were declared persona non-grata.

The point has already been made that only a few depraved people who enjoyed special favours from Nkrumah supported his plans and welcomed the Communist invasion. The proof of this point is that no one in Ghana warned the Russians who were guarding Nkrumah that his days of deceit were drawing towards their close. Even those few individuals who co-operated closely with Nkrumah have explained that their only choice lay between carrying out his orders and going to prison.

For a number of years Nkrumah demanded, and received, a Contingency Fund of £2 million that was not subject to any audit or examination. In addition, the Office of the President was granted very large sums in separate categories for ordinary, extraordinary and development expenditures and these sums were accounted for only in a very general way. Thus, he was able to spend huge amounts without anyone, except a few secretaries, knowing the purposes and objects of these expenditures.

Each year Nkrumah spent about £600,000 on the Presidential Detail Department, an organisation that employed 15 Russian experts and advisers. The Presidential Guard Regiment cost £369,000 a year. It comprised a battalion of 1,500 men and a second battalion was being trained by Russians at Afienya so that the cost would soon have been doubled. The sum of £120,000 went to the Special Intelligence Unit, headed by one Ambrose Yankey. The purpose of this Unit was to spy on Ghanaians and, in particular, to uncover anything unfavourable to Nkrumah. Two Russians, Robert Akhmerov and Nicholai Gladkiy, trained the recruits on how to spy on their fellow countrymen. The special President's body-guard cost £30,750 a year.

Other expenditures from the secret funds are given in detail in the pages that follow.

Note.-One cedi (or Ø1·00) is 8s. 4d. 240.00 is equivalent to £100 sterling. 100 CFA Franc is equivalent to 20 35.

The photographs showing the Chinese instructors were taken before the coup d'etat on 24th February, 1966.