• Civilization & Culture

    Civilization & Culture (45)

  • Expeditions & Discoveries

    Expeditions & Discoveries (1)

  • Working with Rawlings

    Flight Lieutenant Jerry John Rawlings burst on the Ghanaian political scene with a failed military mutiny on May 15th, 1979. On June 4th 1979, following a successful uprising staged by junior officers and other ranks of the Ghana Armed Forces, he emerged as the Chairman of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) which ruled Ghana for three months and handed over to a civilian constitutional government on 24th September 1979. On 31st December 1981, he overthrew the constitutional government and formed the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) as the Government of Ghana. He was elected a constitutional President in 1992 and assumed office as such on 7th January 1993. He served two terms as President of the Republic of Ghana, finally leaving office on 6th January 2001.

    Jerry John Rawlings is an enigma. It was a privilege working with him and being close to him. He and I went through many exciting experiences together. I have documented some of those experiences in this book. But there are many other experiences which I have not documented either because they belong to the realm of confidentiality or of privacy. What I have documented, however, is enough to give present and future leaders some ideas about governance at the highest levels; the dos and don’ts of governance; the skills required for governance and the importance of human relations as a leadership trait.

    This is not a book about Jerry John Rawlings. It is not a book about Kwamena Ahwoi. It is not a book about the PNDC. It is not a book about the NDC. It is a book about Kwamena Ahwoi working with Jerry John Rawlings; our working relationship; our ups and downs and our joint commitment to building a better Ghana than the one we found it. Somewhere along the line, we drifted apart. This book is about that as well. It is my hope that Ghana’s leaders of today and our leaders of the future will learn some lessons from my account of Working with Rawlings, leaving out the negatives and accentuating the positives.

  • Class Struggle In Africa (Hardcover)

    Recent African history has exposed the close links between the interests of imperialism and neo-colonialism and the African bourgeoisie. This book reveals the nature and extent of the class struggle in Africa, and sets it in the broad context of the African Revolution and the world socialist revolution.

     

  • Ahwene Pa Nkasa: Standing with JDM

    Standing with JDM is quite clear in this title that it does not intend to undermine the former president’s image but to burnish it. What is not clear is whether it was written to coincide with the 2020 Election Year.
    It is in two parts, “The Homeland Briefs” and the “Diplomatic Briefs”. Independent of each other, they are held together by what the author calls the “Mahamarabilia” thread – a word he invented to describe his privileged proximity to the 4th president of the 4th Republic of Ghana.
    Part One has 42 chapters that highlight events like Dumsor, Gitmo 2, Montie 3, Cheating at Elections, Lying and Blaming it on Mahama, Destroying friends and Family and much, much more…It also has intellectual discourses on Traditional Governance and the Ballot Box, Kigali (dangers that could be awaiting Ghana in this Election Year), Ebola and Covid-19 and the history of Ghana’s “coodetas” in new lights that would surprise and reveal…
    Part Two, with 25 chapters, is devoted entirely to the author’s diplomatic service and reads sometimes like a coursebook on practical diplomacy and other times like a travelogue with intriguing insights. We come across his encounter with a sex change person (man to woman) and how his life was nearly cut short when his official car and ostrich crashed into each other on the highway from Windhoek to Gaborone. Part Two is so suffused with humour that it is difficult to tell whether he is pulling the reader’s leg or stating facts.
    Most of the chapters are illustrated with unique pictures that could stand on their own as stories. It is a beautifully designed book, well laid out reader-friendly. For the first time, a modern version of adinkra, called adinshia, has had a public airing in the book…
    Whatever your political persuasion is, your intellect will make you love this beautiful book on Mahama.

  • Forward Ever: The Life of Kwame Nkrumah

    A short biography of Kwame Nkrumah providing an introduction to his life and work. Set within the context of PanAfricanism the book covers the whole period of Nkrumah’s life from childhood through to his death in Bucharest on 27th April 1972.

  • The Trial of J.J. Rawlings: Echoes of the 31st December Revolution (2nd Edition)

    The Trial of JJ Rawlings narrates the extraordinary circumstances under which a young military officer Flt Lt JJ Rawlings, later to become the longest serving Head of State of Ghana, shot into the limelight to change the course of Ghana’s history and political development.The first edition of the book, originally published in 1986, completely sold out within a year, making this second edition very welcome in response to public request.

    This volume is a valuable contribution to our understanding of those ineluctable forces that have changed the contours of our society. Surely, the story of JJ, well told in this volume, cannot fail to grip and hold the reader’s most concentrated attention. – Prof F.A. Botchwey, PhD

  • Death of an Empire: Kwame Nkrumah in Ghana and Africa

    A participant-witness in the history of the transition from Gold Coast to Ghana, Jantuah who died in 2011 at the age of 89, reflects and interprets with unique understanding some of the major events of the 1950s and 60s as well as foreign policy formulation including his role as a diplomat during the Algerian struggle for Independence and France’s Charles de Gaulle’s retrogressive policies; his dealings with the African National Congress and it’s president, Oliver Tambo, an Apartheid and Southern Rhodesia; becoming at the end an executor to his friend – Nkrumah’s Will.

    The book also has reflections on Ghana’s Fourth Republic and development on the African Continent since. It is edited with a detailed introduction by Jantuah’s nephew, the development specialist and literacy writer, Ivor Agyeman-Duah, who he worked with over the years on this and is currently a Visiting Associate Professor at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa.

  • Kwame Nkrumah: A Biography

    Very few statesmen have attempted or achieved so much as Kwame Nkrumah, a leading activist and theoretician of PanAfricanism. His work lives on and continues to inspire Africans, people of African descent and progressive movements worldwide.

    In this new biography, June Milne traces the life and work of Kwame Nkrumah from his birth in Nkroful in the western province of the Gold Coast (Ghana) to his death in Bucharest, Romania on 27 April, 1972. The book contains much new material, notably relating to years Nkrumah spent in Conakry, Guinea after the military coup in Accra on 24 February, 1966 which ended his government in Ghana. It adds to information in the author’s book Kwame Nkrumah, The Conakry Years, published in 1990.

    For the first time in a biography of Nkrumah, information is provided about all the books written by him. The circumstances in which they were written are explained, their contents examined, appraisal made of their significance and continuing impact on political developments in Africa and the Diaspora.

    This is an authentic moving account of the life and work of “The Greatest African” (the words inscribed on his coffin in Guinea), by an author well qualified to write about him.

     

     

     

     

  • Kwame Nkrumah and the Dawn of the Cold War: The West African National Secretariat, 1945-48

    The history of a Pan-Africanist movement based in Britain and its role in the Cold War in Africa

    The West African National Secretariat (WANS) has almost been forgotten by history. A pan-Africanist movement founded in 1945 by Kwame Nkrumah and colleagues in London and France, WANS campaigned for independence and unity. Nkrumah returned to the Gold Coast in late 1947. The colonial government accused him of being a communist and fomenting the riots of early 1948. He was jailed. This led to the beginning of the Cold War in West Africa.

    Drawing on archival research including the newly released MI5 files, Marika Sherwood reports on the work of WANS, on the plans for a unity conference in October 1948 in Lagos, and on Nkrumah’s return home. Sherwood demonstrates that colonial powers colluded with each other and the US in order to control the burgeoning struggles for independence. By labelling African nationalists as ‘communists’ in their efforts to contain decolonisation, the Western powers introduced the Cold War to the continent.

    Providing a rich exploration of a neglected history, this book sheds light for the first time on a crucial historical moment in the history of West Africa and the developmental trajectory of West African independence.

  • Kwame Nkrumah: A Leninist Czar or Radical Pan Africanist and Visionary?

    There have been several misconceptions and distortions concerning the Man Kwame Nkrumah. This book attempts to correct these. It sheds light on the life and accomplishments of Kwame Nkrumah, the first President of Ghana and Africa’s Man of the Millennium. It does an objective appraisal of him through critical issues that engaged his energies during his time; including his world outlook, the nature and direction of the African revolution; African unity and the role of the state; the DR Congo and imperialism; democracy, the nation and social justice; etc.

  • Kwame Nkrumah: Africa’s Man of the Millennium

    This book seeks to review various presentations made about the life of the man who led this country in her march towards independence and caught the imagination of the entire continent in the 1960s as he advocated and pushed the frontiers towards continental unity.

    The man at the centre of it all – Kwame Nkrumah – is captured in all his facets; his humble beginnings, studies abroad, his return home to work with the UGCC, his political agitations, tenure of office as Leader of Government Business, Prime Minister and President, his removal from office and the role played by internal and external forces, his days in exile, his death and other aspects of his life. These are all presented with a view to enable the reader learn some history as well as good lessons of life.

    Interestingly, though largely seen as the first universal African of the 19th Century, Kwame Nkrumah was actually a man of two halves; much loved and much hated all at the same time. How a single personality could be viewed in that manner is better appreciated by reading the book.

  • Heritage Pack: Ghana Our Motherland (6 books)

    Age Range: 8 years and above

    A set of five books for young ones and anyone looking for a quick and easy appreciation about the country Ghana: its history, culture, traditional systems, languages, people, food and more!

    These books provides basic education about Ghanaian history, cultural practices and heritage for the Ghanaian child. Though they will prove useful for every Ghanaian (as well as non-Ghanaians), they are especially beneficial for parents who are keen on educating the Ghanaian child in the diaspora.

    These books give a foundation of Ghanaian history and cultural practices to enable readers understand and appreciate Ghanaian heritage.

    There is a bonus book that talks about Africa!

  • Africa Must Unite!

    Africa Must Unite best describes what Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah stood for.

    The mission he began over half a century ago remains uncompleted and the task of this generation is to make the dream of African unity come alive and realise our full potential as the African nation that would be embracing all peoples of African ancestry.

    Nkrumah called for the political and economic unification of African states as the most effective way to achieve economic and socio-cultural emancipation and regain full sovereignty over our land and resources.

    The thesis of Africa Unite remains unassilable, giving hope to about 1.5 billion Africans all over the world who aspire for a better life in a more humane world.

    Africa Must Unite!

  • Ghana Our Heritage

    Age Range: 8 years and above

    A comprehensive book that introduces both young and old to Ghana, its history, culture, traditional systems, languages, people, food and more!

    This book provides basic education about Ghanaian history, cultural practices and heritage for the Ghanaian child. Though it is useful for every Ghanaian (as well as non-Ghanaians), it was specifically designed to educate the Ghanaian child in the diaspora.

    The book gives a foundation of Ghanaian history and cultural practices to enable readers understand and appreciate Ghanaian heritage.

  • Justice Daniel Francis Annan: In the Service of Democracy

    Justice Annan’s public service in Ghana’s recent history embodies how an individual, acting in concert with compatriots, can direct the course of history using institutions which may prevail at a specific conjuncture in that history.

    The objective of producing this biography of Justice Annan is to extrapolate from his life as a public servant, especially during the critical period of 1982- 1992 when he was a key member of the PNDC, and the 1993 – 2000 when he was Speaker of the first and second Parliaments of the Fourth Republic, the lessons and insights that add value to the existing knowledge of how social and political dynamics are purposefully managed even in the most challenging times; and how key institutions like Parliament are nurtured in a nascent democracy to literally turn dust into gold. The weight of the biography therefore leans heavily on Justice Annan’s public service during the two periods indicated above.

    This biography was sponsored by the IDEG under its Senior Citizen Scholar in Residence Programme, which is non-partisan and open to all who have distinguished themselves in rendering service to our dear country Ghana. We hope that this publication will inspire institutions and individual philanthropists, both Ghanaian and foreign, to contribute generously to the funding of the programme. The programme aims at deepening our knowledge and understanding of the momentous conjunctures in our history that have shaped the content and trajectory of Ghana’s young democratic state.

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