Kwame Nkrumah was Liberian, Nyaniba not his mother – Attoh Quarshie claims

Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, the first President of Ghana is not Ghanaian but a Liberian born to a Liberian father known as Kofi Nwia, and Nyaniba, the woman we have been reading in the history books as his mother rather adopted Kwame Nkrumah when he first came to Ghana, A former Gold Coast Politician, Joshua Attoh Quarshie, has alleged.

According to him, the Catholic missionaries in Gold Coast looked for Nyaniba to care for Nkrumah when he first arrived in Ghana with his briefcase.

“Nkrumah is Liberian and not Ghanaian… his original name is Nwia, Francis Nwia… no one knows his mother… Nyaniba was a barren woman who had no child and they used to carry some sticks at the back…” he said on FootPrint on Citi TV.

Mr Attoh Quarshie indicated that Kwame Nkrumah had some artificial cousins like Obed Andoh, Aya Kumi among others.

He stated that as ungrateful as Nkrumah was, he did not acknowledge one Ga man known as Paa Solomon who gave him a place of abode at present day Lagos town.

“Blankson-Lartey’s house is the place Nkrumah used to go and eat and the first cloth Nkrumah put on was the Ashanti Kente which belonged to Blankson-Lartey… Nkrumah came with a briefcase, he had no potomanto [portmanteau], nothing,” Attoh Quarshie remarked.

Recounting how the Convention People’s Party (CPP) was formed Mr Attoh Quarshie stated that when Nkrumah fell out with the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC), its leaders called him to a meeting at Saltpond to reconcile with him, but by then he (Nkrumah) had formed the Committee on Youth Organisations (CYO).

He added that the CYO members threatened to kill Nkrumah if he did not resign from the UGCC. He obliged and later turned the CYO into CPP.

He stressed however that the slogan of the CPP "Self Government Now" energised the youth.

Source: ghanaweb.com