NKRUMAH HELD TYRANNICAL

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30998, 2 March 1966, Page 17

NKRUMAH HELD TYRANNICAL

(N.Z.P.A. Reuter—Copyright)

ACCRA, Feb. 28

Ghana’s new ruler tonight branded deposed President Kwame Nkrumah as Africa’s number one tyrant and dictator and charged him with bringing the nation to the brink of economic ruin.

In his first nationwide address since seizing power four days ago, LieutenantGeneral Joseph Ankrah declared Ghana was very close to famine and starvation.

He appealed to friendly countries to help restore the country’s economy. The general told a press conference earlier that if Nkrumah were to return to Ghana he would be put on trial.

The general also said that Ghana's days of harbouring and training political refugees to subvert neighbouring States were over.

Ghana, he told Africans, had opened a new page in their relations with other African States. General Ankrah told Ghanaians in his broadcast that the coup was launched because “no other means were available” to oust Dr. Nkrumah.

The Army and police, he said, acted in accordance with the principle that “any leader who loses the confidence of his people and resorts to arbitrary rule should be deposed.”

General Ankrah pledged that Ghana would retain membership of the Commonwealth—“without prejudice to her national sovereignty.”