By the time Malcolm made it Ghana in 1964, his work to expose the racist hypocrisy of the U.S. government was receiving significant press around the world. Nkrumah, forced to balance a government system that possessed a strong grassroots desire for independence and liberation while being totally dependent upon the skills and resources of Britain and the U.S. to function, was torn between negotiating with the Johnson Administration for much needed material support and making a public connection with Malcolm. So while Malcolm was provided all the respect of a visiting diplomat in Ghana, there was no initial invite or promise of a meeting with Nkrumah. It should be noted that while Malcolm was in Ghana, the American government made it clear to Nkrumah’s Administration that they were very displeased at the favorable treatment Malcolm was receiving in Ghana and they would be very upset were Nkrumah to “disrespect them” by giving Malcolm any type of meeting or other official recognition. Eventually, it was Mrs. DuBois, who at that time was the National Director for Ghanaian Television, who urged Nkrumah to ignore the threats of the U.S. and British governments and do the right thing, have a meeting with Brother Malcolm. So Nkrumah took the still extremely unusual step of agreeing as a president to have a meeting with a visiting dissident from another country, the most powerful country on the planet. The meeting took place.
In my opinion, not much would have changed. Both were intelligent men, but they were also heavily Westernized culturally and socially. They struggled to think outside the Western sphere, a common trait among many 20th-century Pan-Africanists. They rebelled against the education they received, which programmed them to feel inferior, but their psychological rebellions often sounded like "We want to do it like whites, but in blackface."
I believe Malcolm X's views and approach were well-suited to Black America, given its white majority, but they would not have worked in a place like Ghana.
Regarding Nkrumah, much of his praise seems manufactured. His policies largely focused on Westernizing the population. He opened the door for institutions like the IMF and World Bank across the continent. These institutions were essentially created to safeguard white financial power globally under the guise of being "organizations for the world, not just for whites/Europeans." Subsequently, many new Black governments began trusting these organizations, reasoning, "If Nkrumah works with them, it can't be that bad. We need to do the same."
Furthermore, a crucial aspect is the continent-wide abandonment of indigenous architectural styles. Nkrumah failed to revive any of the traditional architectural styles previously used in modern Ghana, which would have been more affordable for the majority and avoid the trap of incurring debt for infrastructure. He instead packed people into concrete buildings like sardines.
He had this below. Structures that all products and elements used in construction were locally made, with no need to import anything. To a street like this below, you just need to pave in order to look "modern". But nope...
"Decolonize, decolonize...We have to decolonize" – Contracted debt to import concrete, despite the presence of rich groups who had perfectly mastered adobe and rammed earth construction for centuries. Plus, concrete in our environments demands also a lot of energy to properly ventilate the structure. In other words, you are importing concrete and also need to import ventilation devices/machines because you are building something that is not suited for your environment.
"Decolonize, decolonize...We have to decolonize" – Built a replica of a Roman city gate to celebrate independence. This project required a $40 million loan from India (nearly $450 million in 2024).
Moreover, I seriously cannot identify any indigenous industry that flourished under his policies. Instead, his policies, and those of his successors, contributed to the emergence of a consumerist mindset among many Ghanaians. Many Akan groups in the area had robust textile industries. Yet, Nkrumah failed to revive traditional textile industries like raffia production, which would have been more affordable for the majority and reduced reliance on imported textiles, a problem Ghana still faces today. He did not reverse the introduction of cassava or New World potatoes, which significantly harmed the local yam and Hausa potato industries. He invested in the cocoa industry(something that Ghanaians are not historical consumers) while neglecting the palm oil industry(something that Ghanaians are historical consumers and producers). So fast forward to 2024, Ghana is among the biggest producers of cocoa but it doesn't have a stronger consumer market. It produces to later sell or export to western nations. They make the derivatives of cocoa and sell it back to Ghana. Even worse, Ghana has a stronger consumer market as far as palm oil but produces very little and it has to import from Indonesia, Malaysia etc lmao. Nah, Nkrumah wasn't that guy...
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