The Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast (UCC), Sir Samuel Esson Jonah, has called for a more contextual assessment of Kwame Nkrumah’s constitutional legacy, particularly the controversial Preventive Detention Act.

Speaking at the opening of the 15th Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Lectures, Sir Jonah acknowledged that the law remains one of the strongest points of criticism against Ghana’s first President, but said its historical circumstances should also be considered.

“The Act was passed in 1958 by a state barely a year old, which had already lived through political bombings and a violent secessionist agitation in Ashanti, and which within months would uncover a plot against the government inside its own army.”

He recalled several attempts on Nkrumah’s life, including the 1962 Kulungugu grenade attack, which killed a schoolgirl standing beside the then-President.

He also cited the 1964 shooting at Flagstaff House by a constable serving as part of Nkrumah’s guard.

Sir Jonah drew parallels with measures adopted by other countries during periods of perceived national security threats.

He cited Britain’s internment of citizens under Regulation 18B during World War II, the suspension of habeas corpus under US President Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War, and the Patriot Act enacted in the United States after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

“None of this makes preventive detention a good thing. It makes it a human thing – a thing to be weighed in context, not condemned in caricature,” he stated.

Sir Jonah said this historical context should inform how Nkrumah’s constitutional record is assessed, while acknowledging the problematic nature of preventive detention.

He argued that Nkrumah’s wider contribution to Ghana’s constitutional development should also be considered, including the establishment of the country’s first republican constitution in 1960.

Sir Jonah further pointed to Ghana’s subsequent constitutional history, noting that the country has now lived under a written constitution for 34 years.

His remarks form part of a broader reflection on Nkrumah’s political and intellectual legacy at the 15th Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Lectures, where questions surrounding his governance, constitutionalism and vision for Ghana and Africa are being revisited.