Kwame Nkrumah and Political Marketing: Locating Campaign Strategy in Modern Political Campaigning

This research is a contribution to the discourse on Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, his works, visions, ambitions and political ideologies. It argues that discourse on the circumstances and issues that made up the man Nkrumah, sustained and advanced his agenda, has been limited for so long to the thematic areas mentioned above. As important as the above were- and still are to our present time- there is the need for fresh thinking and renewed debate on other areas which also contributed to his success. One of such areas is his campaign strategy which this research advances. Osagyefo’s campaign strategy, essential as it were to his crusade, is under researched and has less featured in our political discourse. Thus the objective of this research, using literature review and interviews as methods, is to identify some of the events, instruments and approaches that were central to Nkrumah’s political campaign. These themes are then analyzed, using theories in modern political campaign paradigm- political marketing in this research- as a framework to arrive at the conclusions. Finally, though the position of this research is envisaged to be criticized by some quarters, the aim is not to avoid attack but to provoke fresh debate on Osagyefo’s campaign strategy, known to be one of the areas that underpinned his success in connecting and engaging the hearts and minds of his ‘allies and enemies ’ alike