Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, president of the First Republic of Ghana, giving a speech. Nkrumah was a Pan-Africanist and Socialist., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.
Nkrumah, the unmatchable and big one
By Abroni K. Thomas
After destroying, selling his established industries and companies to ourselves and cronies, denying the youth to wallow in poverty, we are celebrating him today. What a shame.
“Nkrumah’s development agenda for Ghana and his persistent efforts to prove that the independence of Ghana was meaningless unless it was linked up with the total independence of the whole African continent materialized into monumental accomplishments for which he will remain a “dear” leader to those who value human mortality, mutability, and fallibility.
He didn’t call himself OSAGYEFO; it was conferred on him by those who appreciated his sterling efforts toward national development.
We are proud to reiterate that One Hundred and four years he will be, if he was alive today, he will weep in for all that he did for Ghana, in particular, Africa and the whole world, in general, Nkrumah will continue to stand tall in the history of world leaders. The wise crack that “Nkrumah Never Dies” will continue to pinch detractors till they fade off the scene in disgrace.
Over the past fifty six years, we are not able to give our own people water to drink; we have taken unwise step of slinging mud at Ghanaians and Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the foremost leader who put Ghana on the world stage.
Indeed, Nkrumah’s singular pronouncement that the black man is capable of managing his own affairs sent shivers down the spine of some countries. For once, the African Personality had its due share of world recognition.
He feared nobody, especially the white folks who were still bent on dehumanizing the African, and he took the fight to them. His image has been looming large ever since he shot into the limelight in 1949; and his renown is unmatchable..
He was rejected by the new leadership of the country and denounced as a Ghanaian only to be embraced wholeheartedly by Sekou Toure and the Guinean citizens and elevated to the position of Joint-President of Guinea, teaming up with Sekou Toure to rule Guinea until death laid its icy hands on him in 1972.
Even then, while on his death bed in Bucharest, Romania, his detractors intensified their campaign of calumny against him, denying him the opportunity to return home and die.
Yes, he passed on and Guinea accepted responsibility to honor him with a decent burial. Thanks to a politically savvy move by then head of state, Gen. Kutu Acheampong (himself a product of the Kwame Nkrumah Ideological Institute at Winneba), his body was brought back home for interment in his hometown, Nkroful in the Western Region.
We know the goings-on and the political chess that successive governments played with his stature and why the Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum stands at the Polo Grounds in his memory, even if it is not being given the much-needed attention commensurate with his huge stature as the foremost African leader, someone acknowledged as the most prominent African leader of the 20th century.
He did his best to put Ghana where he wanted it to be, even if he made serious mistakes. Nkrumah had wanted Ghana to fly, “forgetting that Ghana hadn’t developed wings at that time.” Yes, the country hadn’t developed wings but Nkrumah made it fly to a large extent in pursuit of his laudable motive of making Ghana “the showcase of Africa”. What we hear our self-seeking contemporary leaders say that they would make Ghana “the gateway to Africa” is just an adulteration of Nkrumah’s agenda.
Nothing exists to the contrary that Nkrumah’s development agenda for Ghana was marvelous. Just take a quick glance at the phenomenal projects still existing many decades after he had constructed them. And, then, turn around to question the morality behind what successive Governments sought to do at the time he mooted the idea for such projects. Don’t be surprised that in the case of the Job 600 building, the Tema Motorway, and many others has not continued.
Akosombo hydro-electricity project, Tema Motorway, VALCO etc. has been existence ever since and Ghana has survived on these projects all this while, the credit must go to Nkrumah. Nkrumah’s monumental contributions to world politics are beyond doubt. Can we forget how he provided the sanctuary for all freedom fighters in other parts of Africa, especially Southern Africa?
He saw sense in unity and proclaimed so at several for the first of which was the 1958 All Africa Conference that he hosted and forged the Ghana-Guinea-Mali Alliance.
Those celebrating him today don’t understand him, but I don’t blame them because if they understand him, they will leave their current political comfort zones to see things beyond their noses. That is the only means to remain in contention in the murky waters of Ghanaian politics. But they are mistaken. They can’t dim the light that the Great Osagyefo lit many years ago.
We recall with pride that Nkrumah is on record as the only Ghanaian leader who died penniless, owning nothing anywhere in Ghana. Even his mother had to be relocated in one of the buildings at the Nyaniba Estates in Accra, long after his death. Nkrumah had no self-acquisitive spirit to goad him on. He is antithetical to all those who came after him and remains in our hearts as an exemplary selfless leader.
Nkrumah’s wasn’t for self-acquisition or self-aggrandizement, regardless of the accolade for him as the “Showboy of Africa” or “Nkrumah never dies”. But because they knew what the Great Osagyefo meant to Ghana. And Nkrumah himself gave clear indications of what he could do for the country.
No one had a dream to be selfless in Ghana’s politics today? Knowing very well the nature of the negative forces arrayed against him—and mindful of his desire to advance the cause of Ghana—Nkrumah ruled with remarkable selfless devotion. Yes, he qualifies in the political lexicon guided by reasons other than what has motivated others in our own country or elsewhere.
SIGNED
Abroni K. Thomas
Executive Director
+233547000337
Ghanaweb.com
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