Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah forever remains one of the greatest gifts to Ghana.
He also was met with grave political opposition from other local politicians who just felt the approach by Nkrumah was very radical.
But despite all these challenges, Nkrumah managed to become Ghana’s prime minister in 1952.
He kept this position until 1920 when he officially got elected as president of Ghana under the new 1960 Constitution – Ghana’s first Constitution before the 1992 Constitution.
Today, although we may not have met Nkrumah in person, we remember him for the construction and commissioning of the Akosombo Dam, Tema Harbour, Tema Motorway, Volta River Authority (VRA), Ghana Broadcasting Company (GBC) and many more. Here is a collection of some serious things Nkrumah spoke about in the past that are happening now:
1. Africa will continue to suffer unless we unite
“No independent African State today by itself has a chance to follow an independent course of economic development. This position will not change unless we have unified policy working at the continental level.
The first step towards our cohesive economy would be a unified monetary zone, with, initially, an agreed common parity for our currencies” – Address to the Conference of African Heads of State and Government, May 24, 1963.
2. The rise of terrorism in Africa
“The nuclear arms race in the Middle East is now an open secret. Instability in this area not only heightens world tension but jeopardizes the security of the African Continent.” – Ratification of OAU Charter speech made to Ghana National Assembly on June 21, 1963.
3. Economic exploitation of Africa
“Almost everywhere, behind the smoke screens, the social and economic situation is unhealthy, and particularly in the second class capitalist states. And these mounting economic crises mean heavier dependence on the exploitation of the peoples of Africa, Asia, and Latin America.”
4. The world will not respect Africa
“Psychological attacks on Africa are made through the agency of broadcasting stations like the BBC, Voice of Germany, and above all, Voice of America, which pursues its brainwashing mission through newsreels, interviews and other “informative” programmes at all hours of the day and night, on all wavelengths and in many languages, including special English.”
5. How poor leadership will make Ghana poor
“What other countries have taken three hundred years or more to achieve, a once dependent territory must try to accomplish in a generation if it is to survive. Unless it is, as it were jet-propelled it will lag behind and thus risk everything for which it has fought.” – Ghana: The Autobiography of Kwame Nkrumah
6. Political tensions in Ghana
“…Of course that we have no capital, no industrial skill, no communications, no internal markets, and that we cannot even agree among ourselves how best to utilize our resources for our own social needs.”
7. Ghana begging for international aid
“Unless we do this by our concerted efforts, within the framework of our combined planning, we shall not progress at the tempo demanded by today’s events and the mood of our people. The symptoms of our troubles will grow, and the troubles themselves become chronic. Can we say Nkrumah was truly the prophet of Ghana and Africa?”
