Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah was the first Present of Ghana
By William Yaw Owusu
Saturday March 27, 2010
A 92-page book aimed at rekindling the vision of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first President among the youth has been launched in Accra with a call on followers of Nkrumahism to help to explain to the youth what the great man stood for.
The book titled ‘Nkrumah for Young Readers’ which has been explained in simple language interspersed with photographs, was compiled by the Socialist Forum of Ghana (SFG).
Launching it, Professor Kofi Awoonor, Chairman of the Council of State described the late President as “a man of the world who was involved in a global struggle against neo-colonialism.”
“He was very much alert to the forces and power of the West that have persistently moved to undermine the growth of all developing countries particularly Africa.”
“Nkrumah was not going on sightseeing. His agenda for a united Africa was very real. He was not a racial leader as the
West wanted us to believe but a Pan Africanist,” he said.
Prof. Awoonor took a swipe at Great Britain for masterminding the overthrow of Nkrumah and his CPP government and leaving Ghana in an underdeveloped state saying “people always think it is the Americans who helped to overthrow our President; the British were very much involved.”
He said also criticized the divisions and disunity among the various Nkrumahist traditions;“there was a time when a government which claimed to be Nkrumahist ruled this country and we all saw what they did. We now have another government claiming to be social democrats. We are waiting to see what they do.”
“Let us wake up. We have a continent to liberate. The youth need to know what this great man stood for.”
Dr. Yao Graham, a civil society activist was concerned about the intellectual dishonesty that had permeated every fiber of the Ghanaian society saying “the importance of Nkrumah’s legacy is based on historical facts and we should be honest with our history.”
“Unless we tell the whole story it is possible for people to take slices and represent them as facts. He had come from prison to lead the anti colonial resistance struggle but this piece of history is missing.”
“We cannot rely on chance encounters to offer perspectives to those who need it. We should move beyond oral history and set the records straight.”
Alhaji Asoma Banda, a business magnate who chaired the launching said “we always talk about Nkrumah but the youth know very little about him,” promising to go any length to ensure the agenda to sell Nkrumah’s ideals to the youth becomes a reality.
Dr. Nii Lantey Blankson of the SSNIT Hospital in Accra who published the book said “we want to use such avenues to tell the youth about vision and legacy of Nkrumah."
Also see: www.dailyguideghana.com
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