Editor-In-Chief of the New Crusading Guide Abdul Malik Kweku Baako says he does not believe in government instituting a Founder’s Day in memory of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first President and founder of the Convention People’s Party (CPP).
Baako, a biological son of CPP stalwart, Kofi Baako believes Nkrumah does not need a Founder’s Day to be recognised globally as an iconic figure in Ghana’s struggle for political independence.
“I am bias. I am CPP. I don’t believe in instituting a day as statutory holiday for any individual as founder or founders,” Mr. Baako stated on Newsfile, Joy FM’s news analysis programme on Saturday.
“Why waste your time in having a particular day instituted? Mr. Baako quizzed, reiterating that “March 6 is enough. Kwame Nkrumah doesn’t need this day to be recognized. He is a global phenomenon. He goes beyond March 6. He goes beyond Africa, he is a global phenomenon.”
President Nana Akufo-Addo has been subjected to a barrage of criticisms by CPP loyalists for supposedly indicating in his 60th Independence Anniversary speech on March 6, 2017 that many more people should be recognised with the country’s independence struggle and not just Nkrumah.
Commenting on the controversial issue, Mr. Baako said even though he does believe in it, instituting such a day must be done with national consensus for it to succeed.
“That must come with consensus. Under Nkrumah, there was a Founder’s Day on September 21st, which was celebrated as national day. Post-coup, it was cancelled. We never had it until Prof. Mills brought it in without a national consensus.
“The decision was made in instituting a particular day in his (Nkrumah) memory without getting a national consensus and that is why we are where we are,” Mr. Baako stated.
According to him, late President Prof. Atta Mills and then governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) instituted the Founder’s Day in memory Nkrumah for political gains, adding “It was political opportunism.”