Former President John Mahama believes that Ghana’s first president, Kwame Nkrumah founded Ghana and must be given the due recognition on his birthday, September 21.
His posture comes at a time when the New Patriotic Party have cancelled the former government’s decision to celebrate September 21 as Founder’s Day and has rather set August 4, as founders’ day to recognize all who helped Ghana to attain independence.
John Mahama who has confessed his leanings towards the Nkrumahist ideology said in a statement on his Facebook page on Wednesday said “Osagyefo’s emergence as the Founder of modern Ghana and an international symbol of freedom was not by accident.”
He accused certain elements of making frantic attempts to revise Ghana’s history in a way to make nothing of Kwame Nkrumah’s efforts.
He said, “It remains a dark irony of our history that, the very political tradition which conspired to truncate his unparalleled vision on 24th February 1966, is today seeking to revise Ghana’s history.”
“It is an indisputable fact that Nkrumah was the critical spark that put Ghana on a high-velocity path to independence” he added.
President Nana Akufo-Addo, whose political history stems from the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC), formed on August 4, 1947 to bring about Ghanaian independence, stirred controversy when in his presidential inauguration address when he suggested that members of the UGCC including his father Edward Akudo-Addo and uncle, J.B Danquah were the main brains behind Ghana’s independence.
Many, including the Chairman of the CPP, Prof. Edmund Delle, accused him of distorting the country’s history but members of the NPP argued that the achievement of the Kwame Nkrumah was only because of the exposure and support he had received from the UGCC before he broke away to establish his Convention People’s Party (CPP).
John Mahama, who has not directly commented on the controversy eulogized Kwame Nkrumah ahead of the celebration of his birthday, September 21.
Read John Mahama’s message below:
On the 21st day of September, I join millions all over the world to remember Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah- the Founder of Ghana, a global icon and the BBC Listeners “Man of the Millennium”.
Osagyefo’s emergence as the Founder of modern Ghana and an international symbol of freedom was not by accident. He was a Pan-Africanist, a philosopher, a writer, and a visionary who matched his words with actions.
His towering personality is still recognized in Ghana and beyond.
It remains a dark irony of our history that, the very political tradition which conspired to truncate his unparalleled vision on 24th February 1966, is today seeking to revise Ghana’s history.
The song “Kwame Nkrumah never dies” has proved true not in the sense of his immortality but in the fact that his name will continue to be written in letters of gold whenever the history of Ghana, Africa and the world is recounted.
It is an indisputable fact that Nkrumah was the critical spark that put Ghana on a high velocity path to independence.
Happy Founder’s Day Fellow Ghanaians.