The NCCE joins Ghanaians to celebrate Dr. Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Day on this auspicious day. This is an opportune time to reflect on the life and works of Ghana’s first Prime Minister and President, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. We also celebrate his sterling efforts and the contributions he made that led Ghana to gain her political independence and inspired the African liberation struggle.
Dr. Kwame Nkrumah was unwavering in knitting a united nation together with its rich diversity of culture, people, and ethnicity. Nkrumah espoused the values of self-reliance, self-determination, patriotism, respect for others, tolerance, love for country, and hard work. These values are encapsulated in one of his addresses: “Countrymen, the task ahead is great indeed, and heavy is the responsibility; and yet it is a noble and glorious challenge- a challenge which calls for courage to dream, the courage to believe, the courage to dare, the courage to do, the courage envision, the courage to fight, the courage to work, the courage to achieve- to achieve the highest excellencies and the fullest greatness of man. Dare we ask for more in life?” These values should spur us on for national development.
Kwame Nkrumah’s instrumental role on the African Continent birthed the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) now African Union (AU) on May 25th 1963, which also influenced the formation of the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS) in 1975. The establishment of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) in 2019 is a manifestation of Nkrumah’s vision to create a common market to enhance intra African trade.
Acclaimed as the Man of the Millennium, Kwame Nkrumah was a highly imaginative thinker and a creative strategic leader. The Washington File describes him as “possessing a remarkable gift of vision which enables him to see over the mass or mess of intervening problems and details; to view and all but taste- a harmoniously organized free independent Africa, possessed of its own unique personality which stands in equality before the rest of the world, accepted, honored and respected”.
As a visionary leader, Prof. Emmanuel K. Akyeampong, Faculty Director, Harvard University Centre for African Studies described him as “a man who was light years ahead of his time”. Nkrumah was relentless, pragmatic, and strategic in pursuing and executing his lofty projects and programmes.
As we celebrate Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the NCCE invites Ghanaians and Africans to reflect on Dr. Nkrumah’s lofty ideals to ensure national cohesion, and peaceful co-existence to sustain the Continents’ stability and peace, as “the forces that unite us are intrinsic and greater than the superimposed influences that keep us apart”. We can withstand the prevailing dangers in the West African sub-region and Africa as a whole, if we act consciously with vigilance and great tact in our efforts towards deepening national cohesion and African unity.
Happy Nkrumah Memorial Day to you all.
God bless our homeland Ghana and make our nation great and strong.
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