‘And Ghana is Free For Forever’
“The independence of Ghana will be meaningless unless it is linked up with the total liberation of the African continent”.
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Fifty-nine years ago tomorrow, the Union Jack, the British national flag, that was also used by the colonial countries, was lowered for the last time at the National Assembly.Up its place went the new red, gold and green flag of Ghana, to signify the arrival of a new nation on the international scene.
As the Daily Graphic reported in a special Independence Day edition on March 6, 1957, “The Gold Coast was no more. Prime Minister, Kwame Nkrumah was carried shoulder high out of the National Assembly and passed through the tens of thousands of cheering Ghanaians to a stand at the Old Polo Grounds (where today stands the Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum)”.
Pronouncement
It was shortly after midnight and there was dead silence as Dr Nkrumah, followed by his disciples - Kojo Botsio, K. A. Gbedemah, Casely Hayford, all in smock and Krobo Edusei, in cloth, climbed onto the dais. Then the new Prime Minister made his dramatic midnight pronouncement, announcing freedom for all Ghanaians: “At long last, the battle has ended. And thus, Ghana, our beloved country, is free for ever”, the Daily Graphic reported.
Ecstasy
There was wild jubilation as thousands of Ghanaians danced and sang to welcome “freedom” and the birth of a new nation.
It was a momentous occasion, that Wednesday of March 6, 1957, as the free world also welcomed the first country south of the Sahara to break the colonial yoke. The first black nation has been born.
Declaration
What, however, held the large gathering at the Old Polo Grounds spellbound in those early hours of independence day, was the declaration by Dr Nkrumah, as he used a white handkerchief to wipe his tears, that “the independence of Ghana would be meaningless unless it was linked up with the total liberation of the African continent”.
Dr Nkrumah did not mince words as he used all the resources at his disposal to fight for the total emancipation of the African continent, politically and economically.
By the time he was overthrown nine years later on February 24, 1966, he had succeeded in laying in May,1963 the foundation of the liberation of the continent with the formation of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), the forerunner of African Union (AU).
Accusations
When he was overthrown in 1966, one of the allegations by the coup plotters was that after independence, instead of building a viable Ghana, the Osagyefo rather went on a foreign misadventure, diverting Ghana’s resources to his pet programme of African unity.
Dr Nkrumah was accused of being over-ambitious in his quest to become the President of the whole of Africa and therefore abandoned the home front.
Now the bird has certainly come home to roost. Fifty years after his overthrow and 44 years after his death, Ghanaians are now learning the truth about Nkrumah’s place in our history and the efforts he made to industrialise Ghana and make it one of the foremost nations, a showpiece, not only in Africa but the world at large.
Dr Nkrumah knew the value of education. He knew that without education, the country would continue to grope in the dark since there would not be enough manpower available for his dream to push Ghana to the highest level of development.
He, therefore, made education the cornerstone of his programme for an accelerated development. The Ghana Education Trust (GET) was set up in 1960 to build secondary schools in all the districts of the country, especially in the rural areas.
While small towns such as Oda, Suhum, Mankessim, Asankragwa, Konongo/Odumasi, Lawra, Tumu, Acherensua, Techiman, Offinso, Kpando and Akatsi benefited from GET, big towns such as Accra, Kumasi, Sekondi – Takoradi, Tamale, Koforidua, Ho and Bolgatanga were not left out.
Nkrumah made sure education was affordable to many more Ghanaians, both rich and poor, making it easier for those from poor backgrounds to access education to the highest level without sweat.
I know for sure that many from my generation would not have attained the heights they reached but for Nkrumah’s policy that allowed the poor to also have the opportunity to go to school virtually free of charge.
I can also say for sure that Nkrumah’s policy on education has not been matched by any government since his overthrow 50 years ago.
If we say Nkrumah was a man of vision, this can be seen in the many factories his CPP government set up throughout the country just to achieve the highest level of industrialisation.
Projects
No part of the country was left out and many communities came to be associated with some special projects.
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In the Western Region, especially in Takoradi, factories such as Takoradi Veneer Company that produced plywood; Cocoa Producing Factory that produced chocolate, cocoa powder, cocoa butter etc; Paper Conversion Company that produced toilet rolls; Chinese Factory that produced corrugated iron sheets, caps and pans; and the Takoradi Flour Mill were established.
In other parts of the Western Region were the Tarkwa Bonsa Factory producing tyres; the Aboso Glass Factory, also near Tarkwa; and the Samreboi Plywood Factory.
In the Central Region came the Komenda Sugar Factory, the Saltpond Ceramics and the Cape Coast Citrus Factory.
Other factories were the GIHOC Shoe Factory and the Jute Bags Factory in Ashanti Region; the Match Factory at Kade; and the Nsawam Cannery both in the Eastern Region; and the Bolgatanga Meat Factory.
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It was during Nkrumah’s rule that we also had the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) when Ghana had not dreamt of producing oil; and the tomato factories at Wenchi and Pwalugu.
We also had the Ghana Airways, the Black Star Line, the Nautical College at Nungua (today’s Maritime Academy), all to boost the image of Ghana, not forgetting the Akosombo Dam.
There were also the Akosombo and Juapong Textiles, the Cotton Factory in Tamale, and Tema Food Complex.
With all these factories, who can say that Nkrumah abandoned the home front to pursue his African dreams.
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A lot of water has passed under the bridge since Nkrumah left the scene. Unfortunately, we could not maintain all the factories he set up, as most of them were sold off having been tagged prestige projects and others left to rot.
We have come a long way since we attained nationhood. Time has come for us to forget all the rivalries and the pull-him-down attitudes. We have a lot of lessons to learn from our past and pull together as a nation with a common destiny.
There is no point in trying to play down the achievements of those who set the pace or try to put some lesser mortals on the same pedestal when there is no basis for comparison.
Certainly history will be the better judge.