Ghanaians asked to rededicate themselves to ideals of Nkrumah
Ghanaians have been asked to rededicate themselves to the struggle against the takeover of state institutions by foreigners.
Advertisement
Speaker after speaker at a lecture to commemorate the 49th anniversary of the overthrow of Ghana’s founding President, Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, in Accra last Tuesday decried the sorry state of affairs in the country following the topple of Dr Nkrumah.
In the view of the apostles of the ideals and philosophy of Nkrumah, his overthrow reversed the country’s forward march to accelerated development.
The function, which was on the theme: “Nkrumah never dies- Battling neo-colonialism, the last stage of Imperialism”, attracted scores of people to the College of Physicians and Surgeons, including ministers of state, members of the diplomatic corps and other groups.
Kwesi Pratt Jnr
A leading member of the Socialists Forum of Ghana, Mr Kwesi Pratt Jnr, took a swipe at those denigrating the ideas and ideals of Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah.
He said, “Those who continue to denigrate the ideas of Nkrumah are kicking their bare feet against rocks.”
According to the Managing Editor of the Insight newspaper, the “only pain the detractors continue to create will be in their own legs.”
He indicated that the machinations to wipe out Nkrumah’s ideas had rather made the Nkrumaist movement more resolute. Mr Pratt stated that the more they worked to denigrate Nkrumah, the more resolute his followers became to spread his ideals and ideas because they were liberating.
Other Trending Stories
“Nkrumah never dies; attempting to turn the history of this country upside down will not work,” he stressed.
Mr Pratt called on all Ghanaians to help revive the ideas of Ghana’s first President.
Mr Pratt, who mounted the podium much to the delight of the patrons, initially expressed concern over the state of hopelessness among the youth of the country, saying that, “Today if you look around Ghana and you don’t feel sad, one would wonder your humanity,” as he decried the joblessness of many exuberant youth, who had resorted to selling catapult and other items along the streets of Accra.
Tracing the economic situation, among others, to the unfair international market system, Mr Pratt said research had shown that the revenue the country derived from gold
on the international market was far less than the turnover of bush meat.
That, for him, was worrying and the trend, if not reversed, could have serious consequences for the youth of the country.
Setting records straight
He said some people had deliberately hatched an agenda to denigrate what Dr Nkrumah stood for and that such people would not succeed in rewriting the history of the country.
He debunked the assertion that the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC) was founded by Dr J.B. Danquah, explaining that that movement was rather founded by Paa Grant, whose name had regrettably been missing from the country’s history.
He further explained that before Dr Nkrumah joined the UGCC, he had been working with the West African Student Union struggling for the liberation of the African continent and that it was his work at the fifth Pan African Congress which exposed his requisite skills, experience, commitment and dedication to have the UGCC leadership at that time to invite him.
Mr Pratt added that the greatest testimony about Dr Nkrumah was given at a rally at Saltpond by J.B. Danquah in 1949, who said then that if all the leaders of the UGCC were to betray the masses, he was sure of one that would not and he was in the person of Dr Nkrumah.
Other speakers
The Co-ordinator of the Third World Network, Dr Yao Graham, who spoke earlier, described the overthrow of Dr Nkrumah as a victory over imperialism.
He said the current energy crisis was a ‘decomposition’ of Dr Nkrumah’s vision and objected to the government’s plan to seek financial support from the Millennium Challenge Account to invest in the power sector.
Dr Graham held the view that if the debt owed the utility companies by successive governments, which stood at about $500 million, were paid, there would have been no need going for the Millennium Challenge Compact, which is far less than the amount owed the utilities.
Advertisement