Saturday, August 22, 2009

Why isn’t there a national holiday for Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, The First Black President?

It is now about a month or so after the much to do about nothing hoopla of President Obama’s visit to Ghana, as the first Black sitting president of the USA who chose to make Ghana his first visit in the continent of Africa (even though it was technically Egypt- but world leaders & others continue to divide the African continent for their personal gains/agendas by calling some nations sub-Saharan Africa without defining what the opposite of that is), about 8 months after the election of the NDC & a month before the 100th birthday ( September 21st) Dr. Kwame Nkrumah; Ghana is showing itself as a sad, backward ever, ignorant shell of its heyday as the first African country to not only gain Independence, but to be in the history books as being the nation who produced the first Black President in the world. Before Obama there was Nkrumah! President Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana was a man who was respected by all the leaders of the world during his time, with a welcoming seat at their table, where he was called upon to help resolve global conflicts amongst nations, to bring peace amongst enemies & to stand in leadership as the example for other nations to follow, similar to the way President Obama’s leadership is being looked to & heralded throughout the world. There has never been an African president so highly regarded & respected by world leaders as Dr. Nkrumah until Nelson Mandela- 37 years after Dr. Nkrumah became the very first Black President. Dr. Nkrumah paved the way for many who came after him locally/globally & it is a sad day in the history of Ghana when his birthday is still not a national holiday & his achievements are not heralded & celebrated in Ghana’s education system or culture outside of designated monuments & buildings. I am currently reading two books to better understand Ghana’s past high esteem, fall from grace & the times we are in now –“Handbook of Revolutionary Warfare” by Kwame Nkrumah & “Ghana Two Years of Transformation:1982-83” published by Information Services Department , Accra , Ghana. The latter looks at Ghana the first 2 years after the 1981 revolution headed by Flt.-Lt. Jerry John Rawlings, whose party & former VP, Atta Mills is currently in power as the ruling majority party & the president of Ghana. The “Handbook of Revolutionary Warfare” by Kwame Nkrumah was written in 1968 in Conakry, Guinea where Nkrumah was exiled to & became Co-president of with Sekou Toure after the coup d’état orchestrated & aided by the American CIA, while he was in Hanoi trying to work on a resolution to the Vietnam war in 1966. Much of this history is completely unknown to the average Ghanaian & even some of the so called educated ones. Dr. Nkrumah & an independent Black Star Nation was truly the example that many colonizers & capitalists in the world were afraid of & did not want to see spread throughout the continent of Africa in the formation of what would have been a powerhouse continent of the United States of Africa. This was Africa’s dream deferred which President Obama says he would like to see fulfilled for Africa by Africans, but at what cost & is the rest of the world let alone Africans truly ready to fulfill Nkrumah’s dream? If & when a nation can not even pay homage & honor the greatness of its past, how can they possibly fulfill the greatness in their potential for the future? When Ghana as a democratic governed nation along with the everyday Ghanaian can know, acknowledge, honor & celebrate the greatness of its past then we can truly fulfill & exclaim the mantra of Forward Ever, Backward Never!

I encourage & urge Ghana/Ghanaians to make September 21st a national holiday in honor of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah & in honor of what a great Black Star Nation represents! A day of national & public voluntary service & celebration of our Forward Movements as a Nation!

Labels: , , , , , , , , , , ,

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home