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DAILY HERITAGE THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2018 11
Politics
Do not mind anything that anyone tells you about
anyone else. Judge everyone and everything for
yourself —Henry James
Remembering a global luminary:
Kwame Nkrumah revisited
BY KOAME ADONLE MIEZA
koameagendaa@gmail.com/ka
m.egya@yahoo.co.uk
ACTION WITHOUT
thought is empty.
Thought without action
is blind. Revolutions
are brought about by
men, by men who think
as men of action and act as men of
thought.
It is clear that we find an African
solution to our problems and that this
can only be found in African unity. Divided
we are weak; United, Africa
could become one of the greatest
forces for good in the world – Kwame
Nkrumah.
Francis Nwiaa Kofi Nkrumah [popularly
known as Kwame Nkrumah] was
born to Kofi Ngonloma and Elizabeth
Nyaniba on Saturday, September 21,
1909, in Nkroful, the current administrative
capital of Ellembelle District in
the Western Region.
Kwame Nkrumah commenced his
early education at the Roman Catholic
Elementary School in Awiane [Half-
Assini], now the administrative capital
of Jomoro Municipality in the Western
Region, where his father, Kofi
Ngonloma, operated as a goldsmith.
He proved to be an adept student. At
the age of sixteen years, Kwame
Nkrumah became a student –teacher at
the same institution he started his academic
life. In 1927, whilst on an educational
tour, Kwame Nkrumah was
identified by the Rev. Alec Garden
Fraser, Principal of the Government
Training College in Accra for advanced
studies. Later the Government Training
College amalgamated with the Prince
of Wales College at Achimota in Accra
which meant Kwame Nkrumah had to
pursue and complete his studies at the
Achimota College.
At Achimota College, Dr. Kwegyir
Aggrey introduced Kwame Nkrumah
to the ideas of Marcus Garvey and Dr.
W. E. B. Du Bois. Kwame Nkrumah
later admitted that of all the literature
he studied, the book that did more
than any other to fire his enthusiasm
was Philosophy And Opinions of Marcus
Garvey, an influence which gave
him a great exposure to his political career,
a career which would place him
among a pantheon of global iconic figures
such as Alexander the Great of
Greece, Peter the Great of Russia,
George Washington of the United
States of America, Otto von Bismarck
of Germany, Lee Kuan Yuan of Singapore,
Napoléon Bonaparte of France,
etc.
•Kwame Nkrumah
Special dates in Kwame
Nkrumah’s life
1930: He was awarded a Teacher’s
Certificate from the Prince of Wales
College, Achimota
1931: He became a tutor at the
Roman Catholic school in Edina
[Elmina] and later became a Tutor at
another Catholic Educational Institution
in Axim.
1932: He took up a teaching appoint
at the Roman Catholic Seminary
at Amissano in Elmina.
1935: He gained admission to Lincoln
University, Pennsylvania, USA.
1939: He was awarded with a Bachelor
of Arts in Economics and Sociology.
1942: He was once more awarded
with a Bachelor of Arts in Theology at
Lincoln University
1943: He further pursued a Master
of Science in Education and a Master
of Art programme in Philosophy and
completed these programmes in 1945.
1945: He was adjudged the Most
Outstanding Professor of the Year by
the Lincolnian.
1945: He left the USA for the UK
with the sole aim of reading Law and
to complete his thesis for a Doctoral
Degree.
In the UK [London] Kwame
Nkrumah came into contact with
George Padmore. Nkrumah and Padmore
were subsequently appointed as
joint Political Secretaries to aid in the
promotion and organization of the
Sixth Pan African Congress in Manchester,
UK
1947: On the counsel of Dr.
Ebenezer Ako Adjei, George Alfred
Kaku Nwonda Ekyi Grant provided
passage money of one hundred pound
sterling to Kwame Nkrumah to return
to the Gold Coast to take up an appointment
as the General Secretary of
the United Gold Coast Convention
[UGCC].
1948: Kwame Nkrumah together
with five other Central Committee
Members of the United Gold Coast
Convention [UGCC] was arrested and
detained following the Riots and Disturbances
of February 28. They later
came to known and referred to as the
big six.
1949: Kwame Nkrumah broke
away from the UGCC and formed the
Convention People’s Party [CPP] on
June 12.
1950: On January 8, Kwame
Nkrumah declared Positive Action, the
corollary was that he was arrested and
detained by the British administrators
in the Gold Coast.
1951: Kwame Nkrumah contested
and won an Election whilst in prison
with a vote of 22,780 from a total ballot
cast of 23,122 to win the Accra
Central Seat, now known as the
Odododiodioo Constituency in the
Greater Accra Region. He was subsequently
released from prison to become
the Leader of Government Business.
1956: Kwame Nkrumah contested
and won an Election on the ticket of
the Convention People’s Party [CPP]
that led to the Gold Coast’s political
liberation.
1957: On March 6, Kwame
Nkrumah declared the then Gold
Coast as an independent state with the
new nomenclature Ghana. Kwame
Nkrumah was hailed as Osagyefo
which literally means the redeemer.
1958: Kwame Nkrumah got married
to Helena Ritz Fathia, a relative of
President Gamal Abdel Nasser of
Egypt. The union was blessed with
three children namely Gorke, Samia
Yaaba [2016 CPP Parliamentary Candidate
of Jomoro Constituency] and
Sekou.
1959: In November, the All-African
Trade Union Federation met to co-ordinate
the African Labour Movement.
1960: On July 1, Kwame
Nkrumah declared Ghana as a Republic.
1961: Kwame Nkrumah extended
the Ghana-Guinea Union of 1958 to
include Mali under the Presidency of
Modibo Keita to become Ghana-
Guinea-Mali Union.
1962: There was an assassination attempt
on the life of Kwame Nkrumah
at Kulungugu in the Northern Region
of Ghana.
1963: Kwame Nkrumah’s Organisation
of African Unity [OAU] now
African Union [AU] was inaugurated
with a conference attended by thirtytwo
[32] independent African countries
in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s National
capital city.
1964: With the other political parties
disbanded by Parliament except the
CPP, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah became the
Life President and the CPP was to be
the only political force in Ghana.
1966: On February 24, Kwame
Nkrumah was ousted in a joint military
and police coup d’état whilst on a trip
to Hanoi in North Vietnam. He stayed
in Conakry, the Guinean National Capital
city as Co-President with President
Sekou Toure.
1972: On April 27, Kwame
Nkrumah passed away in Bucharest the
Romanian National Capital at the age
of Sixty-two [62].
1972: On May 13 and 14, Sekou
Toure and Guinea organized an elaborate
Final Funeral Rites in Conakry for
a comrade, an educationist, a liberator,
a writer, a philosopher, a socialist, a
motivational speaker, the visionary, a
true Pan Africanist, an astute politician
and a legendary statesman, the late
Kwame Nkrumah.
1972: On July 7, upon an appeal
from General Ignatius kutu Acheampong,
Kwame Nkrumah’s mortal remains
was flown to Ghana and
re-interred in Nkroful, the Original
birthplace of Osagyefo Kwame
Nkrumah at the very spot he was born.
1992: On July 1, under the leadership
of Flt. Lt. John Jeremiah Rawlings,
Kwame Nkrumah’s body was
re-interred at the very scene where he
declared Ghana as an emancipated
country at the current Kwame
Nkrumah Memorial Park in the National
Capital of Ghana, Accra.
In his lifetime, Dr. Kwame
Nkrumah authored so many literature
and the collections include the following;
1947: Towards Colonial Freedom
1957: Ghana: The Autobiography
of Kwame Nkrumah
1963: Africa Must Unite
1963: African Personality
1965: Neo-Colonialism: The Last
Stage of Imperialism
1967: Axioms of Kwame Nkrumah
1967: Challenge of the Congo
1967: African Socialism Revisited
1968: Dark Days in Ghana
1968: Handbook of Revolutionary
Warfare
1970: Consciencism: Philosophy
and ideology for De-Colonization
1970: Rhodesia File
1970: Class Struggle in Africa
1973: The Struggle Continues
1973: I speak of Freedom
1973: Revolutionary Path
As the First Ghanaian President,
Kwame Nkrumah chalked extraordinary
successes in infrastructural projects
and his accomplishments are
monumental and most of these projects
include:
Tema Township/Metropolis
Tema Motorway
Tema Harbour
Akosombo Dam
Peduase Lodge (Presidential Retreat)
Kwame Nkrumah University of
Science and Technology
Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital
(KATH)
Adomi Bridge
University of Cape Coast
Asuatuare Sugar Factory
Kumasi Shoe Factory, etc.
A number of Universities around
the World decorated Kwame Nkrumah
with honorary doctorate degrees and
some of them include Lincoln University
[USA], Moscow State University
[Russia], Cairo University [Egypt], Jagellonian
University in Krakow [Poland]
and Humboldt University, in Berlin,
[Germany].
In 2009, His Excellency Professor
John Evans Fiifi Atta Mills of blessed
memory declared September 21, the
100th anniversary of Kwame
Nkrumah’s birth to be the Founder’s
Day, and was to be observed as a statutory
holiday to commemorate the life,
works and legacy Kwame Nkrumah.
Kwame Nkrumah has perfectly immortalized
his name in gold in the political
compendium of the World.
Kwame Nkrumah is undoubtedly, a
reputable institution; the present and
future leaders must always strive to
learn from and aspire to be. Indeed the
World must eternally be grateful to the
words, works and worth of Kwame
Nkrumah.
Happy Birthday to you, Osagyefo
Dr Francis Nwia Kwame Nkrumah!!!!
COMPILED BY:
KOAME ADONLE MIEZA
GENERAL SECRETARY/AD-
MINISTRATIVE MANAGER
KARELA UNITED FOOTBALL
CLUB