Ghana marks Osagyefo Dr Nkrumah’s Birthday

Ghana today celebrate the birth of one man who is easily traced in history as a great trail blazer, a great pioneer and a great Pan-Africanist, Ghana’s first 
President Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah. 

His sterling qualities as an astute politician, a strategist, a revolutionary, a scholar and a philosopher mark him out as a celebrated African and a great world’s statesman. 

Ghana and indeed Africa celebrate Osagyefo on the 21st of September, 2016 to mark his 107th birthday. 

Described by his peers as a universal man, and a man of many parts, he assumed different positions at different stages in his life which he performed with distinction. 

Speaking on the floor of parliament on March 11, 1964 Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah’s said: “I have come here today to present to you, and to the people of Ghana, our Seven-Year Development Plan, which when completed, will bring Ghana to the threshold of a modem State based on a highly organised and efficient agricultural and industrial program.”

However, the program was truncated after this overthrow in 1966. It is against this backdrop that the Director of Academic Affairs at the Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College (GAFCSC), Dr. Vladimir Antwi-Danso is advocating a law to give backing to the 40-year development plan being developed by the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC).

Such legislation, he said, should make it obligatory for political parties to draw their manifestoes from the 40-year plan to prevent the situation where the country could experience flip flops in its development agenda.

Dr. Antwi-Danso made the suggestion in an interview The Founder’s Day was instituted in 2010 by President John Evans Atta Mills to celebrate the birthday of Dr. Nkrumah, who was born at Nkroful in the Western Region on September 21, 1909.

The declaration of the day generated debate as to whether Dr. Nkrumah was the only founder of Ghana or there were others. 

For instance, there is a school of thought that other members of the 'Big Six' equally deserve to be recognised as founders.
 
Dr. Nkrumah is recognised as a great man, more specifically a Pan-Africanist of no mean repute.

Dr. Antwi-Danso underscored the need for governments to examine critically some of the development plans that were rolled out by President Nkrumah and extrapolate some of the initiatives and/or continue with some of the projects that could be useful for the development of Ghana.

He decried the situation where development schemes, projects and priorities of the country were changed depending on which political party was in power and said such a practice did not augur well for the long-term development of the country. 

Citing the duration of senior high school (SHS) to buttress his point, Dr. Antwi-Danso said at a time in the country’s history, SHS duration was three years; then it was changed to four, before it was reverted to three years.

He said the 40-year national development plan could provide one of the surest ways to ensure consistency and continuity in the country’s development agenda and prevent changes in programs contingent on variations in the political discourse.

Touching on Dr. Nkrumah’s significance, the former Director of the Legon Centre for International Affairs and Diplomacy (LECIAD) of the University of Ghana said the first President spearheaded the country’s independence struggle and contributed meaningfully to its development.

He said the five-year and the seven-year development plans initiated by Dr. Nkrumah could have transformed Ghana into an international showpiece and earned the country the status of middle-income as far back as 1971.

In spite of being a passionate Nkrumaist, Dr. Antwi-Danso said Founder’s Day should be celebrated in honour of all those who, in diverse ways, contributed to the independence struggle, instead of celebrating only Dr. Nkrumah.

He said Dr. Nkrumah’s birthday was selected because the nation wanted to honour him, but underscored the need for others who contributed to the independence struggle to be recognised.


GBC/Daily Graphic