Ghana@50: NKRUMAH DESERVES BETTER THAN THIS!

Over the last weekend, The Chronicle news team embarked on an expedition - to find out how the birthplace of Ghana's first President Dr. Kwame Nkrumah is positioned in events marking Ghana's Golden Jubilee Anniversary of attainment of Independence from British colonial rule.

Unfortunately, either through lack of foresight or in the pursuit of the politics of exclusivity, Nkroful has nothing to show for its historical importance as the birthplace of the man who led Ghana to Independence on March 6, 1957.

Even though evidently, our planning towards the celebration could be said to be an afterthought, we still seem not to be setting our priorities right.

As if the rivalry between the Convention Peoples Party (CPP) and the National Liberation Movement (NLM) is being rehashed; the events marking the celebrations, so far, have not placed Dr. Nkrumah where he belongs in our history.

But worst of all, as we make pronouncements about the expected visitors and tourists to this country, one wonders which tourist sites the event organisers have in mind.

Would it not have been a historic moment for the numerous visitors to be offered the opportunity to visit the birthplace of the late First President? Even if not for the economic dividends that would come with such an event, would it not aptly fit into the historical context of our independence? Or is it a case that we are so ashamed of how we have neglected the people, whose kin led not only Ghana to attain political independence, but, encouraged and assisted many other countries on the continent to attain same?

Over forty years since his overthrow and several attempts to erase his memory, Nkrumah is still regarded as a colossus on the international arena and therefore we ought not let visitors come and ask us questions about the man for which we would not have answers.

It is regrettable that in some five weeks to the actual 50th Independence Anniversary date, not a penny has been released for any project whatsoever related to the celebrations at Nkroful or the district, as revealed by the chiefs and people, District Chief Executive (DCE) of Nzema East and Chairman of the District @ 50 Planning Committee and captured by our reporters.

The Chronicle would not be surprised if this same state of affairs with regard to the Golden Jubilee Independence Anniversary celebration exists in other parts of the country.

What we can say however is that Nkrumah deserves better than this!