We beg to differ, Dr. Osafo

It is no doubt that Kwame Nkrumah was a visionary leader and no leader after his death has surpassed his achievements. One of his well-known legacies is the construction of the Akosombo Dam which Ghana has relied upon from Independence up to date. We can also talk about the free education he introduced in the North which produced some of the Northern scholars we have in the country at the moment.

The way and manner he led Ghana to gain Independence from the British colonial rule with the Convention People's Party (CPP) showed that the man was indeed a visionary. It did not therefore come to many Ghanaians as a surprise when he was voted posthumously as the most visionary leader Africa has ever produced in this millennium.

Because of this laudable achievement, the current leadership of CPP has always used the name of this great leader in their quest to regain power after being in the political wilderness for many years now. CPP leaders have on several occasions referred to the policies of Nkrumah and promised Ghanaians that when they are voted into power they would revisit some of these policies.

Dr Kwaku Osafo, one of the CPP presidential candidates in an interview he granted our Takoradi Correspondent and carried on our front page today, asserted that when voted to lead CPP and subsequently Ghana, he would make education from primary to secondary level, as contained in Nkrumah's seven year development plan, free of charge.

Prof. Badu Akosa also made several references to policies he hopes to implement should he be voted to lead this country when he launched his campaign to lead the CPP in Accra recently. The Chronicle wishes to state that it is not against these leaders for promising to implement the policies of the founder of their party. What we are saying is that because every party has its tradition, politicians desperately try to follow it.

We however think that it is not always prudent for a politician to rely on the tradition of his party. We therefore expect leaders of the CPP and in fact, other political parties we have in this country to tell us always what they can do when they are given the mandate to lead this country instead of relying on someone else's vision. Unfortunately, this is what we are seeing in Ghana at the moment.

As we stated earlier, Nkrumah's achievements cannot be challenged but The Chronicle begs to say that some of the polices he implemented at the time, may not fit in our present day. For instance, when he introduced free education in the North, Ghana had a low population but today our population has ballooned to an unbelievable extent. Therefore, for a politician to say that he would introduce that policy up to the secondary level in our present day Ghana, appears to be over an exaggeration.

Already, there are several villages in this country that do not have buildings for pupils to study in. It is not because the Government, no matter which party is in power, is happy with the situation but the gospel truth is that resources are simply not available to resolve the problem once and for all. It is an undeniable fact that Africa is suffering because of the wholesale importation of certain foreign policies especially those from the Briton Wood Institutions that fit the developed countries but cannot survive in our environment.

From what we have explained above, it is clear that the whole importation of Nkrumah's polices without giving it a modern touch will not work. The Chronicle is therefore appealing to our politicians to tell us what they would do and not what somebody else has already done. Nkrumah's generation is different from what we have now so we need to formulate policies that are tailored to suit our present circumstances.