Nkrumah’s 100th birth date celebrations launched

A centenary celebration in memory of the birth of Dr Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana's first Republican President, was launched in Accra by an organisation dedicated to his memory and ideology.

Kwame Nkrumah Foundation (KNF), the organisation is dedicated to the memory and championing its ideology launched the year-long celebration which would see a re-enactment of the declaration of the independence day of Ghana.

Series of public lectures would also be held to whip up Nkrumaism among people especially the youth.

Launching the celebration in Accra, Professor Agyeman Badu Akosa, President of the KNF said, Nkrumaism was still relevant so long as poverty and deprivation continued to afflict Ghanaians.

Professor Akosa, who is also a Pathologist and Lecturer at the University of Ghana Medical School, said the KNF would work under the code name “Save Ghana now” to ensure that the poverty gap was bridged in fulfilment of the dreams of the first President.

He mentioned some factories and developmental interventions of Dr Nkrumah, which he said were left to lie fallow contributing to the low level of the country's development.

He defended the legacy and regime of the late President saying he was not an autocratic leader as being portrayed by some members of the society.

“We of the KNF pledge that we shall work tirelessly to redeem the image of our selfless leader Osagyefo”.

He said in view of Nkrumah's passion for education, the KNF would create an ideas bank where writings shall be invited from the public and the most creative submissions awarded with prizes.

He said the overthrow of Nkrumah was a dark day in Ghanaian politics and also the beginning of the developmental woes of Ghana.

He called on President John Atta Mills to initiate the process of making September 21, the birth-date of Nkrumah as a national holiday and pay him his well earned tribute.

As part of the activities for the celebration, the KNF hoped to create a virtual library on the premises of Kwame Nkrumah Mauseleum where speeches, documentaries and his writings would be accessed.