The Nation Ghana: Who Founded It, Was It Nkrumah Or A Group Of Founders?

The debate over Founder’s Day is becoming a highly charged emotional issue across the nation amid the notion by some politicians that it’s nothing but an act of sour grapes on the part of the governing NPP. They hold the view that the ruling party is simply disparaging something desirable, something the founders of the UGCC couldn’t achieve. But, that begs the question says this writer.

Throughout history nations and states have had to fight or struggle to gain their freedoms and independents. Men and women that championed such emancipation movements paid heavy price as they often laid their lives for the good and love of their nations. Ghana isn’t exception, our pursuit of self-rule was wrought by intense struggle in the pre-colonial era and it wasn’t one without bloodshed. In fact its path was littered with grief and sorrow.

The 28^th February Road incident in 1948 that took place in Accra near the Christianborg Castle I at Osu is typical example. The rioters were brutalised, several of them arrested and jailed.

But the freedom fighters did not give up. On March 6, 1957 Ghana (then Gold Coast) gained her independence form the British under the presidency of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. His party the Convention People’s Party (CPP) which broke away from the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC) of the J.B Danquah group became the first political party to wrestle power from the colonialists.

Three years on July 1, 1960 the country became a Republic. And just as her pre-independence was not without struggles, post–independent Ghana was punctuated by political upheavals, economic meltdowns, unemployment, riots, uprisings etc.

Thankfully, history had been generous to us, if it weren’t so we would have plunged ourselves into a sea of misery. Historians both home and abroad over the years took ample time to record events that heralded our freedom. They also chronicled movements, pressure group, political parties and individuals that had played leading roles in the fight to liberate Gold Coast from the jaws of imperialism.

Of course, the struggle for independence goes beyond 1950’s. And one cannot forget the exploits by the Anomabo native John Mensah Sarbah. His Aborigines’ Rights Protection Society (ARPS) opposed the Lands Bill of 1897 which threatened land tenure and another layer of the indigenous sovereignty. A little over 20 years after the birth of APRP in1897, another movement was born called the National Congress of British West Africa (NCBWA). It was founded by Thomas Hutton-Mills Sr. and J.E Casely-Hayford. Other co-confounders of NCBWA were Kobina Sekyi, AB. Quartey-Papafio, Henry Van Hien, Nanka Bruce, Edward Francis Small and A. Sawyer. According to historical records, the idea of creating the NCBWA was first conceived in 1914 during a chat between Casely-Hayford and Dr. Akinwande Savage a Nigerian physician.

In fact the decade leading to the nation’s freedom had witnessed powerful resistance against colonial rule. So, 27 years after the founding of NCBWA, in 1947, (over 100 years after the Bond of 1844) J.B. Danquah, George Alfred “Paa” Grant, R.S Blay, William Ofori-Atta, Magnus Sampson, Kwei Lamptey, Kofi-Ayensu-Dadzie, Ako Adjei and others also founded the UGCC to push the agenda of self-rule. Later Dr. Nkrumah would join the UGGC as its General-Secretary. This followed an invitation by the party’s leadership. However ideological differences would trigger a break up. Nkrumah founded the CPP on 12 June 1949 —an appendage of the UGCC. His campaign slogan was ‘independent now.”

And here we are today 60 years after independence. A period that had seen our first, second and third republics which spanned from 1960, 1969-1979 failed due to incessant coup d’états. However, the country has also made significant gains. We’ve successfully held 7 democratic elections from 1992 to date. This is no mean a feat and it’s an achievement by all Ghanaians. The people of Ghana and their leaders have ensured that the gains of the fourth republic is upheld and safeguarded.

So who founded Ghana?
It’s worth noting that resistance against colonial domination predates the period above-mentioned. Indeed our forebears had fought the Dutch, the Danes the English among other Europeans .And as a people we cannot and will not pretend that their contributions are inconsequential. But do such contributions automatically make them founders of the nation?

Perhaps the answer is no. Nonetheless we can ensure that their sacrifices made would not go uncelebrated, unrecognised and unnoticed. This was evident during Nkrumah’s time, streets and monuments were named after certain people who helped in the struggle for independence. Indeed some politicians have argued that if the August 4 commemoration is about recognition, ‘then certain important national monuments and other things can be done in honour of all those people who played the role’.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is federal holiday held on the third of January each year….because he’s well-known for campaign to end racial segregation on public transport and for racial equality in the United States wasn’t recognised by some states. Even though it was officially observed in all 50 states for the first time in 2000 following resistance among some states, I think his life is worth celebrating. So I’m of the view that our nation must honour her unsung heroes and heroines and it must be devoid of partisanship. Let’s honour them while they’re alive and not when they’re dead.

Be reminded commanders don’t win war (s) by themselves. Rather it takes collective and sterling efforts by platoons and battalions to do so. Yet, oftentimes it’s the commander-in chief that’s credited or given honours. His name is more projected than everyone else’s. Our traditional rulers once enjoyed such status at the time when they were building empire and kingdoms. Leaders take blame even when they aren’t blamable and in like manner they take credit for progress and victory.

Was Ghana Born Twice?
On Friday 4 August government held a memorial and thanksgiving service as well as a lecture to commemorate the birth of UGCC. According to government, the 4th of August is a very significant day in the history of Ghana and as such, the day ought to be celebrated as Ghana marks its 60th anniversary. Why should merely celebrating a day trigger a national debate?

Or there was more to that?
I don’t think it’s wrong for the NPP party to observe August 4. The NDC has been observing June 4 over the past 38 years. And don’t see why that should also cause heads to spin and jaws to drop. But I think what has generated the controversy is the argument put forward by some Elephant bigwigs including the Speaker of Parliament Rt. Honourable Mike Ocquaye that Nkrumah alone isn’t the founder of our nation.

And I think I’ve made myself clear in the foregoing paragraphs.

Retired diplomat and statesman, K.B Asante had already weighed into the debate. He wasn’t enthused about the celebration which is seen as ‘Ghana’s day of destiny ‘had therefore questioned its significance especially in this period. The 93-year-old man had asked government to rather focus on more important matters confronting the nation.

“Ghana was not born twice,” he said. Even an ordinary human being are you born twice?. Ghana became Ghana on the 6th of March 1957…I mean I don’t understand. “I don’t know of any party which is happy with what is happening now, we have not gone far as we all expected and that is what we should be thinking about and not when we were independent and all that,” Mr. Asante said.

Earlier this year the issue reared its ugly head, when President Akufo-Addo delivered Ghana’s 60th independence anniversary parade. He came under attack over what some said was a cockeyed account of Ghana’s history to suit his father, Edward Akufo-Addo and uncle, J.B. Danquah who played critical role s in Ghana’s fight for self –rule.

Speaking at the 60th Independence Anniversary Lecture in Accra, the current speaker of parliament lectured under the theme ‘4th August; Ghana’s day of destiny’ where he gave a detailed account of how the idea of Ghana’s independence was birthed. Prof Mike Ocquaye said he has great respect for Nkrumah; however, he disapproves of anyone suggesting that Dr. Nkrumah was the founding father of Ghana. He described that view as propaganda.

“One of the things we have done very wrong in this country is to turn everything into sheer politicking, To the extent that whiles journalists say facts are sacred and comment is free, we think we can make facts free and comments scandalous. We cannot build a nation on half-truth and propaganda,” he said.

I still don’t see the die cast here. And my fear is that if we resort to nick picking and attempt to politicise every national issue we would be doing ourselves a great disservice. Former president Kufuor rebuilt Flagstaff and renamed I the edifice the Jubilee House. However the citadel was reverted to its previous name when NDC John Mills took the reins of power in January 2009. The argument was that it’d been named by the first president so it couldn’t change. Need I remind you that there are number of state monuments or landmarks that had had their names changed after they were reconstructed? For example Ambassador Hotel, which built during President Nkrumah’s time, is now called Movempick, and I think Star or Continental Hotel is also known Golden Tulip.

I think, we should remind ourselves that the nation is bigger than our political parties. And if we continue to walk this path on the grounds that this is NDC’s and that’s NPP’s we would soon cease to be one nation, one people, with one destiny.

It against this backdrop that I think our first president Dr. Kwame Nkrumah should and must remain the founder of our nation. I don’t see any historical anachronism here. Did he fight for the liberation of the Gold Coast like his peers Dr. Boakye Danquah, Paa Grant, SK Blay etc.? If so, let’s remain united to build our nation.