Former President John Dramani Mahama has praised the first President of Ghana, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, asserting he was “the founder of our great nation” Ghana.
He acknowledged there were other individuals whose dream was to see an independent Ghana, free from colonial rule and oppression, but all these were led and towered over by Nkrumah.
He spoke during the launch of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) 2024 Manifesto in Winneba, Central Region, Saturday, August 24.
“Today, we gather with hope as one people, united in victory, and as one nation, Ghana, with a common interwoven invincible destiny.
“Today, we also gather to reignite and reaffirm the dreams of our forebears, led by Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, the founder of our great nation,” he said.
Mahama’s utterance drew applause and the jubilant blowing of horns from his audience.
The moment felt as though it was in response to recent comments by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo who holds Ghana has more than one founder and thus christened the August 4 public holiday as Founders’ Day and not Founder’s Day in celebration of only Kwame Nkrumah.
“The struggle for our nation’s freedom was a collective effort spanning several generations,” Akufo-Addo stated in an August 3 address.
In the national broadcast, he acknowledged Nkrumah as “undoubtedly a major actor,” and an individual of a “charismatic visionary leadership” whose work took place during the final lap of Ghana’s journey to independence.
“While Kwame Nkrumah’s contributions to our independence are undeniable and unassailable, it is important to acknowledge, for our self-respect, that the struggle for our nation’s freedom was a collective effort spanning several generations,” he added.
President Akufo-Addo noted groups like the Aborigines Rights Protection Society and the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC), as well as individuals like Joseph Casely Hayford and Thomas Hutton-Mills, who sponsored the British West African National Congress, “played vital parts in bringing us to freedom and independence”.
In Ghana, August 4 honours all the founders of the nation, while September 21 honours Dr Kwame Nkrumah on his birthday.
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