Kwesi Pratt on ‘useless, needless’ history debate

President Nana Akufo Addo in his speech during Ghana’s 60th independence anniversary on 6 March, 2017 opined that UGCC “met to demand independence from the British and 70 years after that event, one still marvels at the clarity of thought and the passion that they displayed…some of the names of that momentous day have survived in our written history and folk memory. Five of them are on our Ghanaian currency: Joseph Boakye Danquah; Emmanuel Obetsebi-Lamptey; William Ofori-Atta; Ebenezer Ako-Adjei; and Edward Akufo-Addo. Kwame Nkrumah, the sixth of the Big Six on the currency, was to join them later.”

The President suggested that the struggle for independence was successful through the efforts of several others in 1957 and not only one person; Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah.

This generated controversy as many are of the view that the President attempted to re-write history.

Speaking to this issue, the managing Editor of the Insight newspaper, Kwesi Pratt Jnr wonders why prominence is being given to this issue ‘which had been settled a long time ago’ when there are more important matters to deal with.

Kwesi Pratt who was contributing to a panel discussion on Radio Gold’s Alhaji and Alhaji, said: “this debate is absolutely needless and useless…because the history has been settled for a very long time. All over the world Nkrumah has become an iconic figure…that is why the only edifice that stands tall at the AU headquarters is Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah…”

According to him, "trying to denigrate a tall figure like Nkrumah is like kicking your bare feet against a rock. The only thing which just hurt in this process is the feet not the rock and I would like to advise those who are intent on doing this to watch out".

"We are told that this debate is to enable us learn about our history; I’m ashamed and embarrassed. This country has relived history as a stand-alone subject in our curriculum. If you want people to learn about history, is it through such useless and needless debate? Or should we or should we not reintroduce history as a stand-alone subject in our curriculum…"