Nkrumah is the greatest African – John Boadu

The acting General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party has described Nkrumah as the greatest African.

His comment sharply contradicts claims made by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo who is on record to have described late South African Leader Nelson Mandela as the greatest African.

In a tribute to Hugh Masakela, President Akufo-Addo described Mr, Mandela as the greatest of all Africans.

Speaker of Parliament Professor Mike Oquaye, an avowed critic of Nkrumah’s human rights record has also criticised the education curriculum which credits Nkrumah as the founder of Ghana.

Speaking at the screening of a documentary on the political history of Ghana produced by Paul Adom Otchere at the Institute of Economic Affairs’ (IEA), Prof. Oquaye said “this has been an unfortunate part of our history so much so that, today we celebrate one founding father which is palpable false, we have founding fathers.”

He added “I’ll like to see Nkrumah celebrated by way of a holiday in his honour as the first President. A president who had a lot of vision in terms of education, health, African unity and so many areas of our national development but definitely not as the founder of this nation because it is palpably false.”

But responding to a direct question by the host of Starr Chat Bola Ray if Dr. Nkrumah was the greatest African Leader, Mr. Boadu said “he is.”

“…The thinking is good, only that he didn’t get the right people to deal with…but sometimes as the political philosophers will say power corrupts but absolute power corrupts absolutely because there was no sense at all for Nkrumah to turn this country into a one party state…but he is [greatest African].