UCC re-institutes Nkrumah Memorial Lectures

Cape Coast, Dec. 15, GNA - The University of Cape Coast (UCC) on Thursday held the sixth Nkrumah Memorial Lectures to re-institute the series after 13 years break.

To sustain the Lectures, which was instituted by the UCC in 1974 and inaugurated in 1976 an endowment fund would also be re-lunched next year to ensure the annual holding of the lectures.

The lectures are dedicated to the memory of the late first President of the public of Ghana to whose efforts the UCC owes its existence.

Reverend Professor Emmanuel Obeng, Vice Chancellor of the UCC in his welcoming address at the first day of the two-day lectures, attributed the long break to several difficulties, especially financial and that the university decided to hold the lectures this year because the country would be celebrating her 50th independence anniversary which Dr Nkrumah struggled for.

He explained that the Lectures were expected to address issues of social, economic and political development of Africa in particular and the black world in general since these were the issues that interested the late Dr Nkrumah deeply.

Dr Frene Noshir Ginwala, First Speaker of post apartheid South Africa's National Assembly, who spoke on the topic: "Africa's unfinished agenda - the legacy of Dr Kwame Nkrumah", lauded the efforts of the Dr Nkrumah who as an individual and with commitment struggled for the de-colonization and liberation of the African continent. She said the ideas and ideals of Dr Nkrumah on rural based democracy and the freedom and independence of Africans was still very relevant in today's African democracy.

Dr Ginwala said Dr Nkrumah's statement that "the independence of Ghana is meaningless unless it linked up with the total liberation of Africa" was equally relevant today, since Ghana could not enjoy her freedom and independence when other African countries were still struggling to free themselves from civil wars, poverty and corruption. Dr Ginwala, who spoke for almost two hours, described the late Dr Nkrumah as an asset for the African continent and said the continent could only achieve true liberation if Africans were united and committed to the welfare of the continent.

She expressed her gratitude to the government of Ghana in the role she played in the independence of South Africa and recommended that the history of Ghana should be preserved properly, adding, "If we do not learn and preserve the history of our country we will lead the country to disaster".

Professor Jane Naana Opoku Agyeman, Dean of Graduate Studies, who presided, said Africans especially Ghanaians were now realizing the importance of Dr Nkrumah's ideologies. 15 Dec. 06