? A message of hope
? A message of hope
49 years ago, on the declaration of independence, Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, founder of the nation of Ghana stated that "the independence of Ghana was meaningless unless it was linked with the total liberation of the African continent". He reminded us of what Marcus Garvey had said earlier that he 'looked around the world and could not see the black man's government'. 49 years ago Nkrumah assured Marcus Garvey that the black man's government had finally been set up in Accra with Ghana's independence.
Ghana was to be a centre of learning and building to which people will come as a centre for the development of Ghana to facilitate the advancement of Africa and its people. He attracted many intellectuals of great distinction to Ghana, including the great William Edward Burghardt Du Bois, civil rights activist and African American scholar par excellence who accepted an invitation from Nkrumah to direct the Encyclopedia Africana project from Ghana. Ghana became the beacon of hope for all peoples of African origin the world over, and our independence inspired many struggles of emancipation around the globe."
Now we know, with the release of the declassified files of the Central intelligence Agency, that this simple statement posed a threat to the Western interests in Africa and they therefore found willing accomplices to sell and sacrifice our country to foreign domination.
At independence, Nkrumah declared that Ghana was out of the gambling house of colonialism. 49 years on, it is instructive that we take stock and assign reasons for why we have not been able to live up to the vision. We have not been able to do so because of the disastrous intervention in civil and political society by the military who have no business running our country. We have not been able to realise the ambition because our civilian political leaders of the previous National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) have led us the wrong way, back into the gambling house of colonialism and neo-colonialism, this time in a more insidious way making us totally dependent on the largesse of the western world for them to determine our path to development.
As Nkrumah put it in Ghana, The Way Out "Today, Ghana might not exist for all the impact that the country makes in Africa and in world affairs. It is as if the heart has been torn out of the body, and only the lifeless robot remains, the mechanism controlled by a clique of traitors who in their turn are slavishly following the instructions of their neo-colonial masters"
For those who say that Nkrumah made mistakes, we would want to quote Felix Houphouet-Boigny, President of Cote D'Ivoire and no friend of Nkrumah when he paid tribute to Nkrumah in this way "History will record all the good he did. We are all men and we all have weaknesses because we are men. But even the errors he made were because he wanted to do better."
We need to rebuild the pride that the country had at independence as the shining black star of Africa. We are firmly committed to fighting to reclaim the guidance of the Nkrumah legacy to direct governance. We need to revisit and extend the vision so that in these modern days of the 21 st Century, Ghana and Africa will truly be seen as matured countries capable of fending for themselves, not dependent but independent and interdependent with the world at large. We need committed and dedicated people to help fashion this vision for our country, we have waited for too long and cannot wait any longer, and we all need to unite behind an Nkrumaist party that will deliver us the third level of freedom, from political through economic to social independence.
We need to ensure that in the 21 st Century our independence will be translated into freedom from bad housing into decent houses for all Ghanaians, into an efficient health care system aimed at eradicating diseases and effectively treating and managing illnesses, and into an educational system providing knowledge that people will need if they are to play useful roles in the development of the country.
The Uniting Nkrumaists into the Third Era (UNiTE!) made a press statement on 24 February 2006 marking the 40th anniversary of the forceful overthrow of the elected government of Ghana and its president, Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah.
See http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/features/artikel.php?ID=99936
This statement has set in motion our process of networking as a campaign group to unite Nkrumaists into a third era of government.
So we call on all Nkrumaists wherever they are; we call on Nkrumaists in the PNC, Nkrumaists in the CPP, Nkrumaists in the GCPP, Nkrumaists in the NRP, Nkrumaists in the EGLE, Nkrumaists in the NPP, Nkrumaists in the NDC, Independent Nkrumaists, Nkrumaists in the Diaspora, the sons and daughters of Nkrumaism and above all the people of Ghana to join us in this campaign.
Let us now focus on reaping the gains of our independence and not sacrificing our nationon the altar of neo-colonialism!
UNITE for Freedom and Justice Forever!!! - A statement from UNITE on the 49 th Anniversary of our independence.
