Nkrumah's legacy is alive - Rocky Dawuni

Rocky Dawuni, the globally acclaimed international reggae maestro, says the legacy of Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah is very well alive regardless of the numerous attempts to subdue and denigrate the role of Ghana’s first president in the African liberation struggle.

He has also called for the return to the principles of self-determination taught by Dr Kwame Nkrumah as the surest way to liberate Ghana and Africa from the forces of imperialism that continue to pillage the continent's resources and leave behind jobless and homeless masses.

“In my travels as an artiste, I meet a lot of people and on my recent travel to Indonesia it became apparent that Indonesians recognize Kwame Nkrumah as an intimate friend of Sukano and their country and a tower on the side of all the downtrodden masses of the world,” the reggae artist said.

He was speaking at an event organized to honour three distinguished Ghanaians who’ve contributed in diverse ways to the development of the broad progressive movement in Ghana.

According to Rocky Dawuni, Kwame Nkrumah showed Indonesia the way out of political and economic dependence towards the creation of a new society based on the principles of social justice and equality for all.

That vision Nkrumah shared with the Indonesian people according to Rocky Dawuni, is still alive in Ghana today and might not exist necessarily in the political realm but finds expression in the everyday life of the ordinary Ghanaian.

He called on the youth of Africa to craft a vision based on the blueprint left behind by the freedom fighters that fought gallantly to grant Ghana and Africa the right to live freely and be able to chart their destinies.

“It is important for the youth of today to define a vision of where Africa must go, but that vision must not be reinvented. That vision must stem from the blueprint left for us by our predecessors who laid down their lives and worked so hard to win for us our freedom from colonialism and who serve as a motivation for the on-going struggle to emancipate our continent from neo-colonialism.

“I am happy that we are all here today honouring these three giants of the progressive movement in Ghana and also celebrating the legacy of Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah. And making a bold statement that this legacy is alive, and we are going to carry it forward” he said in reference to Cde Kwame Wiafe, Lt Owusu Gyimah and Cde Kofi Duku.

Rocky Dawuni reveals that in all his life and in his music career the voice of Kwame Nkrumah is one voice that has directed his life.

“Although I walk amongst so many different people with very varying ideologies I have always held that Nkrumah is perhaps the only selfless leader who believed in thought and in his action that leadership is servitude to the people” and has expressed the hope that coming leaders of Africa will walk in that path.