The National Pledge of Ghana must be amended with immediate effect as the first president of Ghana Dr. Kwame Nkrumah has been decreed as the only Founder and Father of the Nation.
It is agreeable fact that a country that fails to recognise and celebrate its heroes is not worth dying for. But since the ascension of Prof Mills onto the seat of presidency of Ghana, his actions and inactions have depicted that it does not worth dying for the country called Ghana apart from Kwame Nkrumah.
In fact, President Mills’ decisions and behaviors are gradually but seriously killing patriotism and potentially sowing hatred, discord and division among Ghanaians just like what Nkrumah did to create profound enmities for himself during his reign as Prime Minister and President of Ghana. These have begun hurting our dear country badly and will soon explode as Mills continues to ostracize other individuals and groups of people who were instrumental in the creation and independence of our country.
It is in this vein that I am calling for an immediate change or amendment of the Ghana National Pledge which was composed and arranged to encompass all our leaders and harbingers as the FATHERS of the nation, in order to suite Mills’ decision of making Nkrumah as the only Founder and Father of the nation.
Currently, the National Pledge which Nkrumah himself acquiesced throughout his tenure as the President of Ghana is composed in this order; I promise on my honour to be faithful and loyal to Ghana my motherland. I pledge myself to the service of Ghana with all my strength and with all my heart. I promise to hold in high esteem our heritage won for us THROUGH THE BLOOD AND TOIL OF OUR “FATHERS”. And I pledge myself in all things to uphold and defend the good name of Ghana. So help me God.
It is also an established fact that even far before Nkrumah was invited to join hands in the struggle for the independence from the British Colonial Rule, some people were maimed, some were shot and killed, some were imprisoned, even some got vanished in thin air, therefore the nation Ghana and its independence which is our heritage won for us through the blood and toil of all our FATHERS, including the “Big Six” (Dr. Joseph Boakye Danquah, Dr. Ebenezer Ako Adjei, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Edward Akuffo Addo, Emmanuel Odarkwei Obetsebi-Lamptey, and William Offori Atta) should be respected, and any attempt by any individuals to alter this truth in our history does so to potentially invoke catastrophe on the whole nation in the near future.
In his maiden address to Parliament in January 2009, President J.E.A Mills, an avowed Nkrumaist, said, “We intend to honour Dr. Kwame Nkrumah's memory with a national holiday to be known as Founder's Day.” September 21st has now been forced on Ghanaians as one of Ghana's numerous public holidays (17 holidays) to honour Dr. Kwame Nkrumah as the only Founder and Father of the nation.
It’s evidently clear that the imposition of September 21st as a national holiday by this Ghana’s discombobulated President has completely negated the spirit and the meaning of our national pledge, which clearly states that ‘through the blood and toil of our “Fathers” (plural). Therefore it is necessary for the national pledge to be amended immediately in order to conform with Nkrumah as the so-called only founder and father (singular) of the nation called Ghana.
Frankly, I am wondering if the attempts by Mills to try and name and rename almost everything in Ghana after the name of Nkrumah will help resuscitate the CPP party that is currently in Coma and in serious Paralyses under 24 hour intensive care. Even the Kotoka International Airport, Mills has been advised to rename it after Kwame Nkrumah.
Within 8 years, Kufour managed to find oil that has given a profound future for the nation - Ghana. Recently, the Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel acquired by Kufour in 2008 and out-doored in Ghana in May 2010 by Mills, has been named after Ghana’s first President, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.
Again, Mills is intensively planning to rename the Jubilee field after Kwame Nkrumah Oil Field. Kufour intelligently and cleverly named the field as “Jubilee field” because the oil was found during the celebration of the Golden Jubilee in 2007. I really don’t see why Nkrumah’s name should be associated with the oil found in Ghana and if anything at all; it should be Kufour oil Field, not Nkrumah.
It is also on record that Mills has proposed to change the name of the Presidential Palace (Jubilee House) built and named by Kufour into Kwame Nkrumah house. Mean while, this is the same building that Mills in 2008 told Ghanaians that he will use it as a poultry farm.
Recently, the presidential Jet which was purchased by Kufour in 2008 and delivered to Ghana in this Month is earmarked to be named after Nkrumah, and the Bui-Dam Power Generation station constructed by Kufour is also going to be named after Kwame Nkrumah.
Ghanaians should not be surprised if they wake up one day to find out that President Mills has renamed all the Rivers in Ghana and the Fishes in them after Kwame Nkrumah.
Since Mills has vowed to rename all the achievements of President Kufour after Kwame Nkrumah, sooner or later we are going to have Nkrumah National Health Insurance Scheme (NNHIS), Nkrumah School Feeding Programme (NSFG), Nkrumah Metro Mass Transport (NMMT,) Nkrumah Capitation Grant (NCG), Nkrumah Cocoa Mass Spraying programme (NCMSP), Nkrumah Free Medication for Expectant Mothers (NFMEM) etc.
My humble advice to President Mills is that, it will be honourable for him if he could try and achieve something by himself and name it after Kwame Nkrumah instead of naming and changing the names of other people’s achievements. Many of these actions by Mills are having unthinkable catastrophic magnitude of divisions, hatred and serious cacophony in the Ghanaian societies.
In fact, it is becoming more obvious that Prez Mills’ administration is turning out to be the most Useless and Hopeless government in the history of Ghana. Ghanaians should never forgive Mills for ruining our dear country.
Peter Antwi
Anpet2000@yahoo.com
Romford - London
