‘Eulogise Nkrumah with GH¢ 500 currency note’ - Government told

The government has been urged to introduce GH¢500 currency with the portrait of the Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, in recognition of his enormous contributions to national development, Africa, and humanity.

This is because the ideals and policies of Dr Nkrumah, Ghana’s first President, remain significant not only to the country, but the continent and world.

Dr Dee Otibu-Asare, the founder of Nkrumah Vision Alive Movement, a group that seeks to advocate the achievements, philos­ophy and ideology of Dr Kwame Nkrumah, made the call in a statement issued in Accra, to mark the 116th birthday celebration of Dr Nkrumah.

According to Dr Otibu-Asare, "the best tribute to Nkrumah is the implementation of his vision and policies that are still relevant to national development.”

He also appealed to the govern­ment to ensure the teaching of Dr Nkrumah’s philosophy and ideolo­gy in schools. And the reactivation of the Young Pioneers concept, to inculcate in the youth, patriotism and moral regeneration, toward nation-building.

Dr Otibu-Asare appealed to historians to write more books on Nkrumah, and called for the re-printing of books on the great leader that were destroyed after his overthrow in 1966.

He urged the government to complement its Feed Ghana initia­tive, with Osagyefo Dr Nkrumah’s state farms policy.

“This will guarantee food secu­rity, generate employment oppor­tunities, particularly for the youth, reduce poverty, improve living standards and prevent rural-urban migration,” he said.

He explained that state farms could also contribute to rural de­velopment, provision of infrastruc­ture, basic amenities like water and electricity, and the reduction in the importation of food, like rice, and poultry products.

“Dr Nkrumah, who led Ghana to independence in 1957, and laid the foundation for the country’s development, continue to enjoy the goodwill of the people, including even those who were too young to experience his administration,” Dr Otibu-Asare noted.

He said the massive infrastruc­ture development, including the Akosombo Dam, the Accra-Tema Motorway, the establishment of secondary schools and the Uni­versity of Ghana and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, and industralisa­tion drive, were as a result of Dr Nkrumah’s vision.

“Additionally, there is the need to highlight Dr Nkrumah’s com­mitment to Pan-Africanism, to inspire African leaders and individ­uals to wholeheartedly contribute to the social and economic devel­opment of the continent,” the founder of the Movement said

Dr Otibu-Asare, who is also, Publisher of the West Africa Inter­national Magazine, noted that the struggle for Africa’s emancipation and unity, epitomised in Dr Nkru­mah’s message: “the independence of Ghana is meaningless, unless it is linked up with the total liberation of Africa”, is fresh in the minds of many.

“No wonder, Dr Nkrumah was voted African of the millennium in a B.B.C survey, carried out throughout the continent. All these attributes should not be distorted, rather they should be enhanced and preserved for future genera­tions,” founder of the Movement said..