GHANAIANS MUST IMMORTALISE NKRUMAH ...Haruna Iddrisu (PAGE 17, MARCH 22, 2010)

THE Minister of Communications, Mr Haruna Iddrisu, has stated that the first President of Ghana, Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, was unparalleled in terms of his contribution to national unity, development and the Organisation of the African Unity.
He has, therefore, called for the institution of a national annual memorial lecture to honour the work of Nkrumah.
Mr Iddrisu was speaking at a Kwame Nkrumah Centenary Campus Lecture at the Takoradi Polytechnic over the weekend. It was on the theme “His ideas, His vision, His times, His record”.
He said Dr Nkrumah was a facilitator of a comprehensive national development, and recalled the numerous infrastructural development projects he initiated, which included education, health, factories and roads.
“Every initiative of Dr Nkrumah was futuristic and, therefore, we must celebrate his life. In the case of educational structures, Dr Nkrumah is unparalleled and that those who overthrew him had done a great harm to the people of the northern sector and Ghanaians in general. But for his affirmative action, many Ghanaians would not have had the opportunity to attend school.”
Mr Iddrisu said those responsible for the overthrow of Nkrumah owed Ghanaians and Africans as a whole an apology.
He said Nkrumah preached and practised African personality and was far ahead of his contemporaries with his thoughts and vision.
The Communications Minister said Dr Nkrumah had no equal when it came to expanding the frontiers of freedom, social justice and cultural values.
The Dean of Arts Faculty of the University of Cape Coast, Dr Raymond Osei, said Dr Nkrumah’s remarkable role in modern African history attested to the result of the BBC poll in December 2000, which established him as the Millennium African Personality of the 20th century.
Dr Osei noted that Dr Nkrumah articulated a set of principles and strategies for the decolonisation of Africa and the establishment of good governance based upon the free consent of the masses of the people.
A member of the Kwame Nkrumah Centenary Planning Committee, Professor Agyemang Badu Akosah, explained that the lecture was to inform the youth of the country about Dr Nkrumah, and noted that for years, some people had schemed to ensure that the name of Dr Nkrumah was forgotten.
He said Dr Nkrumah sacrificed and worked tirelessly for the country’s independence, and that if he had lived long enough to achieve his vision, Ghana would have been one of the greatest nations.
The Rector of the Takoradi Polytechnic, Rev. Professor Daniel Nyarko, expressed regret that several African countries had monuments named after Nkrumah, but in Ghana, it looked like the man had been forgotten.
“If there is anybody to be given honour, it is Nkrumah, the first President of Ghana,” he emphasised, stating, “Such a man who has a great influence, not only in Ghana, but also in Africa as a whole.”
Professor Nyarko said we could offer Nkrumah a gift by immortalising his name.