It is more than 43 years since Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first President and founder of the nation, was overthrown in what was believed to be a CIA orchestrated coup. He was then on his way to China on a mission to seek an end to the Vietnam War. It was a journey of no return to his beloved Ghana. It is also more than 37 years since he died in a Bucharest hospital in far away Romania, where he had been flown from Conakry, Guinea, to seek medical care for what was believed to be cancer of the skin, the result of several bomb attacks on his person, all in an attempt to get him out of power. After the coup of February 24, 1966 everything possible was done by his detractors to obliterate his name from the record books and indeed from history. If they had their way, his enemies would have “bribed” historians the world over to record that nobody by name Kwame Nkrumah ever existed! Yes, that was how bad it was in the years immediately after his overthrow. It was even seen as a crime for anybody to be in possession of anything that bore the name of the Osagyefo. But Nkrumah was no ordinary person. He was quite a remarkable character, a visionary, a true leader of people, the champion of the oppressed and the downtrodden, a really selfless individual who sought the greatest interest of the greatest number. To those of us who were growing up at the time, he held sway at home and on the international scene. He was simply a colossus who was matchless in any sphere of human endeavour. One of the accusations often levelled against the Osagyefo by those who found everything wrong with him after he was pushed out of power in 1966 was that he did not believe in God, otherwise why should he allow the expression “Nkrumah Never Dies” gain so much currency in his life time? To his detractors, he was comparing himself to God and this was blasphemy, pure and simple. His admirers and followers however retorted that what they were saying was just that Nkrumah’s name would live forever because of his achievements in Ghana and what he did for the black race generally. They believed that long after he might have left the scene his memory would continue to linger on and his praises would continue to be sung by generations who were not born when he was the dominant political figure both at home and on the continent. Is that not what is happening today? Only two years ago, Ghana celebrated her Golden Jubilee, the 50th anniversary of our attainment of nationhood, a feat that was made possible by Nkrumah. Everybody knows that it was his arrival in the Gold Coast in 1947 at the invitation of the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC) that pushed the former British Colony to agitate for independence and also accelerate our eventual freedom. The world at the same time knows that had Nkrumah not broken away from the UGCC to form the Convention People’s Party (CPP), independence would have delayed since the leadership of the UGCC wanted independence in the foreseeable future and were playing it slowly and softly with the colonial authorities, while Nkrumah wanted self-government “now”. It was rather unfortunate that the New Patriotic Party government did everything possible to play down the role of Nkrumah in the independence struggle and the pole position he occupied when victory was achieved and the Gold Coast became independent Ghana. It was funny to see some apologists trying to claim that the name Ghana was put forward by another person and that Nkrumah should not be given all the credit for Ghana’s independence. According to them, there were other people, apart from the ‘Big Six’ like Pa Grant who also played their part. That is true. The struggle to attain nationhood was like a relay race. It was the combined effort of all other nationalists from 1844 that ensured victory. But like any relay race therefore normally it is the anchor man, the last person, who usually is the best who is remembered long after. It was the same with Nkrumah, who building on the contributions of others along the line guided the Gold Coast into independence. Was it not Shakespeare who said that: All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players: They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts. Ghana’s Golden Jubilee has come and gone. Try as his enemies did to downplay Nkrumah’s role he still stood tall among his peers and the whole world saluted him in recognition. Now is the time to put Nkrumah in his proper place in our history. His centenary celebration is around the corner. In September we shall be celebrating his 100th birthday, not only in Ghana but throughout Africa, the continent he sacrificed everything to emancipate from the clutches of oppression to bring succour to the people. Feverish preparations are going on everywhere. Prof. John Atta Mills and his NDC administration must be commended for their efforts to put the records straight by rolling down the red carpet for Africa’s man of the millennium. Yes, indeed Nkrumah can never die. At his inauguration in January this year, President Mills reminded Ghana and the rest of the world that the year 2009 was Nkrumah’s centenary year and his government would do everything possible to celebrate the occasion in a grand style to befit Africa’s man of destiny. He went on to give an indication that September 21 every year would be named Founders Day and declared a public holiday. President Mills did not stop at that but set up a planning committee to organise activities to mark the occasion. He went a step further by tabling his plans before the AU Summit in Libya early July. What else should one expect from today’s Africa’s leaders who know the worth of Nkrumah and who realise his invaluable contributions to their individual country’s struggle for independence. In a resolution passed at the end of the 13th Ordinary Summit of the African Union (AU) in Libya, the African heads of state “unanimously agreed to celebrate Dr Nkrumah’s birthday and put it on the AU’s calendar of Special Events”. This honour to be given to Nkrumah on the occasion of his 100th birthday is a vindication of Nkrumah’s stand on world politics. The time has come for those who despise the Osagyefo and even hate him to accept the fact that both at home and on the continent he has no challenger. This is the time, so many years after he has left the scene, to give him the recognition he so much deserves, especially at home. It was not for nothing that African listeners on BBC Africa Service a few years ago voted him Africa’s man of the millennium, far ahead of stalwarts like Nnamdi Azikiwe of Nigeria and the highly respected Nelson Mandela who was expected to win the accolade because he is still around and had only recently taken South Africa out of apartheid. One interesting remark I always remember of Nkrumah is that often made by the renowned Kenyan historian, Prof. Ali Mazrui, that Nkrumah was a good African but a bad Ghanaian. His argument was that Nkrumah did much more for Africa than he did for his own Ghana and that he concentrated so much on Africa to the neglect of Ghana. Many have been taken in by this argument. But I beg to differ. Can any Ghanaian leader since Nkrumah match what he did for his countrymen? Let us remember his educational policy which enabled many in my generation to attain the educational level they attained without so much sweat, the Ghana Education Trust with the establishment of so many secondary schools in every district of the country, the infrastructural development, Tema, Akosombo, Motorway, Black Star Line, his sports development agenda, that placed the Black Stars at the very top of African football, the exploit of Ghanaian athletes and boxers on the international arena and rise up to say “here was a man when comes such another”. Credit: Razak El-Alawa