Chairman of the Kwabena Nketia Centre for Africana Studies, Prof. Kofi Asare Opoku, has emphasized the need for Founder’s Day to be commemorated with a series of national activities that exhibit the ideals of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.
Founder’s day is a day statutorily set aside to observe the birthday of Ghana’s first President, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah and other founding fathers of the country.
It is usually celebrated on September 21, but there have been concerns as to why no national event is held on the day in honour of the heroes who fought for the country’s independence.
Prof Asare Opoku believes a well-co-ordinated programme to celebrate Dr Nkrumah on the day, will serve as inspiration to many Ghanaians
“The Founder’s day should be a day on which we remember the achievements of Nkrumah. His speeches etc. There should be competitions and some people should write poems about Nkrumah, plays, songs etc.
“The founder’s day is not a day to sleep. It is a day of inspiration when the story of Nkrumah must be told and retold and we Nkrumah achieved a lot because he believed in himself and stood firmly as an African and that is where his confidence came from and we are eroding that confidence which belongs to us naturally by merely imitating others.”
About Nkrumah
Kwame Nkrumah was born as Francis Nwia Kofi Ngonloma in Nkroful, Gold Coast. Nkrumah studied to be a teacher at Achimota School in Accra from 1925 to 1935.
For the following five years he worked as a teacher in several schools in the Gold Coast including a Roman Catholic school in Axim, while he was saving money to continue his education in the United States of America.
In 1935, Nkrumah sailed from Takoradi, Gold Coast, to Liverpool, England, and made his way to London, England, where he applied and received his student visa from the American Embassy.
It was while Nkrumah was in London in late 1935 that he heard the news of the Invasion of Abyssinia by fascist Italy, an event that outraged the young Nkrumah.
This prompted him to set his sights on a political career. In October 1935, Nkrumah sailed from Liverpool to the United States, where he enrolled at the Lincoln University of Pennsylvania.
He completed his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1939, and then he completed his Bachelor of Sacred Theology degree in 1942.
Nkrumah also earned his Master of Science degree in education from the University of Pennsylvania in 1942, and then his M.A. in philosophy in 1943.
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By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana