{"id":300319,"date":"2017-03-09T06:06:08","date_gmt":"2017-03-09T06:06:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=300319"},"modified":"2017-03-09T06:06:08","modified_gmt":"2017-03-09T06:06:08","slug":"nobody-can-take-away-nkrumahs-significance-from-him-samia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/03\/nobody-can-take-away-nkrumahs-significance-from-him-samia\/","title":{"rendered":"Nobody can take away Nkrumah\u2019s significance from him – Samia"},"content":{"rendered":"
Daughter of\u00a0Dr.\u00a0Kwame Nkrumah, and a former Chairperson of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), Samia Yaba Nkrumah, has stated that her father’s role as Ghana’s first President and his pan-African vision warrants his special standing in Ghana’s history towards independence.<\/p>\n
She said unlike others who also played their part even before his father came into the scene, Dr, Kwame Nkrumah was the catalyst in the struggle and final attainment of independence.<\/p>\n
President Nana Akufo-Addo\u2019s speech on Independence Day, has sparked some debate over the perceived sidelining of other Ghanaians who contributed to the independence struggle.<\/p>\n
[contextly_sidebar id=”QddLdVxynCYAx169F5lgbcVGsfVd4f19″]President Akufo-Addo’s speech was criticized by some, including the CPP, as being a skewed account of history to suit his father, Edward Akufo-Addo, and uncle, J.B Danquah who also played their roles on the road to independence.<\/p>\n
Samia Nkrumah described the whole debate as “a huge distraction” in an interview on\u00a0Point Blank<\/strong>\u00a0on Eyewitness News, as she reminded that\u00a0“Kwame Nkrumah himself said the independence struggle started before him.\u201d<\/p>\n She however stressed that, her father definitely played the role of a catalyst, and would have given him more prominence had she been the one who gave the Independence Day speech.<\/p>\n “We agree that there were so many other people [in the independence struggle] but his role was significant. Nobody can take that away from him.”<\/p>\n \u201cIf I was giving that speech, I would have given Kwame Nkrumah more prominence. All the records show who the main catalyst was. Kwame Nkrumah had a vision\u2026 even though he came to collaborate with UGCC [United Gold Coast Convention],\u00a0<\/span>but we know from history he was going to come down anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cKwame Nkrumah had a particular pan-African vision for our independence so he was bound to be the catalyst. So yes, thousands were instrumental, but he was the catalyst and let\u2019s give him is due,\u201d Samia Nkrumah asserted.<\/p>\n