{"id":304849,"date":"2017-03-26T11:00:43","date_gmt":"2017-03-26T11:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=304849"},"modified":"2017-03-26T11:00:43","modified_gmt":"2017-03-26T11:00:43","slug":"nkrumah-not-the-founder-of-ghana-mike-oquaye","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/03\/nkrumah-not-the-founder-of-ghana-mike-oquaye\/","title":{"rendered":"Nkrumah not the founder of Ghana \u2013 Mike Oquaye"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Speaker of Parliament, Prof. Aaron Mike Oquaye, has described as palpable falsehood, claims that Dr. Kwame Nkrumah founded independent Ghana.<\/p>\n

His comment revives the long-standing debate about the actual founder of \u00a0Ghana especially after the president, Nana Akufo-Addo subtly also suggested so in the address he delivered at Ghana\u2019s 60th<\/sup> independence anniversary parade.<\/p>\n

[contextly_sidebar id=”JlVkzmbhRyrL0ltXVcZOaHKLdh6yZQdt”]The Political Science Professor argued that the independence struggle was not championed by Dr. Kwame Nkrumah alone and the glory of independence could therefore not be attributed to him alone.<\/p>\n

Speaking at the Institute of Economic Affairs\u2019 (IEA) showing of a documentary of the political history of Ghana between 1844 and the Fourth Republican Constitution, Prof Mike Oquaye condemned the current history curriculum which credited Dr. Kwame Nkrumah as a founder of independent Ghana and said it was misleading.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not searching apparently about anything including our GDP, Tema Oil Refinery debts, vital statistics that are simple to ascertain in many parts of the world. And this has been an unfortunate part of our history so much so that, today we celebrate one founding father which is palpable false, we have founding fathers. I\u2019ll like to see Nkrumah celebrated by way of a holiday in his honour as the first President. A president who had a lot of vision in terms of education, health, African unity and so many area of our national development but definitely not as the founder of this nation because it is palpably false,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"Kwame
Kwame Nkrumah<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The erstwhile National Democratic Congress (NDC) government with the approval of Parliament declared Dr. Kwame Nkrumah\u2019s birthday, 21st September as a statutory public holiday; thus Founder\u2019s Day, to recognize Nkrumah for his tremendous contribution towards the independence of Ghana and Liberation struggle for the entire African continent.<\/p>\n

But according to Prof. Oquaye, he expects that the country celebrates a founders\u2019 day, which will honour all others who contributed to Ghana\u2019s independence and not single out Nkrumah.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt pains me particularly that we teach our children such false history. I look forward to the day where the founder\u2019s day will be founders\u2019 day and we shall all celebrate those who really together founded this nation, including Kwame Nkrumah,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

By: Jonas Nyabor\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana
\nFollow @jnyabor<\/a><\/p>\n