Koforidua, Feb. 24, GNA - Ghanaians have been urged to do a retrospection of events from 1957 to date to examine what would have been the status of Ghana had Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, first President of the Republic, ruled a little longer.

This was contained in a statement issued by the New Juaben Constituency of the Convention People's Party (CPP) in Koforidua and signed by its chairman, Mr Ernest Obeng Darfuor, to mark 44 years of the overthrow of Dr Nkrumah.

The statement observed that since 1966, no succeeding Government had added a single factory to those put up by Osagyefo. It said the 1966 coup pushed the clock of progress many years back, adding that Ghana had since never been the same. "At the time of the coup, Ghana had 110 Teacher Training Colleges as against 38 currently".

The statement said at independence the illiteracy rate in the country was so high that Osagyefo introduced the compulsory Fee-Free Education from class one to the University level.

It said the effectiveness of that policy was that Ghana could presently boast of men and women of incomparable academic excellence. "Osagyefo laid a solid foundation for the total development of Ghana", the statement declared.

The statement prayed the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government to pursue "some, if not all, of Osagyefo's policies in order to save Ghanaians from economic hardships and social deprivation".