Divided we fall, Unity is strength - fact. Both the NDC and NPP on the Ghana political scene are pushing the vision of our beloved first President Kwame Nkrumah. Interesting! Kwame Nkrumah himself before his death felt betrayed by many of us who currently are singing his praise. I can vividly remember, as a child, songs that we sang on the week of his overthrow. Fellow Ghanaians, this is certainly not now a pleasant memory; on the other hand, in the heat of the moment it felt good.

Ghana as a nation humiliated Nkrumah and even failed to give him the befitting funeral service he deserved. Yet, over the years his family have forgiven us Ghanaians.

We owe so much to the late President Kwame Nkrumah and his team. They saw the blind spots, which we are still failing to see. Indeed, they saw the bigger picture (the helicopter view of our Strength & Weaknesses, Threats and Opportunities.) that was needed to transform Ghana and the rest of Africa.

It was not until after the death of our late President that, did it dawn on us his significance. A gift of knowledge, God gave to us through Kwame Nkrumah and his team of Ministers. Suddenly many began to dig deep into their works and ideology by critically analysing their work Fellow Ghanaians, our High Commissions are all positioned in key strategic countries and at strategic locations all over the world.

This fundamental positioning of Ghana’s High Commissions was certainly not the architect of the NDC nor NPP Party but the CPP. They also introduced free education to ensure that the vision they had perceived that is the need for educated citizens who would make a positive contribution and thus achieve the economic well being necessary for the development of our nation.

Ghanaians must learn to appraise everyone’s efforts in reaching those targets Kwame Nkrumah set for us to fulfil.

The role our former President Rawlings also a significant role and goodness a risky one indeed. None of us however strong we, would have dared to take on that challenge as Rawlings did. We may criticise the application of the means he used to try and transform Ghana, but few must doubt his absolute commitment to the ideals he was trying to achieve. Today many would have forgotten why change was needed.

The outcome of Rawlings approach meant that although people suffered, Ghana came to be portrayed as a relatively stable country and now had a favourable climate for business. Thus, more funds were pumped into our beleaguered economy. This was the start of our transformation back into an African star. Who would choose these days to live in another West African country – most have fundamental problems and little democracy?

Our friendliness, warmth and above all honesty can not be compared.

Ghan@50 must include all, and no one should dwell on the past because we are not on this earth to judge anyone. Being the leader of any given nation is a great challenge because of the complex interactions, which take place. Name one leader of a nation who got everything right. Would not President Bush and Prime Minister Blair have done things differently in Iraq if they had the benefit of a foresight? Wars in particular can start to order but rarely end when you want them to. Success should be judged as just not screwing it up!

Nevertheless, God is on our side and we have to be proud of this. Ghana is priviledged to enjoy friendship with all religions for example Christians, Moslems and others all participate in other’s special occasion.

Let’s reflect on the positives that we have gained through the contributions of our past leaders and use the drawbacks as a learning curve to move onto the next phase. It is about time we all embrace ourselves and reflect on our first leader Kwame Nkrumah and the our great ancestors who fought selflessnessly against all odds to redeem Ghana . This is the bottom line.

Ghana @ 50 needs to be celebrated with all the contributions for everyone.

I hopeourcurrent Government have set aside opportunities to reward and acknowledge remarkable achievements to those who had make a difference for Ghana and no matter how small

It would be worth for The Castle to embrace Rawlings and give him a role to play in the celebrations in order to make our celebrations complete. Otherwise the celebrations would not be complete without acknowledging his 20 years of experience and his contribution whilst in office. His wife Nana Agyeman Konadu Rawlings also played a pivotal role for all women in Ghana at an opportunistic time through her initiatives. Thus this ensured the provision of day nursery in every village, town and city. What a remarkable achievement this was at that point in time of our history. Most women regardless of their status all of a sudden felt empowered motivated and became assertive to demand what is due for their children and community. Ghana must not forget these contributions too. It was such a joy when the world saw President Bush and President Clinton together during the New Orleans disaster in their country, an example to the world. Unity is strength.

Ghanaians must not be quick to forget about these good and selfless deeds of its people within our society.

We as Ghanaians only want to hear what they want to hear. Let us learn to give to Caesar what is Caesar’s.

Ghana’s celebration at 50 must include not only our current President but also our past President and political parties who saw the processing of transformation going through it. Equally our Chiefs, and statutory bodies and all NGO’s, international and local businesses including the magasin boys who are working among us to make that difference. All these integrate and synergistically create the tapestry of our makeup and the progress desperately needed.

Above all has not every Ghanaian, whether in Diaspora or within Ghana all contributed to this present day Ghana? President Kwame Nkrumah laid the initial foundation, Col Kutu Acheampong also did his bit regardless what some may say about him . He certainly had the charisma and flair no matter how small that was. Our former President Rawlings also laid solid foundations: with low crime rate and increased international credibility and integrity, which was needed to get our economy kick-started again.

Rawlings retiring also actually enhanced and contributed towards true democracy in our country. How many African Presidents have ever stepped down? They usually need a push! Currently, President Kuffour’s Government and his own initiatives have further enhanced Ghana into our current phase of development. Nothing is in the wrong place. Let us all work together as a nation as there is still concerned issues we need to address.

Let’s hope the arrival home of our stately brother Dr Kofi Annan with his 40 years experience in dipilomatic services will help all parties work together and respect the initiatives necessary for our growth and development into our next phase, whoever started them.

Ayekooo to everyone - this includes our past and present leaders, the media, and newspapers, ghanaweb.com, modernghana.com and other

Views expressed by the author(s) do not necessarily reflect those of GhanaHomePage.