Opinions of Friday, 19 July 2024
Columnist: Frank Eshun
My good friend Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh (NAPO) was carried away by the excitement of his outdooring to make an unwarranted political statement that has rightfully occupied the front and center of the media space in Nkrumah's Ghana. Obviously, Napo belongs to a political tradition that is not exactly charitable toward Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.
I'm aware of a book authored by Prof. Aaron Mike Ocquaye, which went to great lengths to basically rewrite the history of Ghana, denying the place of Osagyefo as the only founder. He went as far as to state that Dr. JB Danquah rather founded Ghana. I have stated elsewhere that it will be interesting to read about Prof. Albert Adu Boahen's record of Ghana's political history, given that the renowned historian would be guided by higher ethical boundaries of facts.
The irony of the attempts at devaluation of Nkrumah's political estate is that the younger generation (the Millennials and Gen Z) who didn't directly know about the man are more enthusiastic and die-hard about his legacy, simply based on recorded history and stories both within and without. This is anachronistic and clearly speaks to the absence of a peerage.
In his letter to Dr. Kofi Abrefa Busia, after the military overthrow of the latter, Nkrumah gave an indication of his greatest legacy as being the reinventing of the African personality. That Dr. Kwame Nkrumah was squarely voted the African of the millennium (the best African in a thousand years ending in 2000) should speak loudly for itself.
Patriotism, altruism, nationalism, afrocentrism, civicism, and idealism have become extinct in our post-Nkrumah Era body politics, and in spite of his imperfections and peccadillos, today's African citizen yearns intensely for his political likeness to respond to the leadership crisis of our time. That is the source and context of his unsolicited deification.
Dr. Nkrumah's place in the pantheon of political colossi will be impossible to decimate or even discolor without a resultant backlash and embarrassment. Like a fine wine and a rare rhodium, his legacy appears to shimmer brighter with time, especially as leadership in Africa becomes more of a self-serving and disillusioning enterprise. Alas, it's a 'selfie' generation!