A Tribute to Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. Why Ghanaians Must Salute This African Hero.

Byline: Dr. Kwame Osei

21st September is a poignant day in Ghana and the Afrikan continent as a whole as it marks the birthday of the greatest Afrikan of the 20th century (BBC Afrika listeners poll), Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.

For this exclusive feature, as an Afrikan historian, we will analyze and examine what Dr. Nkrumah did for Ghana.

There has been an attempt, a pathetic attempt in my view, from some sections of Ghanaian society who for their own perverse reasons want to rubbish and downplay the colossal achievements of the great man.

In addition to this, some in Ghana ask, what did Nkrumah do for Ghana? Again because of the attempt by some Ghanaians to erase the achievements of Dr. Nkrumah from the annals of Ghanaian history; the vast majority of Ghanaian people, especially the youth, have no idea of the colossal achievements of Dr. Nkrumah and what he did for Ghana and Africa.

Also, a respected Afrikan historian Ali Mazrui, once said that Nkrumah was a great Afrikan but not a good Ghanaian.

When one looks back, Dr. Nkrumah was an excellent leader, despite the shortcomings that every leader has. If Ghanaians were to take a critical look at all of the state institutions that Ghana now has, they will see the handwriting of Dr. Nkrumah on those institutions.

In actual fact the majority of the infrastructure the country is enjoying was built by the administration of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.

Part of Osagyefo?s grand vision for Ghana was to take it into the industrial age and make the country self-reliant and self-sufficient in all areas of nation building and development and take the country from an enslaved colonial economy to an economically liberated one.

It must be remembered that the British colonialists LEFT NOTHING in terms of infrastructure, development and industry. The only thing the British did was to partly build railways to take the gold from Kumasi to Accra and another railway line from Kumasi to the port of Takoradi.

In 1962 in a radio address to the nation entitled ?Work and Happiness: Ghana?s Seven Year Development Plan,? Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah …