African Union immortalizes Kwame Nkrumah

It is befitting for the African Union to honour Dr. Kwame Nkrumah and set the tune for us to celebrate our heroes. During the recent African Union summit in Addis Ababa, the portrait of the late Nkrumah was unveiled at the AU head quarters in Addis Ababa in recognition and honour of the founding father of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), the precursor of African union. Dr. Nkrumah, fondly known as Osagyefo or redeemer, in the early days of Africa’s political independence, is the undisputed hero of African Liberation, icon of African pride, and thought and promoter of Pan-Africanism. Pan Africanism, a movement that was started by Africans in the Diaspora in late 1990s with the objective of the unification of Africa under one government, common citizenship from Cairo to Cape Town, was concretized by adapting its vision to the reality of the African continent. The movement was strongly influenced by the work of African-American thinkers George Padmore, Marcus Garvey and Du Bois who greatly inspired young nationalists from the mother continent. The noble and onerous task of implementing the Pan-African objectives was appropriated, nurtured and brought home by African nationalists notably Nkrumah and Jomo Kenyatta, who were students in the US and Europe in the first half of the 20th Century. The Pan African aspirations expressed in the demand for self –determination from the colonizer, renaissance of African culture and esteem inspired anti-colonial /liberation movements across Africa, with Nkrumah as the most eloquent proponent. Nkrumah’s contribution to the 5th Pan African Congress held in Manchester in 1945, demonstrated his organizational ability and charisma.An extract from the resolution drafted by Nkrumah and adopted by the congress single him out as the father of Pan-Africanism on the continent, “ We believe in the rights of all peoples to govern themselves. We affirm the rights of all colonial peoples to control their dignity. All colonies must be free from foreign imperialist control, whether political or economical.The peoples of all colonies must have the right to elect their own government; a government without restrictions from a foreign power. We say to the peoples of the colonies that they must strive for all for these goals by all means at their disposal. These are the ideals Nkrumah promoted and died for. Even when his country gained independence on 6TH March 1957, he declared that independence of Ghana was meaningless without the total liberation of the African Continent, and used the position of Ghana as the first African country to gain independence for the liberation of other countries and to agitate for a continental government, and eventually the organization of African Unity was formed in 1996. Nkrumah’s ideas influenced many African nationalists and continue to inspire Africans. His commitment to the unity of the continent are eloquently argued in his books Africa Must Unite,’ Neo –Colonialism, the Last stage Imperialism and Class Struggle in Africa’. Nkrumah’s ideas, however, did not please all the people, especially the imperialists and their agents who saw in him a threat to their stratagems and survival. Because of his commitment to continental progress, in his country he was accused of acting as a president for Africa instead of Ghana and therefore not serving his people first. Whether those critics are right or wrong depends on whether one agrees with the argument that meaningful liberation of Africa can only be realized as a result of the unity of Africa. A point elucidated in his book Africa Must Unite when he says ‘ WE NEED THE STRENGTH OF OUR COMBINED NUMBERS AND RESOURCES TO PROTECT OUR SELVES FROM THE POSITIVE DANGERS RETURNING TO COLONIALISM IN DISGUISED FORMS.Those words were certainly useful in the era of neocolonial days but they are still valid to our modern condition and I wish to thank the men and women at AU for the honour to Osagyefo for by doing so they acknowledge and uphold those ideals which are critical to Africa ‘s sustainable progress. The political landscape might have changed but the sprit of African Unity must thrive. The regional integration processes now evident across Africa, together with continental institutions like the Pan African Parliament, the Economic, Social and Cultural of the African Union, the African Court of Human rights should be building blocs for the Union government in future.

Opinions

African Union immortalizes Kwame Nkrumah