Anytime one gets the opportunity to talk about His Excellency the late Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, architect of Ghana’s independence and the moving spirit behind Pan Africanist thought and activism, one gets inspired and fired up by the vision of an unaccomplished agenda initiated by a patriot for all times.

Today, we honour the man who been the moving spirit behind our nation and whose vision for Africa and the black race has never been in doubt.
The role of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah is the nationalist struggle for self determination both within and outside Ghana has been legendary and enormous which put his life and those of his contemporaries at risk.

There were instances where he suffered prison sentences and also physical and threats to his life. But he was a man deeply convinced that the Blackman was capable of managing his own affairs. He pursued this conviction at the peril of his life, engaging the colonial administration in mental debate to stamp home the call for Independence.

The strenuousness of the time required real men of stature. Nkrumah was a unique man of character, purpose, confidence and above all, a man of unshakable faith. It was these traits that molded the passion for the man things we say so profoundly of him today.

His vision and drive motivated him to establish hydro power to spur on rapid industrial development in Ghana. Road and transport infrastructure, the expansion of access to education at all levels and all across the country were all development programs designed to give life to the Ghana he envisioned. But for his accelerated education program (Ghana Education Trust Schools) and the northern fee free education program, many of the educated people from the North and other parts of the country would have been illiterate today.

The underlying denominator of Nkrumah’s struggle was the issue of African Unity.
His dream was to see a united Africa, an Africa with its own currency and continental institutions performing the same functions as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank. An Africa that is capable of her own defense, her own industrial development and being in ownership of its education and economy.

The thought of the unity and integration among African Nations inspired his declaration at Ghana’s Independence when he said, “The Independence of Ghana is meaningless unless it is linked up with the total liberation of the African continent.” But today, we are faced with a continent with all manner of natural endowments yet poor and incapable of feeding itself.

A continent struggling to find a panacea to many ugly conflicts that threaten its territorial integrity and impede its accelerated development. In view of the greatness of Dr. Nkrumah and the pride we take in his achievements, that at my first State of the Nation Address as the President of Ghana before the Parliament of Ghana, I announced the celebration of the centenary celebration marking his birth.

It was on the basis of this that on June 2, 2009, the Vice President of Ghana H.E. John Dramani Mahama, inaugurated an 18-member Planning Committee charged with the planning and implementation of an anniversary program befitting the occasion. Few days after the Committee submitted its planned activities for the celebration, I made it known to my colleagues at the AU Submit in Libya that Ghana was to celebrate the centenary of Nkrumah’s birth.

I am happy to say that in one accord all African Heads of States endorsed the celebration and are committed to being part of it. We have every reason to celebrate Africa’s most revered son and Man of the Millennium. Ghana and Africa have every reason to celebrate the centenary of a man whose vision continues to illuminate our darkness and whose ideas remain relevant today as they were many years ago.

I therefore warmly invite you so that together we give Nkrumah a befitting centenary celebration under apt and appropriate theme “The Centenary of Kwame Nkrumah: A life of Struggle, A Vision of Africa Unbound.
” Welcome to the Nkrumah Centenary.


Thank you.