Osagyefor Dr. Nkrumah was born in a little village of Nkroful, in the western region of the then Gold Coast, now Ghana. He was privileged to attend school and after his teacher training, he taught for a while. He later attended the seminary with the hope of becoming a reverend father in the Catholic Church. Kwame later refused the priesthood because something was brewing up his chest, that’s a man with strong vision for his life.
He stowed away, due to lack of funds, on a ship bound for Great Britain from the Takoradi Port. He struggled so hard to adapt to life in London doing all sorts of menial jobs in order to survive. Eventually he graduated from the Oxford University as a political scientist. He then managed to go through Lincoln University, U.S.A, for his master degree.
This man is one of the most celebrated men throughout the continent of Africa. The ordeal he went through or at least encountered in the hands of the whites in the white man’s land toughened, prepared and equipped him for the great task ahead in trying to liberate the average Blackman from the shackles of slavery and colonization. When he was invited by the United Gold Coast Convention (U.G.C.C), he readily accepted the offer to come down leaving his comfort and then assume the office of the General Secretary. On his way from the U.S.A, he saw a statue of Liberty at the New York Port and was inspired by the name of the statue that he vowed, ‘I am carrying your message of liberty to my people in Africa.
Back home he started the modern day African emancipation for self determination. Whilst his colleagues in the U.G.C.C were delaying self rule, Kwame insisted that on ‘Self Government Now!, he engineered the ‘ positive action’ which saw the railway workers and civil workers downing tools as a form of pressure on the colonial Government better negotiations. He was arrested and detained as a political prisoner for fighting for Ghana’s independence. It is only a man with the mind of God could utter such words as this on the day that celebration of independence should be for the Nation of Ghana as a free country, free from the task masters who never saw anything good in the black race to be able to govern themselves. In the words of Dr. Nkrumah on the 6th March, 1957 “GHANA’S INDEPENDENCE MEANINGLESS UNLESS IT IS LINKED WITH TOTAL LIBERATION OF THE CONTINENT OF AFRICA”. From that moment, Kwame started the war-part of liberating Africa as a whole. Unlike the other African chiefs, war lords who sold their subjects into slavery and bonds of taskmasters in the plantations of the American continent, to land filled with injustice in the highest order. Where the whites in other to make an animal out of the black race, there by applying the DEVIL’S ARITHMETIC. A PRINCIPLE THAT ANIHILATES AND ERASES THE PAST OF AN INDIVIDUAL. THIS WAS THE SAME PRINCIPLES USED BY THE SLAVE OWNERS IN INDIA. Kwame sought the liberation and unity of the black race. He championed the course of the black people around the globe and lifted them from inferiority complex and squalor to self-esteem and dignity.Kwame made everybody somebody. Yes the black man was made proud. This was made evident when James Brown, the renowned musician, came out boldly to sing “I’m black and proud”. Dr. Kwame was an epitome of selflessness. With the meager resources of his small country Ghana, he sponsored freedom fighters all over Africa.
Kwame once served as the secretary general of the African Scholar’s union whilst in Britain. He was also the INITIATOR OF THE AFRICAN PERSONALITY. He gathered youths from all over Africa to train them for good leadership. He initiated the African youth command which aims at mobilizing all the forces within the African continent for her defense. He made Ghana a political holy land and opened her doors to any African who cared to visit or reside. He is also the initiator of the Organization Of The African Unity which has remained now as A.U meaning African Unity and has always will be the highest international body in Africa. HE WAS, INDEED, A PAN AFRICANIST
Kwame was selfless and looked charismatic. He declared every Blackman in Ghana as a Ghanaian as at independence. he also offered political appointments to any African provided one was capable. He diligently worked towards eradication of tribal sentiments and sought to bring it down to barest minimum. That is why Ghana having experienced steep economic recession and political stress, still has not encountered anything like civil war or anything like it. As at the time he was 50yrs ahead of the other African populace, therefore his people could not catch his vision and as a result could not embrace him. In his days, Africa was so dark and uncivilized that the first white that came to Africa thought the black man to be a brand of monkey.
Kwame was busy fighting for the liberalization of the whole black race not knowing that he was dealing with a people eaten and paralyzed by greed for success without working hard,
Great names of modern Africa, the likes of Robert Mugabe, Nelson Mandela, Samoral Matchel, Sam Nujoma, Mr. Nkomo Joseph, Rev. Desmond Tutu, to mention but a few, were all inspired and supported by Osagyefo Dr. Nkrumah Kwame.
Kwame was overthrown in a bloody coup de-tat which was staged by a collaboration of internal and external forces. I am going to say this without fear of contradiction that as long as African leaders cannot control their external image the continent will be still be under the influence of the western world. As long as they keep going to ask for grants from the western allies instead of looking to harness her enormous potentials in mineral deposits and building human capacity. The typical African settings in modern times are never an Original, in fairness we no longer have an identity but always imitating. As at the time of his overthrow, he was in Hanoi, on a peace keeping mission. His enemies and the enemies of African race as a whole then had the opportunity to smear him with so many false allegations in an effort to burying his achievements. He died in Conakry, Guinea, a poor man indeed and that without support in an organized DEVIL’S ARITHMETICS.
To the spirit of Africans, you will always be our mentor.
