Nkrumah is founder of Ghana – CPP

The Convention People’s Party has condemned President Akufo Addo for his claim that Ghana’s first president, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, who led the country’s independence struggle was not the Founder of the country

President Nana Akufo Addo had reignited the debate on the debate on the founder of Ghana by declaring that Ghana’s first president, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah who led the fight for independence cannot be described as the Founder of the country.

In an address to commemorate this year’s Founders’ Day on Saturday, President Akufo Addo said “I speak to you this evening, rejecting completely, the notion that Ghana was founded by one man. While Kwame Nkrumah’s contributions to our independence are undeniable, it is important to acknowledge for ourselves that respect that the struggle for our nation’s freedom was a collective effort spanning several generations”.

“The formation of the Aborigines Rights Protection, the British West African Nation Congress, the United Gold Coast Convention, the work of countless unsung heroes, and the tenacious spirit of our people all played vital parts in bringing us to freedom and independence,” he added.

But in statement, the CPP said, “the whole world knows who the Osagyefo is, and that he founded this country and named it Ghana, after the old Ghana Empire, on the eve of our independence of 6th March 1957. This was after countless attempts were made by the antecedents of the NPP, made up of Dr. J.B. Danquah and other elements of the UP tradition, to stop Ghana from gaining independence”.

The CPP described as an unfortunate gaffe, the reasoning by the President that because the independence struggle was a collective effort the spanned several decades, Dr. Nkrumah cannot be described as the Founder of Ghana.

The statement added that “coming so soon after the statement on an NPP campaign platform, where our great Founder was referred to as ‘mu Kwame Nkrumah’, it is evident that the President and his party have concluded that they want nothing to do with the Great Osagyefo and his vision of true economic, social, and political freedom and prosperity for Ghana, Africa, and the marginalised worldwide.”