The Founder’s Day in Ghana should be scrapped… (If it cannot be made meaningful)

Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah
(Founder & First President of Modern Ghana)

Section of the country was thrown into a festive mood when Late President Professor John Evans Attah Mills by Executive Instrument instituted the Founder’s Day Holiday in Ghana in 2010. He did this to set September 21 aside as a holiday to recognize Kwame Nkrumah for his work toward the independence struggle of Ghana and the Liberation of the entire continent. Though members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) objected to the idea, they later shot themselves in the foot through contradictory statements.

Late President Prof. John Evans Mills
(He instituted the Founder's Day)

President John Dramani Mahama too on Friday September 21, 2012 directed the Minister of Interior then to prepare an amendment bill to Parliament that would strengthen Government to institute September 21 as a Founder’s Day on the national calendar. “If the proposal is passed by Parliament, government will no longer use an Executive Instrument to render the day as a holiday, and I want to believe that the next September 21, will be placed on the national calendar” he said.

President John D. Mahama
(He also strengthened the Founder's Day)

These are some of the things two administrations have done to protect and institutionalize the work and legacy of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah (Founder and First President of Modern Ghana). Yet their efforts after some years have yielded very little so long as the significance of the day is concerned. The day is seen as “another holiday in Ghana”. Nothing is learned and no lesson imparted to the youth and the elderly. The day is unplanned to drum home the importance of Nkrumah’s ideas and ideals to the coming generation. You don’t see symposium, Public Lectures and national debates going on in the country to sensitize and remind Ghanaians of the level of patriotism expected from us as a people with a very rich history.

Nkrumah and some of the compatriots at the Polo Ground

Dr. K. A Busia

Another thing worth remarking here is that, this day should not only be set aside for Dr. Kwame Nkrumah but also those whose ideas and actions helped him did what he did for Ghana and Africa. Spiritualists, traders, workers, ex-pats, nationalists, African’s in the Diaspora and those African Americans like W.E. B Dubois who shared in our pride and saw us as the beacon of confidence for all colored people in the world deserve remembrance on this all-important day. Some of these persons may have opposed and worked against him for the express love of Ghana yet they helped to strengthen his back. After all that’s how Ghanaians are as a people. We so believe in our ideas and ideals that we do unimaginable and impossible things to oppose the other. Dr. J. B. Danquah, Dr. K. A Busia, Nii Obetsebi Lamptey, Paa Grant, and Krobo Edusei etc. should all be remembered on this day. Know that: Nkrumah was one such leader who didn’t ascribe every good thing to himself. Nkrumah believed in the efficacy of the Blackman to changing his/her own situation by dint of mental determination, team-work, will-power, hope and hard work. Nkrumah would have objected to the kind of celebration is pulled by the leadership of Ghana.

The big six of Ghana

It’s better a well-thought out and meaningful celebration than this meaningless one. We spend money on un-important events in the county yet when it comes to programs that will help inch our country forward we assume the usual back-stabbing, back-stepping and side-stepping stance. Our leadership needs to outgrow from this mind-warped acts. We need to rid our national holiday calendar of the issue of “Founder’s Day Holiday” if we cannot make it meaningful to enliven the name and memory of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah (Founder and First President of Modern Ghana). President Mahama should up his game by doing more than his current indifferent attitude. Government should go beyond mere rhetoric to address the issue of mis-education that has grown deep about the role of Osagyefo Dr. Nkrumah.

Late President Prof. John Mills

“We need thinkers, thinkers of good thought; we need doers, doers of good deeds. What use is your education if you cannot help (Ghana) in her hour of need?” – Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. Let’s do more for Ghana and Africa. They need our guidance and action.