Founder's, Founders' Not Necessary.....They Should Rather Be 'Independence Leaders' - Nana Akomea

Chief Executive Officer of the Intercity STC, Nana Akomea says Ghana's first President Dr. Kwame Nkrumah is not the founder of the country as widely known by the citizenry.

Dr. Kwame Nkrumah is held in high esteem as the founder of Ghana for his immense role in the country's independence from the British colony. 

As a result, every Founder's Day was to remember Dr. Nkrumah until President Nana Addo came into power in 2017 and canceled the practice, ensuring Ghanaians accord his (Kwame Nkrumah) collaborators the same attention.

Therefore, August 4th is a national public holiday to commemorate the contributions of all the people who led the struggle for Ghana's independence, notably called the "Big Six". 

However, not to downplay the great effort by Dr. Kwame Nkrumah in the struggle, September 21st has been named Nkrumah's Birthday and is a statutory holiday as well.

This notwithstanding, the debate about whether August 4th should be Founder's Day or Founders' Day remain unabated and particularly when tomorrow, September 21, 2022 is to be declared a national holiday; 'Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Day' discussion was revived on "Kokrokoo" show on Peace FM Tuesday morning.

To the STC Boss, calling Dr. Nkrumah the founder of Ghana is a violation of the country's history.

"Let's even accept that we (Ghana) have a Founder but it can't be only one person of the name Kwame Nkrumah. I don't believe that. In fact, the history doesn't support that only one person brought us our independence," he said.

He explained that celebrating all the actors in Ghana's struggle for independence is the right way to go, hence applauding the Akufo-Addo administration for re-naming August 4th as 'Founders' Day'.

As to what to call Dr. Kwame Nkrumah regarding the topic of whether or not he is the Founder of Ghana, Nana Akomea asserted; "The people who led us to 6th March are independence leaders but we have taken it as Founders' Day and fighting over it. The basis for my statement is that before the people came, the country was already existing as Gold Coast and when they came too, Gold Coast which today called Ghana is the same country that's there. When you take Africa, we are not the only ones who had independence.

"Togo also got independence, so if you call yourself the founder because you led us into independence, it means Robert Mugabe is founder of Zimbabwe. Nelson Mandela is the founder of South Africa . . . But there is nothing like that. I haven't heard anywhere that Nelson Mandela founded South Africa or Kenneth Kaunda is the founder of Zambia. They are all independence leaders."