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President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has strongly refuted the idea that Ghana was founded by a single individual.
During his Founders’ Day address on Saturday, August 3, 2024, the president expressed his disagreement with the belief that Kwame Nkrumah singlehandedly founded Ghana.
In 2019, Parliament passed a law designating August 4 as Founders’ Day to honor the collective efforts of those who contributed to Ghana’s independence struggle, while September 21 was established as Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Day.
This decision led to protests from individuals and groups who uphold Nkrumah’s singular role in the country’s founding.
“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 that the struggle for our nation’s freedom was a collective effort spanning several generations,” the president said in his broadcast.
Akufo-Addo emphasized that groups such as Joseph Casely Hayford and Thomas Hutton-Mills’ British West African Nation Congress, among others, played significant roles in Ghana’s journey to freedom and independence.
“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.
“Kwame Nkrumah, with his charismatic visionary leadership, was undoubtedly a major actor in the final lap of our journey to independence. That is why, despite the several unfortunate events that occurred after independence under his watch, Parliament in 2019 decided to memorialize his date of birth as Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Day, the only Ghanaian so far to be so honored in our history,” he stated.
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