It is good news for progressive Africa that Ghana has declared today a public holiday to celebrate the country’s first president, Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah.
Born in Nkroful in the western region of Ghana, Nkrumah emerged as a rallying point for the Ghanaian nation. By this act, Ghana has amply demonstrated that it is a nation fully conscious of its history. But the significance of Nkrumah transcends the shores of Ghana. There is a universal acclaim of his historical stature as the foremost Pan-Africanist in the last century. In December 1999, listeners of the British Broadcasting Corporation BBC radio service in Africa voted Nkrumah as the “Man of the Millennium.”
It has been well established that the essential Nkrumah could be distilled from the three concentric circles of his achievements. The inner most concentric circle was that of Ghana. At that level, Nkrumah proved that governance could be executed for the purpose of people-centred development. In the world of Nkrumah, the pursuit of the common good was the raison d’etre of government. He mobilised the people with his philosophy of “positive action.
Ironically, Nkrumah himself was conscious of the fact that imperialism was not comfortable with the progressive advance he was making in the realm of governance. This was evident in his many books especially Neo-Colonialism; The Highest State of Imperialism, which was published at the eve of the coup.
To be sure, Nkrumah’s preferred path to development had a central role for the state. He knew that after the ruins of World War II, western powers did nor leave the well-being of their people to market forces. Instead the welfare state was built in Europe. The British National Health Service is a product of the era of the supremacy of the welfare state. Healthcare delivery was not a profit-making game.
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