Emmanuel Felix Kofi Mantey, Communications Director for the Progressive People’s Party (PPP), has criticised President Akufo-Addo for firmly rejecting that Dr. Kwame Nkrumah is Ghana’s founder.
He says the position taken by the president is not only divisive but an attempt to distort our long-standing history.
Speaking in an interview on Frontline on Rainbow Radio 87.5FM, he said: “Every Ghanaian has a right, and so if President Akufo-Addo has decided to reject the long-standing history that we know, which is neither a fiction nor an assumption that Kwame Nkrumah is the founder of Ghana, then it is the up to him.”
He said, “This argument of the president rejecting this notion is pure hypocrisy because some senior members of his party support it.
He indicated that even the former President and the late Jerry John Rawlings, who was a known radical, as well as former President John Agyekum Kufour, did not drive this agenda.
“And so if President Akufo-Addo is daydreaming and rejecting our long-standing history, let him keep dreaming. We should not entertain him. Let us not entertain these divisive comments and distortions of our history. It will not bring food to our tables as Ghanaians.”
He admitted that the struggle for independence and our freedom from colonial rule was a collective fight; however, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah was the main person who led the fight.
“Whenever Akufo-Addo hears the name of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, he becomes uncomfortable. Since he assumed office in 2017, he has scrapped Republic Day and distorted our history. What else does he want? He shouldn’t destroy our history and heritage as a people. Any society that does not cherish its heroes, such as Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, for their contributions, then we are lost in our identity, and there would be division all over, and we should not entertain that at all.”
He told host Kwabena Agyapong that “we acknowledge the role of others, but Kwame Nkrumah is recognised as the founder of Ghana, and no amount of propaganda or war will change the fact that Kwame Nkrumah is the founder of Ghana. As a political party born out of the Convention People’s Party, we did not say we were Nkrumahists, but we also did not fail to appreciate and recognise Kwame Nkrumah as the founder of Ghana. It doesn’t change anything. Nkrumah was a socialist, and we are pragmatists.
However, it is a settled debate that Dr. Kwame Nkrumah is the founder of Ghana. It is in the Guinness World Book of Records; it is written in history and documented; and if you don’t read or deliberately try to ignore the rant, Kwame Nkrumah is not the founder. We should not encourage this propaganda and divisive attempt by the President.”
Dr. Kwame Nkrumah spearheaded the independence of Ghana. All these things are there, so why are we worrying ourselves about them? Would that put food on our table? Whenever the debate over the founder of Ghana comes up, it instigates confusion, and that is what I suspect the president has to do with his comments. He wants to create confusion in our history and identity.”
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
