By Kofi Akordor
SEPTEMBER 21 has passed as the centenary of the birth of Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, the first President of the Republic of Ghana, and the first Founder’s Day celebration in the country.
The success or otherwise of the twin events may be open to debate by those who care for an impartial and objective examination and analysis. It is, however, easy to stick out one’s neck to say that the celebration did not receive the national enthusiasm that was expected of an event connected with the birthday of Dr Nkrumah. More so, when this was the first Founder’s Day to be observed to commemorate the birthday of the man who led Black Africa’s first country, south of the Sahara to independence from colonial rule.
Not that the Planning Committee, headed by Professor Akilakpa Sawyerr, with the short time at its disposal, did not try hard enough. The truth, however, is that Nkrumah still remains an enigma. The mention of his name evokes mixed emotions. There are those, who in his death, have not forgiven him. Some would not even forget, let alone forgive. He who feels it, knows it, so nobody could begrudge those who do not want to forget the pain they went through because of the arrest of their relatives, friends on the real or assumed of President Nkrumah.
There are others who, for purely political reasons, will never see eye to eye with Nkrumah, not even when he had been lying in his grave for over three decades. Remember some people who claimed to be his sponsors wanted this country, then the Gold Coast, to march slowly to independence. The shortest possible time (when would that ever be), they argued. Some wanted this country at independence to be fragmented into federal states when Nkrumah said: “No Way. We create and share. Together we stand, divided we fall.” Others will never forgive him for his free and universal education for all policy. To such people, it ought to be each one for himself, God for us all. For those people, Nkrumah was never a great leader, because he opposed that view. At best, he should be equated with others.
On the other side are the near-fanatics. Nkrumah is Ghana and Ghana is Nkrumah. These people are quick to point at the speed with which Nkrumah was leading newly independent Ghana into a middle-income status and beyond. Every sector was moving fast – education, agriculture, health, science and technology, social services such as roads and water supply, and industrial establishments such as ports and harbours. So even though the image of the man is receding fast into history, they are always ready to blow Nkrumah’s trumpet at the least opportunity.
Nkrumah as a human being had his positive and negative parts. As a human being, he had his survival instincts, so when he felt his life threatened, he reacted accordingly. That is how he became ‘wicked’ in the eyes of some people. As a human being, he enjoyed being worshipped. So in a way, he became a dictator. There is something, however, about Nkrumah which very few people will try to dilute — his determination, by deeds and words, to see this country and other African countries become truly independent — politically and economically.
Apart from the national holiday which was enjoyed by all, there was a lack of unanimity in the celebration, partly because of the reasons mentioned earlier and partly because the development of this country, in comparison with its contemporaries, has stagnated so much so that there was not much to celebrate on the centenary of the birthday of the man who led the country’s struggle to independence.
Ghanaians have treated Nkrumah’s centenary the same way they treated the country’s Golden Jubilee — with total indifference. What is there to celebrate? Many would ask, when we are lagging so far behind others who started with us? What is there to celebrate in 2009, if after 52 years of independence we still have to resort to using food as a bait to attract pupils into the classrooms? What is there to celebrate if after 52 years, we are still saddled with heavy debts of Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), the only one built in the 1960s, when South Korea, which started with us, could boast of more than 20 giant refineries today?
They ask, what do we celebrate, when as a nation we could not build any road close to the Accra-Tema Motorway after Nkrumah, and all we could do now is to waste our national efforts worrying about toll collection on the only motorway in the country? They have legitimate reason not to be enthusiastic about the celebration, if after Nkrumah, the two new state universities after him -- the University for Development Studies (UDS) and the University of Education, Winneba (UEW) are left in structures bequeathed to them by the Nkrumah regime? The questions are many, depicting the frustrations of many Ghanaians who have seen the hope and promise of independence whittle away over the years through bad, uninspiring, incompetent and corrupt political leadership.
Most of the legacies of Nkrumah have been abandoned to rot; others mortgaged and the rest sold to the highest bidder. His birth place, Nkroful, in the Western Region, could easily have become a money-spinning, soul-inspiring tourist zone if we were serious as a people. The Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum right here in the heart of Accra had to be rehabilitated in a hurry to prepare for the foreign visitors who may have laughed at what could easily have been a national disgrace.
The organisation itself cannot be described as the best. It could, however, be argued that the planning committee had a short time to do its work. Two, with the experience of Ghana@50 as a guide, not much funds could be committed to the celebration. It is the hope of Ghanaians that next year’s celebration of the Founder’s Day, which will also feature on the African Union’s calendar of activities, would be better planned and celebrated.
The World Tourism Day celebration has also come and gone and many are wondering whether the country made any gains. As usual, all that we could showcase with pride was colonial castles and forts which serve as reminders of our colonial and slave history. The real tourism attractions remain treasures hidden all over the country, but inaccessible to adventurers and leisure and pleasure seekers.
Our definition of tourism, as it seems, does not go beyond cultural dances by a folkloric group or schoolchildren clad in thin cloth to chest level. Where are the roads to the game reserves, the waterfalls and to the scenic beauties of Amedzofe and Afadzato? What is happening to the vast expanse of the Volta Lake and the islands dotted in it?
We have heard of Dodi Island, Boti Falls, Wli Falls, Mole Game Park, the Kakum Forest Bridge and the rest. What are the facilities in these places doing to attract internal tourism or foreign visitors? Is it possible to drive to any of these places with ease to celebrate a weekend with one’s family?
Tourism has a big place in Ghana’s economy and could easily surpass the revenue generated from the traditional cocoa and minerals if serious attention could be paid to its development. It also has the potential for reducing rural poverty and bridging the rural-urban disparity in national development.
What is needed is a little bit of imaginative and bold decisions which would take tourism development beyond boardroom meetings, workshops and seminars to the fields where action is called for.
For us to have a whole ministry to oversee tourism development means we know the prospects and gains. The truth, however, is that our tourism industry is still in a primitive stage. We need to do more than we are doing.
The World Tourism Day has come and gone, but to many, it is still a coming event because very little was seen of it. Nkrumah’s centenary and Founder’s Day, coming so close to World Tourism Day celebration in Ghana, should have made the country a centre of global attention for the one-week period. I do not think we got close to that. These are opportunities other countries would not want to miss, but we take them for granted.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
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