Nomad_Africa_Edition12

Kwame Nkrumah in 1957. His first government
under colonial rule started from 21 March 1952 until
independence. However, his first independent
government took office on 6 March 1957.
With constant imprisonments Nkrumah managed to
secure the position of Prime Minister of a new independent
Ghana, after the British government realized there was no
doing away with him.
ates by Lincoln University, Moscow State
University, Cairo University, Jagielloniaan
University in Krakow, Poland, and Humboldt
University in former East Germany.
POLITICAL STRUGGLE
Dr Nkrumah was invited to serve as the General
Secretary to the United Gold Coast Convention
(UGCC) under Dr Joseph Boakye
Danquah. He returned to Ghana in 1947 to
take up the position, but split from it in 1949
to form the Convention People's Party (CPP).
This was the beginning of the party’s constant
resistance towards its government.
In 1948, Nkrumah was arrested along with
other party members, after the police suspected
the party’s involvement in the recent
riots that spurred up in Accra, Kumasi and
other parts of the then Gold Coast. This happened
after police fired on a group of
protesting ex-serviceman. After he was released,
he started working passionately towards
the political and social betterment of
Gold Coast. Many cocoa farmers, trade
unions and women supported his way of
thinking.
In 1949, he formed a new party, The Convention
People’s Party. Nkrumah’s belief in
mobilising as many people as possible had
resulted in the raising of consciousness
among Ghanaians, many of whom soon
began to articulate political demands, which
were ahead of the United Gold Coast Convention
(UGCC). Whereas the latter’s policy
was centred on “self-government within the
shortest possible time”, demands were already
being made for "self-government
now".
After various imprisonments, Nkrumah managed
to secure the position of Prime Minister
of a new independent Ghana, after the
British government relinquished power. On
March 6 1957, Ghana was declared free by
the first Prime Minister of Ghana, Kwame
Nkrumah, as it became the first of Britain’s
colonies to gain independence.
Celebrations in Accra were the focus of
world attention with scores of international
reporters and photographers covering the
event. Richard Nixon represented United
States President Dwight D. Eisenhower at the
event, while the Duchess of Kent represented
Queen Elizabeth. Global congratulations
and offers of assistance poured in from
across the world, although Ghana was prosperous
already with cocoa prices high and
the potential of new resource development.
Martin Luther King, Jr., and his wife Coretta
Scott King were some of the notable guests
that attended Ghana’s independence ceremony.
King’s voyage was symbolic of a
growing global alliance of oppressed peoples
and was strategically well timed; his attendance
represented an attempt to
broaden the scope of the civil rights struggle
in the United States on the heels of the successful
Montgomery bus boycott. King identified
with Ghana’s struggle; furthermore, he
recognised a strong parallel between resistance
against European colonialism in Africa
and the struggle against racism in the United
States.
With years of hard work and political maneuvering,
he then declared his plans to
make Ghana a republic. The presidential
52 | www.nomadafricamag.com | ...Celebrating the world’s richest continent | Issue 12