The presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama, has pledged to incorporate the “Journey to Nkroful”, a festival in recognition of Dr Kwame Nkrumah’s birthday, into the national tourism calendar if given the nod in the December 7 election, this year.
He said the festival, which was celebrated privately in Nkroful, the hometown of Dr Nkrumah on September 21, would be recognised as a major event in honour of the country’s first president.
Mr Mahama was addressing a gathering of the chiefs and people of Nkroful in the Western Region last Saturday during the “Journey to Nkroful” festival held to commemorate the 115 birthday of Dr Nkrumah.
“This festival will become a Pan-African pilgrimage for people from all over the world to visit the birthplace of Dr Kwame Nkrumah,” he added.
Mr Mahama said that there were attempts by a group of people to dilute the role of Dr Nkrumah as the founder of the country’s independence history by introducing the idea of a big six.
He said while many, far beyond the big six, played significant roles in the independence struggle, Dr Nkrumah was the catalyst who brought the struggle to a head, resulting in the historical liberation of the country from colonial domination.
The vaunted big six, the former president said, were an accident of history, and not a united force, as some of them actively opposed Nkrumah’s vision of self-governance.
“The next NDC government will seek to remove the distortions in our history and restore Kwame Nkrumah to his rightful place in the history of Ghana,” he said to applause from the gathering.
Story by: Patrick Asford Boadu
