Human resource development, Nkrumah's priority

Sekondi, March 21, GNA - Ghana's first President, Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah has been credited for introducing free education and other social interventions that facilitated the building of the human resource capacities of Ghana for the challenges ahead. Dr. Raymond Osei, Dean of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Cape Coast, who made this known in Sekondi said: "Ghana lacked the requisite human resource at independence and there was the need to develop a critical group that could assist. transform the country from a colony to a state." Dr. Osei was delivering a lecture at the Kwame Nkrumah Centenary Campus lectures, organised by the Students Representation Council of Takoradi Polytechnic in collaboration with the All African Students Union at the weekend.

It was on the theme: "His ideas, his vision, his times and the record." He said Ghana could not have adopted the capitalist ideology at independence because the country, did not have the people who were financially capable to follow such an ideology.

He noted that socialism, is almost the same as the traditional value system in Ghana that views every person in society as brethren. Dr. Osei said socialism was ideal for many developing nations since it created a sense of belongingness and gave them control over their resources. He explained that without socialism, it would have been difficult for Ghana, to achieve and build its own foundation for accelerated development. "Even today, most capitalist governments and countries still promote socialism with the provision of healthcare, public transport systems, social security. to ease the burden of capitalism on the people," he stressed. Dr. Osei noted that no successive government had broken the development record of Dr. Nkrumah during his nine years of socialist rule. Mr. Haruna Iddrisu, Minister of Communications said though the US preaches capitalism, it has several socialist ideologies in its system of governance.

He said the establishment of Ghana Education Trust schools, state corporations, roads, hospitals and factories were all aimed at making the country self-sufficient, less reliable on foreign countries and assisted in creating employment opportunities for Ghanaians. Mr. Iddrisu said the focus of Dr. Nkrumah towards the unification of the African Continent was aimed at uniting the Region against foreign powers and influences. 21 March 10