Nkrumah's birthday as national holiday?

Accra, Sept. 20, GNA - Dr Matthew Narh Tetteh, a Former Senior Details Officer of Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, on Wednesday appealed to President Mr John Agyekum Kufuor and the Government to re-instate September 21 as a national holiday in celebration of the birthday Dr Kwame Nkrumah, founder of modern Ghana.

Dr Tetteh's call comes on the eve of the 97th birthday of Ghana's First President.

He also appealed to Ghanaians to give their full support to the celebration of Ghana's golden jubilee, which comes off next year. Dr Tetteh made the appeal in a paper, titled: "Is Nkrumah's Philosophy and Ideology Still Relevant to the Politics of Africa Today?" presented at the fourth international conference and awards ceremony on Osagyefo Nkrumah held in Accra on Wednesday.

The conference was organised jointly by the West Africa International Magazine and Kwame Nkrumah Vision Alive, an organisation dedicated to promoting the ideals of Dr Nkrumah.

Dr Tetteh said philosophically, Osagyefo Nkrumah represented a controversial character. "Nkrumah's origin, his environment and approach to philosophy made it more difficult for his philosophy, ideology and direction to be easily understood by his opponents at the right time, especially the Western philosophies and those still under the routine influences of them".

Dr Tetteh said Osagyefo Nkrumah was speaking 100 years ahead of time, meaning that his philosophies and ideology were solutions for today and even years to come.

He expressed regret that soon after the overthrow of Osagyefo Nkrumah in 1966, the succeeding political administration rather declared Ghanaian doctors, who were trained in the former Soviet Union as unqualified and unfit to practice in Ghana.

"The irony of it all is that today the same Soviet-trained medical doctors, together with other health workers, who were trained locally in Ghana, are trooping out of Ghana year by year to practice under Western induced conditions, while at the same time students are still being trained in the Soviet Union, now Russian Republics."

Mr Justice Abdul Fatayi Kuti, a Professor at Law, said African nations should pursue independent foreign policies as Osagyefo Nkrumah propagated in his policy of non-alignment.

He said the birth of Osagyfo Dr Kwame Nkrumah was a new phenomenon for Africa, and urged other African countries to emulate Ghana as their model of development.

Mr Justice Kuti underlined transparency in governance, rights and political education and called on Africans and their leaders to mutually see each other as partners in development.

The citizenry should not overly criticise their leaders, while the leaders must exhibit transparency to win the confidence of the people. Mr Justice Kuti said civilians had instigated the military to overthrow democratic governments and prayed that never in the history of Africa should democracy fail again.

Dr Kwame Otibu-Asare, Founder of Nkrumah-Vision-Alive Movement, said Africans had awoken to the philosophical wisdom of Osagyefo Dr Nkrumah, adding that he carried the sum total of Africa's disabilities as a people, and gave full expression to the nobility and humanist spirit of Africa and the Black Race.