Kwame Nkrumah On a Soviet postage Stamp
The history of ghana is one of sadness and tragedy , of unneccessary trajedy. The post Independence history is that uncommon case of a charismatic leader feeding the populace on a fantasy that it takes decades to recover from. In Argentina it was juan Peron.
Juan Peron (!875-!974), Argentina
Before going into details of Nkrumah era it is helpful to get some perspective on the nature of the fantasy that has entrapped so many countries. A major legacy and burden of tribal and feudalistic societies is the notion that leaders have the power to solve problems and bring justice. But there is no such magic wand that by cutting the roots of a tree one can get fruits from it.The romance of third world leaders with socialism is just an attempt to create the status of the country without developing the economy of the people who lives in the country, i.e. the poor section of the people.
Life of Kwame Nkrumah ;Nkrumah was born born in Nkroful of parents, kofi ngonloma, a godsmith and Elizabeth Nyaniba, a sales person, who was great inspiration to him. He first attended a elementary School at Half Assini where his father worked as a Golsmith. A German Roman Catholic Priest , George Fischer, significantly influenced his elementary school education. He obtained Teacher's certificate from the Prince of wales college at Achimota, Accra, in 1930. He became a teacher in Roman Catholic School, Elmina in 1931 and later a Head Teacher of Roman Catholic Junior School Axim.then a teacher in Roman Catholic Seminary, Amisano in 1932. In 1935, he left Ghana for USA and received BA from Lincoln University, Pennsyvania, in 1939 where he pledged the Mu Chapter of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity and received an STB (Bachelor of Sacred Theology) in 1942 and obtained Master of Science in educationfrom the University of Pennsylvania in the same year and a Master of Arts in Philosophy in the following year.
While he was a lecturer in Political Science in Lincoln University, he was elected President of the African Students' Organisation of America and Canada. While as a student he wrote and published in Student news Paper, The Lincolnian, an essay on European Goverment in Africa .
During his stay in USA, he preached at black presbyterian Churches in Philadelphia and new york. He read books about politics and divinity and tutored students in philosophy. Nkrumah encountered the ideas of Marcus Garvey and met met him in 1943 and began a lengthy corespondence with Trinidadian Marxist and others, all of them were US based Trtskyist intellectuals and got training for underground movement.
He arrive in London In 1945 to study at the LSE but after meeting with George Padmore, he helped organise the Fifth Pan-african Congress in Manchester, England. Then he founded the west African national Secretariat to work for the decolonization of Africa. Nktrumah acted as Vice-president of the West African Students' Union (WASU).
Over his life time ,he was awarded honorary doctorates by Lincol University, Moscow State University, cairo University, Egypt, Jagiellonian University in Krkow, Poland, Humboldt University (former east Berlin) and other universities.
