Dr. Sekou Nkrumah: There Is No Need For Nkrumah’s Statue Now

Son of Ghana's first President, Dr. Sekou Nkrumah has made a passionate call on President Mahama and government to address the needs of Ghanaians at the expense of erecting a statue of his father which he says has no “direct relevance” to the nation’s progress.

Relaying his information in an interview with Okay FM, he charged government to focus on resolving the water and energy crises crippling the economy, rather than raising a statue of Ghana’s first President, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle.

He believes putting up another monument for Osagyefo Nkrumah is a complete diversion of attention from tackling the challenges confronting the Ghanaian citizenry and so, posited that President Mahama should put his priorities in order.

Speaking to host Kwame Nkrumah “Tikese” on Okay FM’s newspaper Review, Sekou Nkrumah stuck firmly to his assertions stating that; “There’s been a lot done for Nkrumah in Ghana and outside. I don’t think we need to continue drumming that point…What Nkrumah was representing was really the development of this country; infrastructure, the foundation for the growth of this nation.

“The issue is that focusing on putting a statue at the Kwame Nkrumah circle of Nkrumah while people are struggling with basic necessities of life, I don’t think it’s a proper thing,” he said.

He appealed to government not to pay so much attention to “putting up statues of Nkrumah while we have so many other statues of Nkrumah anyway.”

In furtherance of his position, he explained that; “At this particular moment when most Ghanaians are struggling with basic needs like water and electricity. Most people are going without water for months. Many people are suffering this electricity being put on and off and so on. It’s affecting not only people at homes but also at work, productivity and so on… So, if we want to honour his memory, I think we should be paying more attention and that this goes for government to put in place the necessary infrastructure.”

He therefore advised President John Mahama to shift his priorities on outlining solutions to counteract the challenges hindering the progress of the economy, particularly in the energy and water sectors.

“Government should put his priorities in order and tackle them. The ones that are more necessary should be tackled first and those that when there’s enough wealth for us to share, when the channel of living is high, then we as a country also can think of putting up statues and things of that sort.” he stressed.

President John Dramani Mahama on Tuesday, February 14, announced that government would this year mount a statue of Ghana's first President Dr. Kwame Nkrumah at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle.

He indicated that the statue, similar to the one erected at the African Union (AU) headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, would serve as a lasting memory to the former President.

The President also revealed that he had presented an Amendment to the Holidays Act to Parliament to make Nkrumah's birthday a statutory one, something he said would avoid the frequent signing of Executive instruments to declare his birthday as a holiday.

Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana