Stop Founders’ Day debate and fix the economy – Prof. Agyemang-Duah to politicians

Former Senior Advisor at the United Nations, and Chief Executive Officer of the John A. Kufuor Foundation, Professor Baffour Agyeman-Duah has admonished politicians to prioritise the issues that affect the lives of Ghanaian, especially on the economy. According to him, the debates on the recent issue surrounding Founders’ Day in Ghana is needless.

Speaking on Key Points on TV3 today, August 10, 2024, politicians should desist from drawing citizens into needless debates, and cautioned them against attempting to rewrite Ghana’s history.

“Our leaders must lead us in such a way that they do not draw us into needless debates especially, we should not seek to rewrite our history,” he said.

He also added, “Politicians do not write history, there are very important challenges that we are facing and that should be our focus. Our economy has been wobbling for the past decades, it is true that it is more challenging lately…we should look at how to develop an economy that is not dependent on the global economy, we initiate domestic policies.”

His comments follow President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s objection to the notion that Ghana was founded by one man.

Nana Addo asserts Kwame Nkrumah is not the only founder of Ghana

In the president’s 2024 Founders’ Day address on Saturday, August 3, Nana Addo objected to the assertion that Ghana was founded by Dr Kwame Nkrumah.

In 2019, Parliament passed a law establishing August 4 as Founders’ Day to honour the collective efforts of those who contributed to Ghana’s independence struggle, while designating September 21 as Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Day.

This decision sparked protests from some individuals and groups who believe in Nkrumah’s singular role in the country’s founding.

“I speak to you this evening, rejecting completely, the notion that Ghana was founded by one man. While Kwame Nkrumah’s contributions to our independence are undeniable, it is important to acknowledge for ourselves that respect that the struggle for our nation’s freedom was a collective effort spanning several generations,” the president stated in his address.

“The formation of the Aborigines Rights Protection, the British West African Nation Congress, the United Gold Coast Convention, the work of countless unsung heroes, and the tenacious spirit of our people all played vital parts in bringing us to freedom and independence.”

“Kwame Nkrumah with his charismatic visionary leadership was undoubtedly a major actor in the final lap of our journey to independence and that is why despite the several unfortunate things that happened after independence under his watch, Parliament in 2019, decided to memorialise his date of birth as Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Day, the only Ghanaian so far to be so honoured in our history,” he stated.

In the president’s address, he emphasised argued that groups including Joseph Casely Hayford and Thomas Hutton-Mills’ British West African Nation Congress and several others contributed to Ghana’s freedom and subsequent independence.

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