The Late Kwameh Nkrumah

Kwameh Nkrumah’s Independence Speech (March 6, 1957).

 

Today, The African Executive begins a coverage of speeches made by African leaders at independence. The speeches made at the eve of independence were inspiring and raised the hope of African people. But what are the hard realities today- in the post colonial era?

 

“At long last the battle has ended. And this Ghana, your beloved country is free forever. And here again I want to take the opportunity to thank the chiefs and people of this country, youth, the farmers, the woman who have so nobly fought and won this battle.

 

"Also, I want to thank the various ex-servicemen who have also struggled with me in this mighty task of freeing our country from foreign rule and imperialism. And as I pointed out at our party conference, I made it quite clear that from now on, from today, we must change our attitude - our mind.

 

We must realize that from now on, we are no more a colony but a free and independent people. But as I pointed out, that also entails hard work. I am depending upon the millions of people to help me to reshape the destiny of this country.

 

"We are prepared to build an African nation that will be respected by every other nation in the world. We know we are going to have difficult beginnings, but again I am relying upon your support. I am relying upon your hard work!

 

"Seeing you in these thousands, it doesn't matter how far my eye goes, but I can see that you are here in your millions, so that we can prove to the world that when an African is given the chance he can show the world that he is somebody. We shall no longer go to sleep any more. We shall show the world that the African man is capable of managing his own affairs. We are going to demonstrate to the world- to the other nations, now, that we are building our own foundations. As I said in the Assembly twelve months ago, I made it frank that we are going to create our own African personality and identity.

 

"It's the only way, which can show the world that we are ready for our own battle.

 

"But today may I call upon you all, that, on this great day - let us all remember that nothing requires to be done unless It has the support of God.

 

"We have done the battle and we again rededicate ourselves not only in the struggle to emancipate all the countries in Africa; our independence is meaningless unless it is linked up totally with that of the African continent.

 

"Let us now, fellow Ghanaians, let us now, ask for God's blessings, and for only two seconds in your thousands and millions, I want to ask you to pause only for one minute and give thanks to the Almighty God for having led us through - obstacles, difficulties, infringements, hardships and sufferings.

 

"To have brought us to the end of our troubles today,"

 

One minute silence).

 

"Ghana is free forever!

 

"I want simply to thank those who have come from abroad to witness this occasion. Here I wish I could quote Marcus Garvey; Once upon a time he looked around the whole world to find a government of the black people and didn't find one, and he

 

"Marcus Garvey did not succeed, but here today the work of Luther, Hayford, the work of all the nationalists who have gone a head of us, has come to reality at this very moment!"

 

Question of the week

 

“We shall show the world that the African man is capable of managing his own affairs… we are going to create our own African personality and identity.” Kwameh.

 

Were Nkrumah's promises realized in Ghana? With 200 million Africans facing starvation and Chad, Sudan and Zimbabwe imploding, is the African demonstrating that he is able to manage his own affairs?Do Africans have an identity? Mail your answers to editor@africanexecutive.com