Former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Nii Ayikoi Otoo says he will personally spearhead a process to change the recognition bestowed on Dr. Kwame Nkrumah as the Founder of Ghana.
He said the claim that Dr. Nkrumah foundered Ghana was a travesty and naked distortion of Ghana’s history which will be reversed when the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) regains power.
Mr. Ayikoi Otoo said Ghana’s first president was simply an opportunist who rode on the back of the hard work done by leaders of the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC) to rise to national fame.
The forebears of the NPP foundered the UGCC and invited Dr. Nkrumah to take the position of Secretary but he later broke away from the party to found the Convention People’s Party which ushered Ghana into independence.
There has also been the debate that the Mills administration recognized Dr. Kwame Nkrumah as founder of Ghana - a position the NPP vehemently disagrees with.
Mr. Ayikoi Otoo maintained Nkrumah took advantage of the parameters set by UGCC for his Independence Now campaign.
“We brought him [Nkrumah] down, paid his passage and paid him to act as a Secretary and his turned against us”.
But his description of Dr. Nkrumah’s position as opportunistic brought Malik Kweku Baako, an avowed CPP member to his feet.
“It is unfair,” he insisted, to describe Dr Nkrumah as opportunistic.
Contrary to the NPP's claims, Kwaku Baako said Dr. Nkrumah recognized the role the UGCC played in Ghana's independence struggle.
“Nkrumah was a tactician of a strategic proportion not an opportunist,” Kwaku stressed.
President John Atta Mills' government instituted September 21 as Founder's Day to celebrate the legacy of Dr Kwame Nkrumah.
But Mr Ayikoi Otoo, like many leaders of the opposition NPP, said the day should be Founders Day and dedicated to the memory of all the Big Six - Kwame Nkrumah, Ako Adjei, J.B. Danquah, Edward Akuffo Addo, Obetsebi Lamptey, and Ofori Atta - who made significant contributions to the independence struggle.
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