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Western Regional Minister, Hon. Dr. Kwaku Afriyie joining the debate on who founded Ghana’s independence has expressed his disappointment in the way the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has added tribal sentiment to the debate.

According to the former Minister of Health, the historical fact about the independence of Ghana has been distorted due to the dominance of the political left beginning from Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Acheampong and others.

Speaking on Okay FM’s Ade Akye Abia Morning Show, Dr. Kwaku Afriyie revealed that some of the descendants of the UGCC, NLM and UP Tradition wanted former President John Agyekum Kufuor to do what President Akufo Addo is doing now but he [Kufuor] decided to wait for a while.

He strongly stated that the independence movement of Ghana precedes Dr. Kwame Nkrumah; thus the descendants of UGCC, NLM and UP Tradition can equally lay claim to Nkrumah as “we discovered his talent and brought him to Ghana, then Gold Coast”.

“Let me ask this fundamental question, before Nkrumah came, what was the goal of UGCC? Was it not the same independence struggle we were looking for? The tactics for independence changed and not the strategy”, he averred.

“Nkrumah said independence insight and UGCC said was insight but we didn’t want to suffer after independence but the youth sided with Nkrumah’s tactics of independence and then led the nation to independence”, he explained.

He further said that insofar as Nkrumah’s contribution and his political stature on the international stage cannot be disputed as he attained them for being the first President of Ghana, nobody can also dispute the contribution of the likes of JB Danquah, RS Blay and Paa Grant in particular.

He maintained that Dr. Kwame Nkrumah’s international recognition of being the founder of Ghana was made possible when he had the opportunity to engage other African countries as the first President of Ghana.

He again asserted that “Nkrumah started with the mindset that he is the founder when his image was put on our coin with Latin words which translate to mean ‘Ghana’s Founder’; it started from there”.
“When you check our history, the political lefts have dominated our history from Nkrumah and Acheampong who overthrew Busia. Some of us evolved from political left and discovered market place ideology”, he indicated.

He however was of the view that, inasmuch as both the political left and the political right have contributed to the development of the country, it is very important to set the historical fact right by making sure that the new generation know the history behind Ghana’s independence.

He insisted that the contributions of Paa Grant, RS Blay and JB Danquah others are very significant and phenomenal, especially when they started a movement towards attaining independence for the country.

“Akufo Addo wants to correct historical distortion of who founded Ghana’s independence and it is only coincidental that his relatives are part of the history. Nkrumah Memorial Day is rather enhancing his stature and his exceptional role and contribution for the country but we cannot deny those nationalists who also fought hard for our independence”, he argued.