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In commemoration of the centenary celebration of Ghana�s foremost President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, the Convention People�s Party (CPP) has described their first flagbearer as a politician who did not see politics as an avenue to make money. �Nkrumah did not see politics as a �dirty game� from which he should shy away into other comfortable jobs, for which he was immensely qualified to do, he did not also see politics as an avenue to make money or wealth for himself and his family, he left neither mansions nor bank accounts.� It stressed. In a statement signed by the CPP Chairman, Mr Ladi Nylander on Friday, it stated that Dr Nkrumah saw politics as a calling to serve humanity. �In his particular case, to serve his people by engaging in a struggle against colonialism and subjugation in Ghana, and to aspire for a better life in a United Africa. He was perhaps, a Moses given to us by God, but who was not well understood by his own people. His political struggles from the US, Britain and to Ghana between 1927 and 1947 were to prepare him for this service to his God and country�, it insisted. Today has been declared as a public holiday in commemoration of the 100th birthday of Ghana�s first President. The CPP was thankful to President John Evans Atta Mills for declared today as a public holiday in honour of Dr Nkrumah. Giving the background of Dr Nkrumah, the statement intimated that Ghana�s first President was born to a very simple parentage of a goldsmith and a housewife in Nkroful in the Western Region. The statement noted that through perseverance, he educated himself to the highest level, both at home and abroad in the US, acquiring many academic degrees in various Universities. It continued that Nkrumah�s political struggles from 1927 to 1947 were to prepare the Osagyefo for the task ahead. �When he returned to the Gold Coast in 1947 at the invitation of the elders of the U.G.C.C., such as Paa Grant, J.B. Danquah and Ako Adjei, he came determined to serve the cause of mankind by devoting himself totally to the struggle for independence. He was impatient for results and suffered greatly at the hands of both the colonialists, and his own people. He was imprisoned several times and suffered many bomb and verbal attacks. But he persevered and within a short space of 10 years, until Ghana won its independence in 1957, as the first Black Country to do so,� the statement emphasised. It was emphatic that Nkrumah was instrumental in the push for pan-African agenda that resulted in the rampant refusal of colonialism on the continent. The statement further said, under the administration of Nkrumah, Ghana made remarkable success in economic, scientific, technological and educational development. �His uncompromising stand for a one and united Ghana should be a pillar of our nation building, and indeed, for this, the CPP calls on all our brethren in the conflict zones of the country and other parts of Africa to let the light set by Nkrumah be a guiding light towards peace and national unit,� noted the statement. In a related development, a leading member of the opposition New Patriotic Party and former Minister of Health, Major Courage E.K. Quashigah (Rtd) has called on Ghanaians to put behind them all misgivings about Dr Nkrumah, and rather focus on what he stood for. In a statement signed by Major Quashigah yesterday, it noted that Nkrumah�s good deeds far outweigh his perceived misdeeds. �He was one leader who was not afraid of the future and certainly was never a slave of the past. President Barrack Obama said these words recently, almost 43 years after the overthrow of President Nkrumah,� he reiterated. �As a member of the young pioneer movement, I was so fond of Dr Nkrumah, particularly the way he dressed and spoke, and perhaps even more the positive impact that the movement made on my life,� it remarked. The statement was of the view that the Young Pioneer Movement�s code of discipline, which included Love for country, Discipline, Honesty, Morality and Punctuality could be inculcated in the youth to prepare them for the future leadership of Ghana. It intimated that the coup of 1966 that removed Dr Nkrumah has set Ghana back several years. �That was the coup that initiated more of the military takeovers in Ghana, none of which has brought anything better to Ghana. The unfortunate thing, however, is that the multiparty democracy we have accepted brings with it similar features of a military take over, anytime governments are changed through the ballot box and not by guns,� it stated. �The vilifications and condemnation of predecessor government, the witch-hunting of members of previous regimes, discontinuation of projects initiated by previous governments, termination of contracts, mass dismissal of public servants, dissolution of boards, probes, trials, etc. The NPP did it; the NDC is paying back much worse. Ghana is simply marking time without any order for Quick March,� he maintained. He urged that the celebration must halt the vicious cycle to give way to a virtuous cycle in which the country could improve its internal political relations.