Socialist Forum condemns attempts to distort history
The Socialist Forum of Ghana (SFG) has condemned what it described as attempts by anti-nationalist forces to distort and rewrite the history of Ghana’s independence struggle.
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In the opinion of the forum, the attempt was being done with the sole objective to minimise the role of the popular forces led by Ghana’s first President, Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah.
According to the forum, those same forces worked to sabotage independence under Dr Nkrumah because it involved empowerment of the masses and a fundamental challenge to the colonial system of privilege which they sought to preserve.
Distortion of history
Addressing a news conference in Accra last Thursday to outline activities to mark the 108th birthday of Ghana’s first Prime Minister, the spokesperson for the SFG, Mr Moses Asante Mireku, said those trying hard to distort Ghana’s history had launched a new campaign to rewrite the independence struggle.
According to him, the objective of such people had always been to minimise the role of the popular forces led by Dr Nkrumah and maximise their own minimal role.
The event will be held on the theme: “Nkrumah Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow”, with a panel made up of dedicated Nkrumahist intellectuals and political activists to discuss the historical, current and future relevance of the life and work of Dr Nkrumah.
Mr Mireku stated that some sympathisers of the current administration had in the past few weeks subjected Ghanaians to “loud and desperate effort to position the August 4, 1947 foundation of the United Gold Coast Convention as a pivotal movement in the struggle for independence and to elevate the “ big six to the status of co-founders of Ghana.”
In attacking history, he said the objective of such people was to control the future by undermining the confidence of today’s popular forces and strengthen the programme of exploitation and hardship that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government was implementing.
Most Ghanaians, according to Mr Mireku, had dismissed the August 4 campaign as either a desperate wishful thinking or a clumsy effort to distract the public from the crisis of the government.
Programme of activities
Outlining the programme of activities to mark Dr Nkrumah’s birthday which falls on September 21, 2017, the spokesperson appealed to all Pan-Africanists and socialist movements in the country to propagate and defend the impressive record of Ghana’s first President.
Mr Mireku, who described Dr Nkrumah as a pre-eminent strategist of Pan-African unity of the 21st century, said there would be a public symposium at the National Theatre that day.
The panel to speak on various issues will be Professor Akilakpa Sawyerr, former Member of the Council of State, Mrs Susan Adu Amankwa, a member of the Convention People’s Party (CPP) and Mr Kwesi Pratt Jnr, a member of the SFG.
Flanked by other members of the SFG, Mr Mireku mentioned that the forum had equally extended an invitation to the leadership of the Socialist Party of Zambia as special guests.
He indicated that the observance of this year’s Founder’s Day and the defence of historical truth had a special urgency.