Kwame Nkrumah remains Ghana’s true Founder

A member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) National Communication Team, Delali Sewoekpor, has accused the New Patriotic Party (NPP) of attempting to downplay the legacy of Ghana’s first President, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.

Speaking on Breakfast Daily on Channel One TV on Monday, September 22, 2025 — as Ghana marked Founder’s Day on September 21 — Sewoekpor argued that successive NPP governments have deliberately tried to “obliterate” Nkrumah’s role in Ghana’s independence and nation-building.

“Over the years, anytime the NPP has had the opportunity to rule this country, you realise that there is a deliberate attempt to obliterate, to undermine the achievement and the role of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. And you see I think by now the NPP as a political party, with their tradition must come to appreciate the fact that nobody can obliterate the name of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah as the Founder of this country of ours,” he said.

He accused leading NPP figures of branding Nkrumah a dictator who opposed democracy but insisted such claims ignore the historical context of the repeated assassination attempts on his life.

“But the fact of the matter is we’ve also read about a story where several attempts were made on the life of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. We have read several articles where there was a deliberate orchestration to kill Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. And obviously any leader, any President of a country, where is obvious that your opponents were making anything possible to eliminate you, there are certain measures you put in place to address that,” he said.

Citing Nkrumah’s lasting infrastructural legacy, Sewoekpor pointed to projects like the Tema Motorway as evidence of his unmatched contribution to Ghana’s development.

“If for nothing at all, I know how many times driving to the Volta Region, I have used the Tema Motorway. These are the solid achievements of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. We can make numerous references with projects of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah that has outlived Dr. Kwame Nkrumah,” he said.

On the longstanding debate over whether September 21 should be marked as Founder’s Day or Founders’ Day, he dismissed attempts to credit other figures with equal recognition, insisting that Nkrumah stands alone.

“This argument about people should be included as far as the Founder’s Day, we should not make it apostrophe ‘s’, we should make it Founders’ Day is neither here nor there. Let’s accept that this is a man who stands tall. This is a man who is celebrated not only in Ghana, beyond Ghana. You know he was touted as the African man of the Millennium,” he said.

He further dismissed claims about the contributions of Dr. J.B. Danquah, a leading figure in the NPP’s Danquah-Busia-Dombo tradition, describing his actions during the independence struggle as counterproductive.

“It’s obviously within the NPP rights, to continue to tout, the credentials of Dr. J.B. Danquah. But what I’m saying is this, that per what I have read to you, relative to a letter that was authored by Dr. J.B. Danquah to frustrate Ghana’s road to become an independent State in itself makes mockery of the argument that Dr. J.B. Danquah played an important role as far as Ghana attaining independence is concerned,” Sewoekpor argued.

According to him, Nkrumah’s unmatched vision and continental stature make him the undisputed Founder of Ghana, and any attempt to diminish his legacy is bound to fail.

Ghanaians marked Founder’s Day on Sunday, September 21, to commemorate the birthday of Ghana’s first President, Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, who was earlier Prime Minister and Africa’s foremost champion of continental unity and liberation of the black race.

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