“I Reject Completely the Notion that Ghana was Founded by One Man” – Akufo-Addo

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has strongly dismissed the idea that Ghana was founded by a single individual. In his 2024 Founders’ Day address on August 3, he refuted claims that Kwame Nkrumah solely founded the nation.

Parliament established August 4 as Founders’ Day in 2019 to honor the collective efforts of all contributors to Ghana’s independence struggle, and designated September 21 as Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Day. This decision faced opposition from those who support Nkrumah’s singular role in Ghana’s founding.

“I reject completely the notion that Ghana was founded by one man,” President Akufo-Addo declared. He acknowledged Nkrumah’s significant contributions but emphasized the collective struggle for independence spanning generations. He highlighted the contributions of groups like the British West African Nation Congress, founded by Joseph Casely Hayford and Thomas Hutton-Mills, as well as the Aborigines Rights Protection Society and the United Gold Coast Convention.

“Kwame Nkrumah, with his charismatic visionary leadership, was a major actor in the final lap of our journey to independence,” the president acknowledged. “Despite the several unfortunate things that happened after independence under his watch, Parliament decided to memorialize his date of birth as Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Day, the only Ghanaian so far to be so honoured in our history.”