Ghana’s founder’s Day is it a clash of political ideologies?

Well it is another holiday in my beloved country Ghana and though Ghanaians are home enjoying it to the fullest, a deep thought resonates within me .

What happens to this holiday should another political party assume the responsibility of ruling Ghana now ? most Ghanaians guess is as good as mine if their ideologies and political traditions does not resonate with the holiday then it is going to definitely be scrapped .

It seems most of these political parties are determined to honour their leaders who rose through the ranks of their parties to serve mother Ghana and I don’t begrudge them of that but should the citizenry be at the receiving end ?

Their quest to cement their political ideologies on the history of this country is what is driving this agenda in my beloved Ghana.

Though this clash of ideologies existed, It did not dawn on me till my final year in secondary school where during a discussion in class a friend from his analysis of the events that characterized the history of Ghana stated that ,if Dr Kwame Nkrumah had not been called by the elites that formed the United Gold Coast Convention(UGCC) how would Dr Kwame Nkrumah be able to help Ghana gain independence after forming his own party the Convention Peoples Party ?

But also another counter argument is that, Dr Kwame Nkrumah leaving the UGCC as its general secretary and forming the CPP with its ‘’Self government now’’ policy sped up the process which is my view.

This issue between Dr Kwame Nkrumah and the elites of the UGCC brought about this ideological rift which has been in existence till now because we have Nkrumah who is naturally the ‘’action now’’ type of man on the other side while we have the elites of the UGCC who wanted to follow the due process to fight for Ghana’s independence, which did not resonate well with Dr Kwame Nkrumah hence he opting out.

Another contributing factor to this rift was that, the UGCC elites were British trained hence, their procedural approach to pressing their demands. Unlike Dr Kwame Nkrumah who joined later, believed in the Socialist ideology hence, preferred using the Communist tactics

Nkrumah’s ideology also did not resonate well with the British hence, after the 1948 riot, per the recommendations made by the Watson Commission, the colonial government in 1949, appointed all Ghanaian committee to draw a new constitution for the country. This committee was headed by Henley Coussey.

The membership of the committee included the leadership of UGCC except Nkrumah who was considered opponent to the British ideology. The constitution drawn by the Coussey Committee birthed the 1951 constitution which paved way for the 1951 election that Nkrumah contested and won due to his close association with the masses.

This marked the birth and clash of ideologies between those who believed in the Nkrumahist tradition that is his ideals and that of the UGCC elites was also on the other side.

This issue could have easily been resolved but for the politicization of every issue in our country where this ideological clash has found it’s way into our educational curriculum as well, and though this clash reflects the beauty of our history and democracy as country we should tone down how we politicize issues .

If I may ask are holiday’s the only way to honour and remember our heroes ? I guess not a commemorative day to reflect on the ideals they represented can also be of help .

Though I have my biases as a staunch believer of Dr Kwame Nkrumah’s ideals It has not clouded me to turn a blind eye to the contribution of the UGCC elites towards Ghana’s independence.

I believe that is the brighter side of the story Ghanaians should look at so far as we are different there is bound to be variance in ideologies people believe in and aim for a united Ghana rather than over politicization that would end up tearing us apart.