65TH Independence: 20 Powerful Quotes From Kwame Nkrumah

65TH Independence: 20 Powerful Quotes From Kwame Nkrumah

  • Ghana is marking 65 years of Independence from British colonial rule today [Sunday], March 6, 2022
  • Kwame Nkrumah led the Gold Coast (present-day Ghana) to independence on March 6, 1957
  • YEN.com.gh highlights some of the most notable quotes of the country's first Prime Minister and president

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As Ghana marks 65 years of independence from British colonial rule today [Sunday], March 6, 2022, YEN.com.gh features some of the most popular quotes from the country's first president, Kwame Nkrumah.

Nkrumah, who was also the country's first Prime Minister, led the Gold Coast, present-day Ghana, to independence on March 6, 1957.

The late former president was one of the founding fathers of the Organisation of African Unity, present-day African Union, AU.

Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah
65TH Independence Day: 20 Powerful Quotes From Kwame Nkrumah. Source: Crabbimedia
Source: UGC

Below are some of the most known quotes, which capture Kwame Nkrumah's beliefs and values.

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1. I am not African because I was born in Africa but because Africa was born in me.

2. Action without thought is empty. Thought without action is blind.

3. It is clear that we must find an African solution to our problems, and that this can only be found in African unity. Divided we are weak; united, Africa could become one of the greatest forces for good in the world.

4. Those who would judge us merely by the heights we have achieved would do well to remember the depths from which we started.

5. Countrymen, the task ahead is great indeed, and heavy is the responsibility; and yet it is a noble and glorious challenge - a challenge which calls for the courage to dream, the courage to believe, the courage to dare, the courage to do, the courage to envision, the courage to fight, the courage to work, the courage to achieve - to achieve the highest excellencies and the fullest greatness of man. Dare we ask for more in life?

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6. Africa is one continent, one people, and one nation. The notion that in order to have a nation it is necessary for there to be a common language, common territory, and common culture has failed to stand the test of time or the scrutiny of the scientific definition of objective reality... The community of economic life is the major feature within a nation, and it is the economy that holds together the people living in a territory. It is on this basis that the new Africans recognise themselves as potentially one nation, whose dominion is the entire African continent.

7. It is far better to be free to govern or misgovern yourself than to be governed by anybody else

8. As far as I am concerned, I am in the knowledge that death can never extinguish the torch which I have lit in Ghana and Africa. Long after i am dead and gone, the light will continue to burn and be borne aloft, giving light and guidance to all people

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9. Capitalism is a development by refinement from feudalism, just as feudalism is a development by refinement from slavery. Capitalism is but the gentlemen's method of slavery.

10. The forces that unite us are intrinsic and greater than the superimposed influences that keep us apart.

11. Africa is a paradox that illustrates and highlights neo-colonialism. Her earth is rich, yet the products that come from above and below the soil continue to enrich, not Africans predominantly, but groups and individuals who operate to Africa’s impoverishment.

12. All people of African descent, whether they live in North or South America, the Caribbean, or in any part of the world are Africans and belong to the African nation.

13. The independence of Ghana is meaningless unless it is linked up with the total liberation of the African Continent

14. We have awakened. We will not sleep anymore. Today, from now on, there is a new African in the world!

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15. Freedom is not something that one people can bestow on another as a gift. They claim it as their own and none can keep it from them.

16. Revolutions are brought about by men, by men who think as men of action and act as men of thought.

17. We face neither East nor West: we face forward.

18. I believe strongly and sincerely that with the deep-rooted wisdom and dignity, the innate respect for human lives, the intense humanity that is our heritage, the African race, united under one federal government, will emerge not as just another world bloc to flaunt its wealth and strength, but as a Great Power whose greatness is indestructible because it is built not on fear, envy, and suspicion, nor won at the expense of others, but founded on hope, trust, friendship and directed to the good of all mankind.

19. For centuries, Europeans dominated the African continent. The white man arrogated to himself the right to rule and to be obeyed by the non-white; his mission, he claimed, was to "civilize" Africa. Under this cloak, the Europeans robbed the continent of vast riches and inflicted unimaginable suffering on the African people.

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20. The result of neo-colonialism is that foreign capital is used for exploitation rather than for the development of the less developed parts of the world. Investment under neo-colonialism increases rather than decreases the gap between the rich and poor countries of the world.

Kwame Nkrumah is Disappointed in Ghanaian Leaders Now - Ghanaians Explain Why

Meanwhile, YEN.com.gh hit the streets to find out if Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah would be proud of the current state of Ghana if he was alive.

Speaking to the YEN team, a gentleman spotted in a yellow shirt, selling mobile phone cases, said Kwame Nkrumah must be feeling very sad in the land of the dead.

According to him, all that Nkrumah worked hard for has gone down the drain and the Ghanaian youth are feeling the heat now. Another woman, who was spotted selling toothpaste, said no president has done what Kwame Nkrumah has done.

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Authors:
Nathaniel Crabbe avatar

Nathaniel Crabbe (Human-Interest editor) Nathaniel Crabbe is a journalist and editor with a degree in Journalism from the Ghana Institute of Journalism, where he graduated in 2015. He earned his master's from UPSA in December 2023. Before becoming an editor/writer of political/entertainment and human interest stories at Asaase Radio, Crabbe was a news reporter at TV3 Ghana. With experience spanning over ten years, he now works at YEN.com.gh as a human interest editor. You can reach him via nathaniel.crabbe@yen.com.gh.