Born in 1909, Nkrumah rose through the academic as well as political and leadership rank to become the first African-born prime minister and later president of the newly independent Ghana in 1957. Nkrumah was born Francis Nwia Koffi Ngonloma on 21 September 1909 in Nkroful Gold Coast now Ghana although his exact date of birth remained a subject of debate and grew up in a typical African village while attending local elementary schools which were run by the Catholic Mission. He exhibited brilliance from a young age and often did well in academics attracting the attention of his instructors and later became a student teacher. He was later sent to the seaport of Accra, which then became the capital of Ghana to study at the Government Training College, which later became part of the Achimota College. His quest for independence and the idea of African unity and Pan-Africanism was conceived at this time. It is during his time in Achimota that he was exposed to Pan-Africanist ideas of the Jamaican Black Nationalist leader Marcus Garvey and American political and social activist W.E.B Dubois.
The purpose of this study is to explore Dr. Nkrumah’s ideology of achieving African unity and how he inspired other African leaders to work towards the struggle for independence for African states. Nkrumah reiterated the importance of the African solidarity and cooperation in all forums that he attended, and his urge for harmony and collaboration between the countries was put into practice by the leaders and nationalists that he inspired. Many revolutionary leaders attributed their motivation to the ideologies, principles and philosophies that they derived from Nkrumah. His idea of achieving unity and bringing African states together for a common cause had started to take shape during this time because of the socialist ideas he had begun to develop. But the question that constantly lingered in his mind is ‘how is African unity going to be achieved?’ Therefore, this article will highlight the question of ‘how was independence going to influence African unity and what role did Dr. Nkrumah play in attaining African unity?’
It is no doubt that Nkrumah dreamt of a united continent, and he had realized that the only way to achieve this cause was to fight for independence and be free from the grip of the European colonialists. When leaders of 32 independent African countries met in Addis Ababa in 24th May 1963, their main agenda was to unite the African continent. It is on this occasion that Nkrumah gave one of the most fascinating and greatest speeches about African unity. The speech was said to be the blueprint for a united continent. By fostering cooperation and maintaining ties between member states, the leaders signed a charter that would be the hallmark for the formation of the Organization of African Unity. Nkrumah’s strong desire to achieve African unity saw him work tirelessly with other nationalist leaders in a collective struggle to gain independence for all African states.
Nkrumah had started to be regarded a fierce and one of the most radical young people from West Africa who deeply resented the exploitation that colonialists were imposing on Africa. Due to his constant quest for African unity, he envisaged that gaining independence and decolonization were the ultimate foundations of achieving unity. Why did Nkrumah believe that decolonization and independence were the major pathways to African unity? By being free and independent, Africans would be able to express their concerns and issues in a coherent and articulate way for them to achieve the ideologies that nationalists were fighting.
Nkrumah was drawn to politics from an early age and by deciding to pursue further studies in the United States he was looking to develop his sentiments towards colonialism and explore the works of political philosophers most notably Marcus Garvey, Karl Max and Vladimir Lenin. He continuously studied the literature of socialism after graduating from Lincoln University in 1939 while getting deeply involved in politics where he became the president of African Students Organization of Canada and the United States. His political interests saw him travel to London and help in organizing the Fifth Pan-African Congress in Manchester while working in setting up the West African secretariat that would champion the cause of decolonization and African unity. However, after the British officials questioned Nkrumah about his affiliations and connections to the Communists in 1947 he decided to set sail and return home to Gold Coast (Owusu-Ansah 316).
The turn of the 20th century witnessed the scramble, invasion, occupation and colonization of Africa by European powers which had occupied 90% of the African continent by 1914. The colonial powers had started out as trading partners with African societies by striking trading and business contracts mainly in the coastal areas while they were seeking pathways to mainland Africa in search of raw materials due to the industrial revolution. The British controlled trade in the Gold Coast (now Ghana) due to the abundant presence of materials and acute need for raw materials such as cotton, rubber, copper, gold, cocoa, and timber (Mwijage 133). Also at this time, the French were controlling most parts of Senegal and Sierra Leone where they sought to invest their capital as well as looking for cheap labor for their industries.
The British had already established control of the West African coast and especially in Ghana in the late 19th century albeit a long history of resistance by the natives of that region. The borders of the country were established as British Gold Coast in the early 1900s and by 1957 Ghana was among the first sub-Saharan countries that attained their independence from the Europeans. At this period, many other African states were seeking to achieve independence and self-governance and African nationalists like Dr. Kwame Nkrumah were at the forefront of fighting for freedom and liberation from the colonial powers.
Other nationalists and figures that were fighting for an independent and unified Africa include Julius Nyerere of Tanzania, Nelson Mandela of South Africa, Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya, Sam Nujoma of Namibia, Milton Obote of Uganda, Thomas Sankara of Burkina Faso among others. African unity was an important issue during the colonization era because the nationalists believed that they can only achieve self-rule and independence by working together for the common cause of freeing themselves from the colonial powers. One of the leaders that were championing for this cause was Dr. Nkrumah who envisioned the formation of the African Union long before it became a reality.
He set the blueprint for the foundation on which the organizations that unite Africans were established to ensure unity among African states. He was among the proponents of Pan-Africanism and African unity who were fighting to see that Africa was free of oppression and domination by the colonialists who included the British, French, Belgians, Portuguese, Italian, Spanish and the Germans who had occupied different parts of Africa. Dr. Nkrumah sought to see Ghana play a significant role in African and world affairs as a unified and equal partner rather than as a subordinate, inferior or lesser member in articulating matters of world peace, trade, and development. He also envisaged other African countries participate equally in global affairs and to attain this objective he realized that they must be freed from the grip of European colonialists.
The nationalist understood that the structures of colonialism in Africa had to be dismantled and set up new structures that would support regional ambitions and goals so as to promote development to achieve these objectives. He used the newly independent state of Ghana to champion for the formation of the African Union, which would later become the channel through which African issues are articulated so as to achieve a unified continent with opportunities of showcasing its potential to the rest of the world. At that time when African states were seeking independence from the European colonialists, Nkrumah was viewed as a symbol of the movement that championed for the African unity and struggle that was taking place in the 1940s to the 1960s throughout Africa.
African unity had started to be a key influencing factor in the political arguments that were being propagated by the African leaders who were fighting for independence at that time. After Nkrumah returned to Ghana in 1945, he became a secretary of a political party (Gold Coast Convention) and he also went ahead to establish a political party known as Convention People’s Party. In 1947 he was elected to be the prime minister of Gold Coast. At this time, Nkrumah had started to devote a lot of his time to politics as he worked to ensure that Ghana is free from colonization.
The political parties that were formed in Ghana during this period with the help of like-minded radicals as Nkrumah assisted in pushing for reforms and policies that would give rise to an independent state. The United Gold Coast Convention was seeking self-governance as soon as possible, and Nkrumah was tasked with overseeing the activities of the party in realizing this objective. He realized that this position would offer him a valuable platform to articulate the concerns of the people of Ghana. The society in the country supported his ideologies because they also wanted an end to the British rule and achieved self-governance. He was joined by other nationalists, small traders and also army veterans to champion for the subject of independence.
Although his political agitation and resistance landed him in jail in 1950, his efforts were not in vain because the British allowed for the drafting of a new constitution and agreed that elections be held the following year. His efforts and determination to dismantle colonialism and oppression in Africa were becoming successful as he was also elected the first African-born prime minister of the Ghana. Nkrumah was also elected as the prime minister in the subsequent elections of 1954 and 1956 which gave him a platform to push for full independence in 1956. As Nkrumah was pushing for an independent Ghana, he was also working towards a unified Africa. Through the new constitution that was drafted which gave Africans a majority stake in the Legislative Council, a new political party was formed to articulate the demands of Africans (Rooney 26).
Nkrumah was largely a proponent of peace and non-violence, and he sought to use non-violent means of achieving freedom for his country and later utilize the ties he had with foreign superpowers that could then help his regime to attain industrialization through setting up different development projects. His promotion of human dignity and equality was also very characteristic because he advocated for humanity kindness. He believed that a society that is founded on the exploitation of man by man is bound to fail, and it is for this reason that he paid glowing tribute to Lenin when he was given the Lenin Peace Prize because just like him Lenin was a fierce opponent of an immoral and unjust society.
After riots had broken up in Kumasi and Accra, Nkrumah was arrested and detained on suspicion of involvement of his party in the riots. After his release, he started working passionately towards the political betterment of his country. He enjoyed support from small traders, cocoa farmers and trade unions and by consolidating a large power base; it became easier for him to articulate his issues to the British. Dr. Nkrumah remained a dominant force in the country and even after his incarceration the population looked up to him. Liberation of the African continent and independence from European powers were some of his main ideologies, and whenever he set out to speak to leaders from other African nations, he told argued that the only way to prosper was by being united. After he had been elected to be the prime minister of Gold Coast, he oversaw the development of infrastructure all over the country.
After leading his country to the attainment of independence, Nkrumah started to implement his political as well as development policies for the betterment of the country that had been renamed Ghana. He began to nationalize the trade of cocoa, gold and timber. He started his socialist policies, and there was also an implementation of state corporations that pushed for industrialization of the country. However, a short time after the prices of agricultural commodities like cocoa started falling and this led to the decline in profits. As the government expenditure was rising, Ghana found it hard to meet its financial obligations, and the economic problems started to lead to tensions in Ghana. His downfall was characterized by strikes which he termed to be illegal, and his authoritarian rule led to unrests because he was opposing industrial democracy.
However, Nkrumah continued to fight for African unity by forming the Organization of African Union that was to be based in Addis Ababa. He implemented a vigorous foreign policy that was to champion for the liberation of African unity and independence. His involvement in the creation of the OAU made him be seen a strong tie between the African states and he was thought to be in a better position to champion for the decolonization of Africa. He argued that for Africa to attain dependency, it should do away with depending on help from external forces or the colonial powers. Despite the fact that Nkrumah was later overthrown when he was on a visit to Asia, he remained a significant influence on the fight against colonial oppression in Africa, and he continued to be a dominant force in the struggle for the decolonization of Africa.
Work cited
Mwijage, K. Major Events in African History: a guide to the study of the origins and development of the modern African states. Morogoro: Salvatorian Institute of Philosophy and Theology, 2012. Print.
Owusu-Ansah, D. (2014). Biographical Dictionary of Ghana (4th Ed.). Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2014. Print.
Rooney, D. Kwame Nkrumah: The Political Kingdom in the Third World. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1988. Print.
Biney, A. The Political and Social Thought of Kwame Nkrumah. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011. Print.
