The work of Dr.Kwame Nkrumah

 THE VISION OF OSAGYEFO DR. KWAME NKRUMAH

Kwame Nkrumah's mission in the world was to dismantle colonialism and imperialism in Africa. His vision was the restoration of the dignity that was lost as a result of slavery and colonialism to enable the African to function freely in the coming unified world society as an equal player and partner. The campaign and process for decolonization in Africa was kick-started with urgency and energy in 1947, when Kwame Nkrumah returned to the Gold Coast to take up the position of Secretary of the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC), the first political party formed to achieve independence for the Gold Coast. That campaign and process continued until 1994 when the last colony in Africa, South Africa, gained her independence.
Hailed as Africa’s Statesman of the 20th Century by the African Union (AU), the ever charismatic Ghanaian leader set the pace in Ghana’s infrastructure. Here are some of the breathtaking achievements of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah under his regime: Ghana became the first sub-Saharan African country to gain its independence from European colonization on 6th March, 1957 by the leadership of Osagyefo of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah which inspired other African countries in West Africa to do the same. Nkrumah relentlessly pursued his idea of Pan-Africanism and greatly contributed to the formation of the OAU in 1963. 
The building of the Tema Harbour, Tema Motorway and new township of Tema, The construction of the gigantic hydroelectric Volta Dam at Akosombo. The development of a progressive housing scheme and Ghana Atomic Reactor Centre at Kwabenya. Kwame Nkrumah suppressed sectionalism and tribalism in Ghana and brought a sense of national unity among Ghanaians. It MUST be remembered that the British colonialists who run Ghana formerly the Gold Coast did not leave any manner of development in the North. This was because the British saw the Northerners as a peasant, uneducated, backward people whose lot in life was to be servants to other people.
As such the British deliberately under developed the North (Northern Region, Upper East and Upper West) and failed to provide them with educational opportunities - This action by the British colonialists explains the problems in Northern Ghana especially in areas like Bawku. The national unity which he forged was an envy of many African states. He became the winner of the Lenin Peace Prize Award for his efforts towards uniting Ghana and Africa for continental developments in 1963.
He constructed the nation’s best teaching hospitals like Korle Bu Teaching Hospital and Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital. Osagyefo had an immense impact on Ghana’s educational sector. He established Ghana’s second university, University of Science and Technology, as it was then known, in 1952. He developed many educational infrastructures such as the University of Ghana, University of Cape Coast, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology, many polytechnics and secondary schools across the country.
In 1962 in a radio address to the nation entitled “Work and Happiness: Ghana’s Seven Year Development Plan” Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah launched a massive industrialization drive. Incidentally if this Seven Year Development Plan had reached its fruition, Ghana would have been a developed economy by 1970 and this was seen as a great threat to Western interests. This is one of the reasons why Kwame Nkrumah was overthrown in the CIA orchestrated coup of 1966.
This drive was launched because Nkrumah inherited a colonial economy in which the interests of the British and NOT the Ghanaian were served. An example of this is that the revenues from Cocoa were invested in British banks instead of promoting local Ghanaian industry. Kwame Nkrumah was also well aware that without industrialization, Ghana was going nowhere. The vision for this grand scheme was founded on the Volta River Project, a huge project that sought to explore Ghana’s vast bauxite reserves to process it into aluminum.
To do this required a smelter and a smelter cannot function without cheap electricity, and at that time hydroelectric energy was the cheapest form of electricity. Therefore Dr. Kwame Nkrumah moved quickly and managed to convince then US president John F Kennedy to help Ghana generate cheap electricity to supply the proposed Volta Aluminum Company (VALCO) to smelt the bauxite and process it into aluminum by financing the project. The Akosombo Dam was not only meant to spearhead Ghana’s industrial revolution, but it was also to supply other Afrikan countries in the sub-region with cheap electricity giving further credence to his Pan-Afrikan ideology.
Other establishments by Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah include: Tema Oil Refinery, Tema Steel Company Abosso Glass Factory, Tema Food Complex, GIHOC, VALCO, GIHOC, Bonsa Tyre Manufacturing, Cocoa Marketing Board (now Cocobod), Bank of Ghana, Ghana Airways Corporation, Ghana Black Star Shipping Line, Komenda Sugar Factory, Meat and Tomatoes Processing factory among many others. 
In the days of colonial rule, our security institutions like the Police Service, the Military etc, had to rely on imported shoes or boots to wear. When Nkrumah became Prime Minister, he thought we could do much better and so he established the Shoe Factory in Kumasi which manufactured shoes and/or boots for all Ghana’s security institutions. 
In 2000, he was voted Africa’s “Man of the Millennium” by listeners to the BBC World Service, being described by the BBC as a “Hero of Independence,” and an “International symbol of freedom as the leader of the first African country to shake off the chains of colonial rule.”Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/people/highlights/000914_nkrumah.shtml
Nkrumah’s popular quotes include: “Our independence is meaningless unless it is linked up with the total liberation of the African continent”. "We must unite now or perish". During a
later stage in his life, he quoted “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.
This was what Dr. John Hernia Clarke wrote about him. “Kwame Nkrumah was Africa’s magnificent dreamer. He dared to believe that African people could be masters of their destiny… He was the best example of dynamic African leadership to emerge in [the 20th] century.”