Why Founders' Day (Plural) Must Not Happen

E. Ablorh-Odjidja
March 1, 2017

Sixty years after, we are still searching for the final reckoning as to what happened on March 6, 1957. 
  
At least, some are.

Pity we can't call back the Big Six to ask what happened; or what kind of government or state was “founded” or ushered into being that fateful day of 1957.
 
Unfortunately, the Big Six are all gone. But they knew.

They were big honorable men, with big ambitions. To keep them honorable, it is incumbent upon us, to be honest as to what their objectives were, and the wishes and principles that kept them in politics.
 
So, for relief, a revisit to what exactly the Big Six wanted “founded,” against the political reality that took shape on March 6, 1957.  Just pitching partisan interests and tribal sentiments for answers will not do.  This approach will rather limit the very stature of the men we are trying hard to honor.

Starting with Nkrumah, the known "Founding Father," the intent for creating  "Founders" means a clear attempt by some to knock him down a notch or two by promoting others to this novel founding class.
 
Nkrumah is the founder.  In our indigenous senses, we must allow that there are "Kingmakers and there are Kings."
 
The proposed collective honor for "Founders" is a lie; a counter to the historical facts as to what happened. 

Two facts, even though there are many, must settle the argument for good.
 
First, there is the constitutional fact of the state of Ghana today. Born at birth as a unitary form of government, the very idea Nkrumah stood for, fought for, and won as opposed to the Federal form the proposed founders wanted.  

Second, through his vision and efforts, Nkrumah also expanded the boundaries of the land that is currently known as Ghana.
 
Before the Gold Coast became Ghana, its Eastern boundary ended on the West side of the Volta, beyond which mark was the former British protective territory of Togoland. By the stroke of mid-night March 06, 1957, the total land size of Ghana, reaching far north on the eastern flank, had increased without help from the major members of the “Big Six.”

 
The fact is if proposing a federation, as against a unitary form of government for a state, was your original aim, and that didn’t happen, then you couldn’t have gained your objective.  In the game of founding a nation-state, you have one chance to come up as the winner, not after.

Nkrumah’s being the “Founder” doesn’t deny that others contributed.  There were many before him.  But his achievements were more critical for the founding.

Just as it would be wrong to declare kinship for all these patriots, it will be just as ridiculous to attach the term "Founders" to all the “Big Six”.  These patriots should be classified as the “Kingmakers” and Nkrumah the King, as mentioned before. 

This is not to begrudge the efforts of some members of the “Big Six”.  But we mustn’t do.  The intellectual honesty and integrity of these men demand we don’t become revisionists.
 
For the most part, these men opposed Nkrumah on the majority of his ideas that went to form the new nation.

As members of the National Liberation Movement (NLM), except for Ako Adje who was with Nkrumah, they formed a common cause with the Ablade Togolese Party to oppose unification between the Gold Coast and the former British protectorate in the Volta Region.
 
The land size of Ghana would be a 5^th size smaller than what it is today.  And “Federation” or separate states would have been our constitutional nature. 

The members of the “Big Six” were political activists.  One may wonder why their activism for “Independence” shouldn’t earn them the title of founder.  The activism mattered, but the reasons stated so far make them highly unqualified for the title.

There is also the fact that there were hundreds of activists throughout our history. 

Not to deny that activism mattered, but it took a singular passion and drive to birth the new nation.  “Self-Government Now,” was what Nkrumah termed it and the watermark that brought us victory.

To search for "Founders" based on activism alone would mean going downward, through the ages, through a maze of characters, and their singular events in history to establish the claim for each claimant.

There were many activists, and they should all be respected.  But the limit of the term “Big Six” has already left out many genuine heroes from our past, and consequently, humiliates them if we were to judge by activism alone.

Those activists but degraded heroes will include Asamani, the Akwamu warrior who captured the Osu Castle from the Danes back in the 17th century.  In the early 20th century, Yaa Asantewa was to follow with another exemplary activism in a futile war to save the Ashanti from British dominance. 

It shouldn’t be forgotten that Yaa Asantewa and all fought the British with epic bravery.  But not under the clear markings of a state (Gold Coast) then, such as the one we have today.  No flag under which they fought the British. They were largely driven by tribal, inward-looking sentiments.

If we followed Yaa Asantewa and Asamani as examples, every tribe would have a hero for a "founding" father for all of us.  But since we are seeking to burnish our history, the least said about tribal sentimentalists as "Founders," the better.
 
But no blaming here.  The idea of a nation-state, as defined by the Treaty of Westphalia, 1648, was unknown to Yaa Asantewa or Asamani.  However, under this definition, we had our new nation of Ghana.

Later, we would have men like George Alfred Grant, popularly known as Paa Grant, J. W. Sey, J. P. Brown, J. E. Casely Hayford, and John Mensah Sarbah of the Gold Coast Aborigines Rights Protection Society (ARPS).  They had the idea of the nation-state.

They came close only in the sense that they did their best. We may add the remainder of the names on the Big Six list to this top category of patriots who also did their best.

The collective “Founders,” may sound collegial, like the American example some want to follow.  But at the founding of the United States of America, almost to a man, the seven key Founders of that nation were on the same page.
 
The proposed members for “Founders” of Ghana were not on the same page with Nkrumah.  They opposed him collegially.  And of course, all their best efforts were also limited by history.

History withheld from them the opportunity to be founders.  They invited Nkrumah to the Gold Coast to steer the struggle.  They chose Nkrumah, but at that time providence had already completed the job. 

It was Nkrumah's initiatives, political astuteness, actions, and ideas that drove the result. 

What was to be founded only became clarified under Nkrumah in the last decade of colonial rule, when independence for the Gold Coast came in a package with the Trans Volta Region included. 

An honest intellectual quest must lead to the above conclusion. 
   
Consider how sobering it becomes if one should remove Nkrumah's name from the list of the Big Six.  Could our independence have been celebrated on March 6, 1957?  Of course, we can’t ask the rest on the “Big Six” list this question without embarrassing some of them.  And we shouldn’t.
 
These were honorable men with core political purposes who opposed Nkrumah vehemently on matters of politics and principles.

The name "Founder" for Nkrumah is not meant to dishonor them; nor should we allow the collective "Founders" to be used as spoilers for the prestige and achievements of Nkrumah.
   
Still, kudos to the members of the Big Six anyway for their largeness of spirit in bringing Nkrumah back to the Gold Coast (and ultimately to compete with him and to lose). 
 
However, one fact must remain in the telling of the Ghana story.
 
The nation of Ghana as it stands today was not founded by conquest or purchase. It was brought together by the clarity of vision, a type that no one among Nkrumah's generation, including members of the Big Six, had.
 
Call Nkrumah the "Founder" now.  Thankfully, Ghana is the state it is today - bigger and unified.
 
 
E. Ablorh-Odjidja, Publisher www.ghanadot.com, Washington, DC, March 31, 2017
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